Even though I've been there before, this time around felt like my first. I felt so appreciative to be surrounded by English speakers, smiley faces, and all things English. For such a large city, the people are very friendly and willing to help when needed. Such a stark contrast to Vienna. Hubs and I agreed that for our sanity's sake, London would be our refuge when we have bouts of homesickness and in need of reviving our taste buds.
When I first arrived in London, I was actually afraid to speak English and thought that people were speaking German! It took a few hours to get acclimated and realize that I was not dreaming or hallucinating. I didn't have to "dumb down" my English in order for the locals to understand me. It felt so liberating. I told Hubs over the phone that I may never come back to Austria after my first night there.
Hubs joined me a day later and we went along and did all the touristy things. We were so happy getting in some authentic ethnic foods too. It's not that big of a surprise that a lot of our favorite foods are so hard to come by here. We've found a great Indian and Vietnamese restaurant, but have failed on numerous occasions for other favorite cuisines. We were so spoiled where we lived stateside and made a few trips to NYC to get what we wanted, sometimes. We were known to travel great distances for food to those who knew us best. London definitely fits the bill on this side of the pond.
