England!

It was a dream come true for me. I had an opportunity to go to england last week and knowing me, I jumped at it. I spent four days at gatwick for the visualization conference and spent two days seeing the sight and sounds of london and england. It's a very beautiful country. You have the ultra hip modern city london which has all the buzz around it and then the sleepy towns like portsmouth.
London feels like being in any big city in any part of the world.
The subway system reminded me of new york. Bond street was like fifth avenue. The singers in the subway reminded me of the singers in bombay's local trains. The only difference being the singers in london seem suede:) The love of my life pointed that out when I was gloating about that. I walked along hyde park and thames and was grinning like a jackass. All the books I had read were coming alive. As we drove along the rolling meadows there were familiar scenes from james herriot. Clapham junction as S pointed out was in sherlock homes. London victoria and hyde park in Wodehouse. It was just phenomenal. I loved the vibrancy and the buzz of london.
England has a charm of it's own. Portsmouth was laid back town with narrow lanes and victorian houses. My cousin had decorated her house a la victorian style too. The pub culture is very nice too. I felt that people in london and england are more sociable than in the US. If I were lugging my heavy suitcase in a train station in the US, I wonder if anyone would come to help. However I was helped by so many people in england. People are also generally making small talk. I guess all this happens when you take public transportation. This is a far cry from America where everyone is stuck in their small bubble(CAR).
All in all a great holiday and work week.
MyAlbum