Going from the pristine, tidy and very white cities of Scandinavia to the sprawling, diverse and messy city of London involves a cultural whiplash effect. London is wonderful, frustrating and huge. The tube makes getting around easy and is definitely more user friendly that either New York City of Washington, DC. The stations are clearly marked and the announcements are understandable. In addition many lines have electronic information boards telling the upcoming station. On the other hand the city is the opposite of a grid and the thoughroufares that wind about, change names on a whim and then disappear are difficult to deal with. Fortunately we have pretty good maps. Our cell phones don't work here and not having GPS is definitely a minus. Our first day here we were invited to dinner with a young couple. We had befriended the man, Manuel, when he was a Medill Northwestern journalism student doing a Washington semester and stayed with us. He's originally from Spain, but now working in London. He met his girlfriend Cecile at work. She's French although went to school in the US and has lived a number of places overseas. They are truly part of the global economy; smart, funny and terribly interesting. We had a great time with them. Didn't finish dinner until almost midnight and then found our way back to our hotel.
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