The first thing which struck me about the city was the sheer size of the centre, living in Birmingham (England’s second city?) New Street and the Bullring pretty much sum up everything my hometown has to offer.
Having strolled up and down Oxford Street I was amazed at the splendours of our capitalist society, within a few hundred meters you could stroll into a Primark and pick up a bargain, or take a trip into Selfridges, passing burley security guards and velvet ropes just to browse the designer handbags.
Once the spectacle of window shopping wore off I had a chance to explore the side streets and slightly less tourist bound locations, where the real city lurks. It was while sitting in the "Crowbar" (a small metal bar near Chinatown) that I finally figure out what makes many of the other big European cities I've visited so great; the small businesses, bars and restaurants catering to every little niche and taste generates this amazing co-mingling of cultures. Conversely Birmingham’s "culture" consists of Weatherspoon style pubs, branded restaurants and the standard array of cheesy clubs competing for the custom of youth and students; nothing close to the scale and diversity found in a single corner of Zone 1.
But there’s not just the obvious stuff, I could type at length about the joys of the underground, the hilarious London Dungeon or the number of weird and wonderful Halloween costumers I bore witness too over the weekend. But I think my entire visit can be summed up by my closing experience; sitting under the Statue of Eros in a bustling Piccadilly Circus, licking a delicious Haagen-dazs ice-cream as waves of zombies, ghouls and movie heroes flocked by, brilliant!
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