A city is made up of its neighborhoods and the best way to explore a city is to explore the different neighborhoods that make up a city’s unique culture. And for me, the best way to see the different neighborhoods is to look at them with a focused eye through my camera lens. I never finished my blog posts on our summer in Europe and I’ve decided it is time to get back to them.

I enjoyed walking through the different boroughs of London and just taking in their character, a practice my friend Heather introduced me to. Each area has its own personality born of the people who live there, the food and its history. In such a culturally diverse city, elements of many countries from around the world have come together to influence London.

To see an map of the boroughs, click here:

http://londonmap360.com/carte/pdf/carte_arrondissement_londres.pdf

I’ll start with The City, as this is where we lived. The City is London’s business center. It is covered in bizarre looking, modern, tall buildings of all different shapes and the streets are flooded in business people in suits–predominantly black, blue or grey (brown was not popular there). Below shows three of the most recognizable buildings in The City: the Walkie Talkie, the Cheese Grater and the Gherkin. 

I always enjoyed the hodgepodge of new and old buildings jammed up against each other.

The tube stop closest to our apartment was Tower Hill.  We had a beautiful view of The Tower of London.

This is the Lloyds Building, where Evan’s former firm has an office. It was built in the 80’s and is designed to look like it is inside-out.

Near Lloyds is Leadenhall Market, featured (very briefly) in the first Harry Potter film.

Here are a couple of the pubs we frequented in our neighborhood.

The bridge right by us was Tower Bridge, often confused by tourists for London Bridge because it was so beautiful and everyone assumed the prettiest bridge must be the one the song is about. Shown here, Sara and Mick stand in The Tower of London, with Tower Bridge in the background.

If you cross this bridge, you enter Southwark. There are a bunch of public art displays, restaurants and bars lining the river here.

 Walking west along the South Bank, away from Tower Bridge, you run into Borough Market. This was one of my favorite places in London. It is an old open air market filled with delicious food from all over the world and fresh produce. I went often and showed it to everyone who visited. It claims to have existed since at least 1014. I mentioned it in my first blog post on London too, but it deserves mentioning again.

Further south is the borough of Merton. I made friends with a couple Australian twins who lived in this area and Evan and I spent a day there. They took us to a lovely cafe owned by a friend of theirs where I had my first traditional English breakfast.

We also attempted to go into Wimbledon Park. As the line to get in was outrageously long, we didn’t make it in, but we did get to see some of the tennis events outside the park.

Still on the south bank, but further east in Greenwich. We went there one day by riverboat when Jessica and Harry were visiting. Greenwich is rich in maritime history and gave it’s name for the Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude).

Back on the north bank of the Thames, as I walked east from The City, I came to the borough of Tower Hamlets. This area has a lot of character and a totally different vibe. I found this borough to be one of the most diverse- with some areas, like St. Katherine Docks, appearing far more polished compared to Brick Lane.

St. Katherine Docks was right by our house. It is a marina surrounded by restaurants and bars.

Just past the marina is an area I love to go running in. It is an area of small canals cutting through neighborhoods that is far less congested by tourists. It became my happy place to go and think.

Another famous place in this borough is Brick Lane.

Brick Lane has a very interesting history. It was settled by many different cultures through the years. The French settled here in the 17th Century and brought weaving, tailoring and clothing industry to the area. This borough, including the Spitalfields area that I will talk about next, continues to be an area for fashion. Brick Lane is filled with thrift shops and boutiques and has a plethora of art and fashion students.

  

The 19th Century brought Irish and Ashkenazi Jews, who established the tradition of a Sunday Market in the area. I sadly never went on a Sunday. Finally, in the 20th Century, immigrants from Bangladesh settled here. There are more Indian restaurants on this street then anywhere else I saw in the city and we love Indian food. It may be a bit of a cliché, but we found no reason to disagree with the common claim that the Indian food in London is the best in the world.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable characteristics of Brick Lane, however, is the street art. The street is lined with graffiti from such artists as Banksy, Stik, ROA, D*Face and Ben Eine. It was truly stunning.

I even got to see one artist working on his piece.

Another notable place in this borough is Spitalfields.

As I mentioned earlier, it is home to many young fashion designers.

Spitalfields is also known for its market. It is open seven days a week and each day has a theme.

I bought a shirt from this young designer one day. She let me photograph her with her collection.

Also on the north side of the Thames and adjacent to the borough of Tower Hamlets are the boroughs Islington and Hackney, where my friend Heather and I went on a long walk one day after a lovely lunch at a hidden little gem of a restaurant.

We walked through many interesting old streets, a beautiful park with traditional English style wildflowers, got caught in a downpour and then ended the tour at a delicious bakery.

  

Heather lived in Islington and we enjoyed walking around her neighborhood when she, Michael and Nick had us over.

The borough next to Islington is Camden. Camden Town has a vibrant and unique culture. It has been home to notables like Dylan Thomas and Amy Winehouse. It also features a market with crafts, jewelry and food.

There is a lovely walk starting at Camden, along the canals. Evan and I did this walk one day. There is an entire community of people who own house boats and live along the canal.

We walked by an interesting community project where passersby were encouraged to write a short message detailing what they want to accomplish before they die. I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses and I did add one of my own.

I’ve never seen anything like this canal community.

Our walk ended in Little Venice.

Also on the north is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Evan and I visited this area when we spent a day walking Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was truly beautiful.

I will end this post with the borough of Westminster, sandwiched between Kensington and Chelsea and Camden. This is where my in-laws live, so it seems as fitting a borough as any to end on. This area is home to some of the most iconic buildings in London, including parliament and the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben).

There is some really interesting architecture in this area. I love this building.

There are also some beautiful and very English looking pubs in the area.

I love this wall of greenery.

And this is an old school house turned into a gown shop.

My mother-in-law took me to Fortum and Mason- a fancy tea store in Westminster.

It is also home to Chinatown, where we had some delicious dim sum.

 

I really enjoyed exploring the boroughs of London. I did not make it to all of them, but someday I will go back. I think it is a great way to see the real London. So many tourists just run around seeing the landmark sights and they miss the real character and diversity of the city.