Travelfood

London was one of my first foreign travel destinations and I had made a long list in advance of everything I wanted to see and experience in the city. The week was filled with events and thanks to the effective tube I did not have to waste a lot of time for transportation to the sight. Although there is a lot to do in London, I did not experience a great need to return to the city. I have visited lots of other European cities again and again.

The British manner may be a reason for why I am not particularly impressed by the city. The locals are very correct and friendly as long as the tourist is humble and approaches them with the attitude that the locals are right and what the tourist asks for is something that is not justified. If the set-up is based on that the non-British is right and the British wrong, the conversation goes towards a difficult direction and the attitude is no longer correct and friendly. Maybe there are some old colonialism hints left behind all this. We have all seen the British client attitude at low-cost airlines where they are friendly first but not very pleasant when the client points out air-passengers’ rights. Another encounter I will not forget was the one outside Harrods, where a young girl was collecting money for the poor. When I delivered a few coins, she looked at me up and down and asked “don’t you have any bank notes?”…

My favorites in London and surroundings were Portobello Road’s antique markets, Hampton Court Palace and Oxford. Also British Museum was impressive although you easily get tired of all the countless objects. 

Of British traditional dishes I found steak and kidney pie and Yorkshire pudding difficult to find although you read about them a lot in books by for example British authors Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. It was easier to find fish & chips, chicken and mushroom pie and roast beef sandwich. None of these were especially memorable gourmet experiences.

Europe, food, London, travel, travel experiences, UK