Journal excerpt, October 18, 2018
Good sweet Lord, how easy it is to fall in love with London. I got to see Carolyn yesterday-- she is thriving and it's no wonder. London is the thing. I put together a little tour of important spots for book-lovers to visit and I'm about halfway through it now. I'm not even sure I can finish it today-- I just feel too much. This city has done such a marvelous job of preserving what is old and what is so, so magical. The number of bookstores and beautiful bridges in this city alone make it so special. It's so nice to see P again. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder but I'm so grateful for these weekends together and for being in the same time zone again. We'll go tonight for a show at the Globe theatre and I could not be more excited!
So far today, I've visited Virginia Woolf's apartment, Charles Dickens' home, an Oscar Wilde monument, the publishing house where T.S. Eliot worked, and a bar frequented by George Eliot. The double-decker buses and the black old-time cabs are so stinking charming, and the people here are so much friendlier than in New York-- though I guess they do walk slower and without looking up. I think I'll try to go to the British Library and the British Museum and then call it a day. Yesterday, Carolyn showed me Shoreditch. What a charming old neighborhood. Between days catching up with my sweet sister and nights catching up with my P, my heart is very full. I'll refuse now to think about the leaving.
On the plane to New York now. Goodbyes are the freaking worst. Yesterday we walked the whole of West London together and tomorrow I'll walk New York alone. Let me be dramatic here, I'm crying on a plane. Long-distance is not the thing. Yesterday we had burgers in Notting Hill for breakfast. We walked through this adorable flea market and bought a blanket to be the first thing we buy together for our first home-- which we do not yet share. Buzzkill. We walked through all the brightly-colored homes of Notting Hill, through this beautiful park that I know is important but I'm completely blanking on the name, and then to Westminster Abbey. Wow! I don't know if I've ever seen a more beautiful building. We went on some runs together, and our apartment is very near Tower Bridge so they were always scenic and along the Thames, which obviously blisses me out hardcore. I know this will sound very hometown of me, but it's just really special to see all the places I have read about it my favorite books. It was a good trip and I am excited for the next one. London and P both really are so, so special.
"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." --Samuel Johnson
Comments