Grow on me, London

The River Thames

When I met a friend at Piccadilly Circus, one of the first things I told her was that I didn't quite fancy London. She was aghast, to say the least. London buzzes with life and energy, and there's so much to see and do. But I wasn't feeling it, maybe for this exact reason. London felt overwhelming. 

A good day to be at Hyde Park

But it is also undeniably navigable by foot. I walked everywhere, but had yet to step into a particular part of the city which would have set off a spark, that feeling of attraction and/or love for a city I'm in. When I think of Istanbul, it's the Bosphorus and its seagulls. When I think of Delhi, it's Lodhi Gardens, and in Zagreb, the Museum of Broken Relationships. In London, I'd walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, been wowed by the British Museum (never mind that there's really nothing British about it) -- but nothing.

the British Museum's ceiling

By the end of the day though, something changed. I was making my way back to the apartment from Piccadilly Circus. And it was there, at the pedestrian crossing during rush hour, when I looked at the darkening sky, the buildings that swallowed the sun, the double-deckered buses, and the crowd of people, that I found my spark.

first written on 30th September 2017