I still call (London) home

Another thing I am yet to get completely acclimatised to here in London is the noise. All day, everywhere, noise. Sirens, people yelling and cars (interspersed with birds tweeting in the trees outside our apartment of course.)


In Sydney, The Man of the House and I lived very centrally. Right next to the city and the infamous Kings Cross. You would have thought I would therefore be used to a certain level of noise, but for whatever reason, we never experienced it. Our little part of the world was uncannily quiet (apart from that night someone got shot in the Cross!). Here, living in N1, we have sirens constantly, traffic, and not to mention the fact that a pod of whales seems to have moved into the flat above us. 


I am not complaining (really) though, because an article I read today in the Sydney Morning Herald, the local Sydney newspaper, pretty much summed up why Australians leave the island and head overseas for their holidays (and to live, in our case). Here is the link for those interested:


http://www.smh.com.au/travel/sorry-australia-europe-rules-20111026-1mj5o.html

But in summary form for everyone else, it pretty much says that although Australia is a beautiful country (very true), it just cannot compete with all Europe has to offer to inquisitive individuals. For example, Australia has one good museum (the National War Museum in Canberra for those planning to head down under) whereas every single city in Europe has at least one museum of international significance. Likewise, Australian architecture is fairly ho-hum when compared with all of the historical buildings, churches and monuments found littered across Europe. Sure we all love the Opera House on Sydney Harbour, but when you are looking at the Colosseum from around 70 AD, it pales into the utmost insignificance. 


I agree absolutely with the article - I am still getting used to how much of Europe is just on my doorstep, and how easy it is to travel there from London. And just how amazing it is. 


I think it will be quite some time before I feel the lure of Australia pull me back, but needless to say I will be much more widely travelled than I was the day I arrived here in London. And no amount of noise will put me off that just yet!


Till tomorrow...