ian
i was in london twice, around 8-10 years ago and absolutely fell in love with the way of life there, how people really enjoyed it to the fullest. i stayed at a very central hotel, i forget the name, walked all over the city from one end to the other.
the tower of london really impressed me as in my mind i was re-creating the defense of london during the spanish armada's incursion. it is really neat how they have preserved most of the original everything that they used at the time.
i was this close to moving there, as my wife then was english, but ran into a couple of problems: my dear, frail chihuahua would have been quarantined for something like 6 months, which was unacceptable to us (we were looking into how to smuggle her through spain), and my final objective was to set up my business there in central london. i just barely scratched the surface and found out that the huge investment did not match the risk/reward ratio.
i was almost this close to buying one of those flats (just as an investment) on the old docks, those located beyond the tower. i wish i had.
we also took the train to dover and took the hovercraft to calais, and that was quite an experience, both travelling on the craft and the short visit to france.
i should also mention that at that time, most of my phone buddies were foreign exchange dealers in london and they were just super, a really nice bunch of fellows who knew how to work hard and have a lot of fun. we all got together on a friday afternoon (custom), went to the pub and all i can remember is that as the fellows kept coming in they would order a stout for the chap from america. i had about ten in a row at one time, but not being a drinker, all i could put away was a couple.
this is definitely one of my most memorable experiences.
dislikes? can't think of any. ah, maybe the prices.
pep
