Going to hop on the Eurostar train to London in an hour or 2-3, so see you bitches Sunday night/Monday!

(not that a 3-day absence will have everyone crying for my return, but wanted to put it out there anyway in case The Passing drops and you were wondering when i'd be available to play. )

And you didn't tell me beforehand so I could come see you... I hope you get robbed!

... love ya really Ox. Hope it's not at knifepoint

Hehehe, I didn't get robbed. I was actually relatively surprised at how safe-ish the streets felt, but that may have been because I spent most of my time in the City and other 'good' neighbourhoods (Greenwich etc.).

I visited the Tate Modern, the Observatory in Greenwich park, ate in several restaurants, drank quite a lot, played games with my friend and saw a lot of the city - the good life, basically. It was the first time I ever extensively visited a really, really big city apart from Paris (I was still young then) and Berlin (blitz visit). I would say the dominant feeling was one of being humbled, overwhelmed even. So many people, so many places to go, quite amazing. I can imagine NY must be like this as well.

When I came back to Belgium and Antwerp, I was surprised at the contrast in how few people were out at night here. Granted, it was a Sunday evening midnight but still...in London things barely slow down then. It made me want to move to a BIG city, to be honest. Brussels and Antwerp (and Prague) are like backwaters compared to London.

Some things I noticed:

-almost everyone working 'low wage' jobs is not British. People like waiters in particular.
-getting around with public transport is super easy with an Oyster card
-subway is always being worked on (when I was there)
-books!! So many of them
-enormous difference in population composition between the actual inner city and the outer city.
-shit be expensive. It's doable on a Euro wage (favorable exchange rate) but still
-Eurostar travel is awesome. Super comfortable.

Oh and sorry Pev!! I told Derf and O'Cram and I think I somehow imagined I'd told you as well. And since them bastards couldn't make it I didn't really inquire any further. Next time!

You are not supposed to have friends outside CK, traitor. And regarding the population, welcome to Estonia .

London population: 7,556,900 (2007 estimate)
- Density 4,761/km2 (12,331/sq mi)
Tallinn population: 407,951 (2010)
- Density 2,554.7/km2 (6,492.8/sq mi
- Area 160km2
Antwerp population: 461,496 (2006)
- Density 2257 inhab./km²
- Area 204km2
Brussels population 1,080,790 (2008)
- Density 6,697/km2 (16,857/sq mi)

Cant complain about lack of personal space

7 million people in London? That's pretty respectable. Dallas has 2 1/2 million, but it's only part of a larger metroplex, which has an estimated population of 6.5 million. (both numbers from july 2009)

NYC is 8.3 million. I can't imagine. In a much smaller area, at that.

You've been to Rome too though, right Ox? From what I remember, Rome has that "never sleeps" factor too.

I like the though of city life, but I also like to drop off the radar every now and then.

Yeah, I've been to Rome but that was with my high school...didn't do too much night roaming and drinking there during the weekend. Except for this one day where I got hammered on Amaretto (of all things). That was the same night one of my best friends got "close" with a girl I fancied and I punched him out. The follies of youth.


P.S. To be fair, he was being an ass about it and kind of baiting me when I told him that I didn't like him playing the girl. I didn't just go ballistic. Funny enough, there was a pic with him and her holding each other in the background on the grand showing of the school trip pics back home, which was attended by him and his...girlfriend. Haha!

Ugh I've never even been to London nor do I fancy it. Estonia is looking pretty damn attractive to me right there, along with ole Antwerp of course. Still can't beat my home town of only 11,000 though. Or the village I grew up in with 2000 people. Or then again the place my parents are moving to, where they will make it a grand total of... 13! The only big city (Hull and York don't count) that I actually like is, oddly enough, Las Vegas. Maybe because it just doesn't seem real when you're there.

Sounds like a fun night in Rome there Ox. You still need to come sample Yorkshire 'nightlife' though.

London is cool... and overwhelming. Antwerp and Rome are awesome too. Brussels sucks. Amsterdam rules as always off course.

Amsterdam's great for the recreation. I've been there twice, but I can't say I really took in too many of the sights at the time. However, I do like big cities. I mean, some are crap, like Houston and Mexico City. But some are pretty freakin' awesome. I like the fact you can do pretty much anything, any time, and there's always new people to meet. A town of 2000? Omg, that would be so claustrophobic. I have to keep reminding Shiny that some of the places we visit for vacation (like ski towns) are so small most people know each other, so don't talk shit.

lol it aint a town Satis, it's a village It's really not claustrophobic (for someone like me anyway), I don't do things that would get talked about anyway and it's nothing but wide open spaces around, just what I love. Having thousands of people around with nothing but concrete and buildings, now that's claustrophobic

Of course you guys have more room over there so everything can be built to a bigger scale. I remember when I visited Canada that what my mate considers to be the 'small town' he lives in probably easily takes up the same area as Walsall (now considered to have enough population to technically be a city). The difference is though they actually have trees and gardens practically everywhere; here you're lucky to get a back garden unless you're in the country, let alone a front one too, and you're lucky to get trees anywhere than stuck in the middle of the pavement down the main streets at an attempt to make the large towns/cities look pretty.

Its quite impossible to be more alone when surrounded by millions of strangers.

Deep, I like it

*snort laugh*

You like it deep?

haha sorry.

And I've said words to that effect before now, "Surrounded by people but shrouded by loneliness", etc etc

We got back from Niagara Falls (Canada side) yesterday. Had a really great time. Pics and drunken stories to follow. I'll agree on being alone surrounded by people, though you can also be alone while surrounded by your loved ones.