I realize that since moving to London things haven’t always been perfect. I like to think of it as, “moving pains”—a first cousin to “growing pains”. But what I’ve also discovered is that once you live in a place long enough, you get to know the ropes and those aches and pains slowly start to go away. It can then be said that in order to be part of a city you just have to know the rules, and every city plays by their own.
While we may still be learning, there are lots of amazing things we have had the pleasure of enjoying and experiencing as Londoners. Sometimes these amazing things just happen to get eclipsed by a robbery or hot water outage or rancid meat pie, but it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In fact, just last week Josh and I went for a 6am, 3-mile run to Victoria Park (there’s a first time for everything) and when my endorphins kicked in, there was nothing in the world that could bring me down. Sunshine, green space, flowers, puppies… I was in the epicenter of serenity. This inspired me to think about all of the wonderful things in life, including the many reasons I Love London:
10. Parks, parks and more parks—and let’s not forget frisbee in the park, BBQs in the park and random dogs who steal your soccer ball in the park.
9. Sunday Markets and market food, from scratch-made noodle dishes to Turkish pizza, green juices and fresh breads. Very European!
8. Historic events, like The Royal Wedding and the 2012 Summer Olympics. (With tickets to see the Olympic men’s soccer semifinals in Manchester!)
7. Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race (and pre-post Boat Race activities).
6. Fenton’s Rink for curling—my new favorite sport.
5. Easy Jet—so long as you have a free weekend, a 56x46x25cm carry-on and your tickets printed in advance you can go just about anywhere!
4. 20(+)-day vacation policies.
3. Free Emergency Room services, discovered after nearly cutting off my fingertip in a mango dicing accident.
2. British reality TV, such as The Apprentice UK with Lord Sugar and The Only Way is Essex.
And lastly, but most importantly...
1. The amazing people I have met and friends that I have made… thank you for showing us the many reasons to love London!
