I begin my trip in the easy-to-accomodate-for-english-speakers European city of London. The first thing I noticed was the English accents. Every time someone spoke, I couldn't help but smile or laugh because it just doesn't sound right to me. I've been so accustomed to the dull American accent that hearing these people speak is still too entertaining. It wasn't too difficult to move around the city as the tube is really large and extremely efficient. I can get pretty much anywhere within London with very minimal walking.
5 seconds later the dude in the tats yelled at me for taking unsolicited (more like un-tipped) photos.
As for the city itself, I underestimated on how short London is. I really kind of expected tall buildings and skyscrapers (much like big American cities I guess), but that was definitely not the case. London's architecture seems very old-style, quaint, and clean. The closest American city that I can think of that resembles London architecture would maybe be Philadelphia (like the old parts of Philly).
Dang nabbit that is one beautiful looking bridge.
I visited all the typically tourist places such as London Eye, Big Ben, The British Museum, London Tower, Tower bridge, V&A Museum, National Gallery, etc. I really enjoyed both the London Tower and British Museum very much. Both are historical sites and extremely well preserved and maintained. The tour guides and the set up of things was very well done. The history of the city is just so rich too and this is evident in both going to the museums and just walking around the city. I spent most of my time just tubing to places and walking alongside the Thames river in the surprising summer heat.
This was like the only good photo of Big Ben, literally everything underneath this was under construction.
Food wise... I'm not exactly sure what "English" food is yet. Walking around the streets looking for restaurants, I can see that the only popular food available were either ethnic or Italian. I think I've been disappointed in every single meal. I tried fish and chips, and I honestly believe you could probably find better fish and chips in the USA. British food also includes a lot of "mash" which is basically mashed potatoes. Every. Single. Restaurant. Even if they are supposedly ethnic, they still have mash. Even when I tried to go find authentic British food, they were either closed or you had to make reservations. Maybe I didn't stay long enough (although 6 days is plenty food-wise), but I was highly disappointed.
There were about 5 trillion tourists here.
I visited a London nightclub to celebrate my friends 21st birthday, which by the way the British don't care at all since they've been drinking since 18. I gotta say... I don't know if it was just this one night club, but the music was very specific. I thought the music sounded very European, but it was nothing like the night life music I've heard in SF and other American cities. The dance floor was mostly guys and I swear they used the same damn bass beat for every song. Fascinating.
I don't think I enjoyed London nearly as much as other tourists and travelers. I don't know what it was, but I didn't really click with this city. Nothing really attracted my attention here, which I can't say for other cities like Seatle, NY, HK, Tokyo, and others. The next time I come here will probably only be for business (if somehow as a engineer I need to come to the UK).