We’ve been living in East London this past week and wow, do I love it here. Compared with the congested tourist hubs of the West End (Notting Hill, Kensington, SOHO), this place feels like a gem. There are small green squares and playgrounds. Corner pubs and flower shops. Restaurants and coffee houses in converted brick factory buildings. And a sense of slow and quiet that teases at you as you walk the cobblestone streets, a quietness that’s just enough to let you feel like you’ve been transported to another world.
This city has the power to eat you up and swallow you alive. After traipsing through the buzzing pedestrian streets and rathole networks of underground tube lines, it’s nice to find a place to run away to and breathe.