[pasbesoin]

Even decades ago, I recall from memory a gorgeous nighttime view of parliament, lit up in gold-ish tones, with an emerald green lighting the bridge underside in the intermediate foreground. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of slides of it, somewhere...

When I see pictures and video now, I wonder how much the view behind me would have changed.

Walking London was a cornucopia of experiences, from being treated by an erstwhile stranger to a great dinner on the backside of Chinatown, to being scammed out of 20 pounds -- and getting off lucky it was only that much.

(After a cold winter in Germany, it was a bit like being let out of the pen -- and into an abnormally gorgeous week of April good weather. Although, in reality, my German friends expressed a closeness, and -- I can actually use the word -- Gemuetlichkeit, that a frenetic London could not entirely substitute.)

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P.S. This was back when, IIRC, the well-known book had rising to "London on £15 a Day". Or maybe it was £10 -- that sounds right. Anyway, £20 was substantially more than an inexpensive dinner -- or even shared lodging with an English breakfast. Ah, well -- lesson learned, and without physical injury.