London #zitosonparade

 As yesterday was the first day of Fall I thought it was only appropriate that we close it our with the last of the pictures from my summer vacation.

London is easily my favorite place in the world. My pictures here were sporadic because I was so happy to just be there with my family walking all over and soaking it up. 

It reminds me of a lot of the reasons why I love New York. It's artistic, eclectic busy, metropolitan and simply my favorite place.

We stayed in East London's Bethnal Green in an AirBnB that was good, somewhat less successful than Glasgow but I was so excited about the neighborhood and the people nearby. If you find yourself in the area there is a bar restaurant called The Hemingway that is hilarious and delicious and manned by some of the most polite and funny people we met throughout the vacation.

One of our first stops ended up being Camden Market simply because I hadn't been there in all my trips to the city. It was unsurprisingly crowded and full of fellow tourists but it's easy to see why so many people flock there.

 It's colorful and creative and the market is packed with some lovely finds if you're willing to look.

 The Lock.

 The following day we went to the Columbia Road Flower Market and wandered around Shoreditch. We got lost and would up wandering around forever but I loved getting to see the area.

 We followed that up with a classic trip to the Towers of London. I hadn't been here either and was grateful for the history lesson from Mom.  

 There was a killer view too.

 The boys were hot and not having it after a brief visit to the V&A. This particular Monday tube ride was beset with train failures, backtracking and a panic attack but all in all was pretty successful.

 Now this is my favorite bit. I wanted to visit a London cemetery that I hadn't already seen so this time around I opted for Highgate Cemetery. So early on a Wednesday morning my brother and I waited forever for a Northern Line train to the Archway station and walked through Waterlow park to the cemetery gate. 

 Karl Marx is buried here and has a huge white and shiny headstone that stands out quite obviously against the beautiful albeit overgrown old stones here. 

 It is an active site so there are newer headstones here but I would argue most people come for the atmosphere of the dilapidated and old pathways through the wood.

 We did make a brief foray to Carnaby St to visit Liberty and We Built this City.(It's just as good as Lily Pebbles says it is.)

 After that a quick stop to take some pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

All in all I had a happy little love affair with London again for five days and despite my love of New York I can't help but count down the days until I'm able to visit again.