London Loves

Well, I have finally arrived in London with Ian, after much delay. Taking the Tube in was kind of intense, but once we found our hostel in Camden all was good. This hostel is above a bar called "Belushi's" (no relation to the famous American actor Jim Belushi), and it is quite inexpensive. It has a common room in the basement, and has some decent dinner/drink specials in the bar itself. We've already run into a lot of people from France, and in general the people have been pretty nice.

In general, the thing I to get used to right away are even just the little things, i.e. the use of different phrases like the use of "lift", "walk out", not tipping, etc, etc. The other thing would just be when walking around in regards to looking the right way. Not really a big deal, but just something to be aware of while here.

First observation about the music scene here-- it is as rich and vibrant as anywhere in New York. Of course, we are staying in Camden Town, a part of the city just north of London that is known to be one of the richest and most interesting parts of town. It would be impossible to say that this part of the city is not a little bit sketchy-- it kind of reminds me of St. Mark's Place, but on steroids. The Camden Market is perhaps the center of this part of town, and it is just FILLED with stores all about the counterculture, along with music shops, cheap food kiosks, and clubs/bars.

It is sort of a weird conglomeration of punks, metal fans, and britpop enthusiasts, it seems. Even our hostel has photos of Blondie, The Stone Roses, The Sex Pistols on its walls. There are many specialty shops specifically for one kind of subculture; i.e. a metal shop where you go into the basement and you smell the strong stench of marijuana which then turns into a record store. We both saw at least 2-3 people drinking in public, which is also something to get used to.

Luckily, our hostel has internet, so I am able to make this post. We will be taking a bus into the center of the city in a little while after breakfast, and then taking a free two hour walking tour of London itself.

More to come in a day. Especially photos.