Today I just visited London for the first time and it is a really nice city! I am from Windsor and the public infrastructure was absolutely brilliant, and the downtown energy seemed quite nice.
I visited Museum London, as well as the covent garden market. I wanted to do more, but for whatever reason it seems that most of London closes on Sundays, so I was limited in my options. I ended up visiting thrift stores and got some excellent vintage Doc Martens for really cheap by DugOut Vintage. They carry actual nice quality vintage stuff, not just clothes that happen to be old -- I was very impressed.
The paid parking situation was a bit crazy, but I suppose the bike lanes and bus lanes must come at some sort of cost. If I was actually living there I'm sure id love it more, but for a visitor it caused a decent bit of confusion for me. The parking meters didn't work with my card and the Honk app insisted my spot was free parking despite the sign saying otherwise.
The city itself is extremely pretty, I've never seen so many unique buildings, both in the suburbs and the downtown area itself. I've visited many cities in the US and its refreshing to see a city that has a genuine distinctive feel to it, rather than feeling cookie-cutter carbon copied.
Cool city! I hope to visit it again and will keep it on my radar for future job opportunities.
Yeah I did see some homeless folk and presumably drug addicted folk, but compared to Windsor with its chronic double digit unemployment? An improvement.
Stuff like this just kinda comes with the territory of a bigger city.