Colors of London [antikvár]

COLORS OF LdNDO TRODJ/CTI I came to London from the U.S.A. intending to stay for a few months, and ended up living here 15 years (and counting). I quickly fell in love with the city, not only with its landscape but with its lifestyle. My London is a city of corner pubs, ethnic restaurants, strolls along the Thames, parties on the riverboats, brisk walks through sprawling parks, moments of retreat in small peaceful squares, browsing in antiquarian bookshops, finding bargains in the bustling markets, splashing out on something special in a fashion boutique. There is always something here to feed the senses and an enquiring mind: a fascinating exhibition of art or history, a new play or concert. But most of all, 1 love London for itself. I feel grounded in its rich history, uplifted by its continual surprises and endless possibilities. In large ways and small, it is a city of constant spectacle. London is, of course, world famous. It even has a biographer, British novelist Peter Ackroyd, who has called the city 'a living, breathing being.' And London is indeed like a person. It has its good days and its bad. Its moods swing from bright to dark, animation to churlishness; and to really enjoy its company you have to learn to ride those waves. London is by turn amusing and exasperating. Its character is full of quirks and traditions, which have become as familiar as those of an old friend. As Ackroyd puts it in his masterwork London, the Biography (2000), 'London is so large and so wild that it contains no less than everything.' The World's Marketplace The heart of London is the River Thames, which has pumped its life blood through the city since ancient times. The Romans founded the city along its banks in the first century AD, and from its beginnings it has been, first and foremost, a place of commerce. The great tidal river, which enabled trade with the continent of Europe and later the world, was the key to London's prosperity. In the ninth century, the great Christian historian, the Venerable Bede, recorded that London was 'the mart of many nations resorting to it by land and sea.' And it is still all about the money. People come here, as they have always done, to seek their fortune, to walk the legendary gold-paved streets. Today the City—the financial heart of the country and the biggest business center in Europe—is the domain of bankers and stockbrokers. They conduct their business in the same square mile as the first traders of Roman times. Leadenhall Market, one of the great city markets that can trace its roots to earliest times, stands on the site of