I found London to be clean, but damp. My hair never felt properly dry. The sky always looked a little hazy, but it wasn't as rainy as I expected. When it did rain, boy did it rain! There wasn't a significant amount of smog, certainly no brown cloud like we get in Denver. Everything smelled of wet. Not mildew, and not friesh rain, but a general wet.
It's loud. Especially downtown. People everywhere. Last time I was there was a Saturday, and there was a crush of people on every street downtown, all taking pictures of the Eye, Parlaiment and Big Ben and everything else. If I lived there, I would avoid Westminster Bridge like the plague.
The streets were WAY narrow. Scary, even, for someone who's used to the western US, where we've got space to spare. I wouldn't have wanted to try driving in the city.
Like any big city, the people were absorbed in their own world for the most part, but when I did have to ask someone for help or directions, most people were quite friendly. My first day, after traveling for 36 hours and sleeping for about 6, I got lost on the tube. I was standing there looking bewildered and a complete stranger came up helped me find my way. Once I got my head on straight, though, the tube was amazingly easy to use.
I was surprised how late it stayed light in the summer. Given the mild climate, I didn't ever consider how far north London is until I was there. It's at 51 degrees, which is farther north than Winnipeg or Calgary. I've only been in the spring and summer, so I don't have any first hand experience with London winters.
The pay toilets really threw me. And even those were not always available. I simply couldn't find a public toilet in a lot of places.
The train stations were pretty overwhelming at first. Not the tube stations, which are fairly easy to follow, but my first day there, I had to take a train to Watford, and Euston station nearly blew my circuits.
I loved all the little shops. I'm used to heading to the store once a week or less often, stocking up on big bags of groceries. The shops in London (at least the ones I saw) are not setup for that. They have small carts, and small aisles. They're designed for people who are shopping one day at a time.
One thing people in London love to gab to Americans about is the portion sizes. They are all convinced that they eat sensible amounts of food and Amercians eat enormous amounts of pasta and chips. In the fish and chips place across the road from our flat, I watched the man bread and fry a chunk of fish the size of my head, drop a portion of chips that had to be at least two full potatoes worth, and then listened to him go on about the portion sizes in America. That one order of fish and chips was at least three times the quantity I would have gotten ordering the same thing in the US, but whatever.
@ ScienceFictionMommy - Downtown Denver is infinitely more civilised to walk around than London is, and one hell of a lot nicer all round. I couldn't believe how clean it was on my first visit, and how much friendlier the people are. I was also gobsmacked that for $4 (~£2.50) you could make a thirty mile return bus journey (Golden-Denver return) and now the new light rail extension isn't that much pricier. Public transport in the UK is extortionate, unreliable and dirty.
Wow, as a Denverite, I'm the one who's gobsmacked that you could even compare our public transportation to London's.
I was floored by the amazing system in London. Hop on the tube and I could get anywhere I needed to be. Night busses that actually run all night. Cabs that know where they're going. It was amazing.
I've been experiencing the "joys" of Denver's so-called "public transportation system" through my son who hasn't yet gotten his drivers licence. To get from our house to his job downtown is two busses and a light rail, and it takes him 90 minutes to go 16 miles. Sure, it only costs him $5/day, but it takes 2 hours longer than driving the same distance, and heaven forbid he wants to stay out late. The bus stops running before 10pm.
(2 hours longer PER DAY. Do the math people. If you spend 90 minutes getting to work, you do, at some point, actually have to come home, too. Think it through.)