I spent some time in London recently. This was my second visit, and while I enjoyed the city as a visitor, I definitely think that at the end of the day, I like living in Berlin more, since it's a more manageable city. Of course, there are pictures, but those will follow later, so stay tuned in case you're interested. In the meantime, I just wanted to talk about the crowds.
See, we were in London during the winter, when it was cloudy and cold. Not in the height of the summer tourist season. And nevertheless, there were crowded areas that we did our very best to avoid. I could only imagine the city being more crowded in the summer than how we experienced it. Particularly taxing areas were the underground: there were times when we definitely had to be extremely patient and wait for the flow of foot traffic to slowly move simply because there's more people that were trying to travel than what can be accommodated by the trains. It can definitely feel slightly claustrophobic.
The interesting thing is that this just makes me love my adoptive city of Berlin more. Yes, there are plenty of cools things to check out in London, but I cannot imagine myself living there. It would be exhausting for me. On the one hand, the city definitely has this energy and vibe, that acts as a magnet to people. I saw the skyscrapers and I must admit, I couldn't help but wonder how it would feel like working in one of those swanky offices. But on the other hand, I can also imagine that it would take a lot of my energy to do battle with the rest of the crowds just to survive, day in and day out.
Hence given that, I still like where I am, in Berlin, with a manageable crowd, and a commute that definitely doesn't take the life out of me. I think I am content to visit London only once in a while.
