London Bridge is falling down....

....or so I had heard.

But no siree.. its standing strong across the Thames and it looks beautiful across the river in the night light - its bright red.

I have been in Europe for all of six months and was adviced that the four must see cities of Europe were London - for its barbaric character, Paris - for its beauty, Rome - for its culture and Barcelona - for Gaudi (what else!).

So out of curiosity about the barbaric character, I went to London for Christmas and it was an experience indeed.

First of all, its not as beautiful as is rumoured to be. Actually, its quite ugly in many places. It is a city where the ancient, old and new are trying to stand shoulder to shoulder, unsuccessfully. The modern glass high rises against the Tower of London or the Big Ben at the background of London Eye - it just doesn't gel. The South Bank Complex is one of the most ugly buildings on the banks of the Thames. The river does not hold any charm either. The water is just as water flowing amidst one of the busiest cities on planet should be - dirty, murky.

Secondly, there is an acute shortage of dustbins in the city. After 7/7, the city council must have apparently decided that the most dangerous things to attack the city would be dust bins. As a natural consequence the city is dirty - quite dirty for a European city.

Thirdly, there are only Indians living in London, or so is the impression that you get when you walk the streets. You can catch snatches of conversation in Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil and Malayalam.. you kind of wonder where all the English people of England are!

Fourthly, you do see its barabaric character - the whole of Tower of London is barbarism personified, the statues outside the Royal Residence - all are reminiscent of the bygone bloody era of the British empire.

Fifthly, the public transport system of London is absolutely superb. It is difficult to get lost in the city, unless you are just too dumb or are on a mission to get lost. This is one area which I sincerely wish India could adopt. The system is efficiency potrayed to a hilt - its almost perfect! The only problem I could think of is that it would be terribly hot and sweaty in the underground in the summer.

Sixthly, though the goverment of UK is unanimously known to wag its tail to everything that USA says, the people think otherwise. There is open and widespread ridicule towards all that is American.

It is a city so warped in its history and so caught up in trying to be modern that it ends up no where. It has its moments but not the best city I have seen and I haven't seen many. Maybe the expectations from the city are astronomical and it just falls short of them...

Definitely worth a visit, but I don't know abot it being one of the most beautiful cities in the world! I wouldn't vote for it.