London Culture: Insider Field Notes From The Vibrant City
Welcome back to Field Notes for Modern Life. City life can be dull and it can be electric. Most days, it’s what you choose to notice that counts. I’ve been fortunate to live in two of Europe’s most famous cities, London and Berlin. The parallels are easy to spot: both are steeped in history, shaped by a river and stitched together with green spaces. I’ve written about London before for my travel blog, but what still surprises me is how I find something new every time I wander through the city or along the Thames.
London offers something for everyone, and this post will become a home for the things I see when I am out and about: snapshots, small moments, and the odd video from a life lived in and around the city.
There's plenty to see and do in London, and last week I visited HMS Belfast. All aboard.
HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast is one of those ships that feels half war story, half film set. Moored quietly on the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, she once escorted Arctic convoys, shelled the Normandy beaches on D-Day and saw action in the Korean War. Now she sits in the heart of London as a floating time capsule, all steel corridors, cramped bunks and echoing mess decks, while commuters and tourists stream past on the riverbanks.
What I like about Belfast is the contrast. Inside, you can almost hear the clatter of boots and the bark of orders; outside, there are office blocks, coffee shops and selfie sticks. She is a reminder that the city’s culture is not just galleries and theatres, but lived history tied up alongside the pier. Stand on her deck at dusk, look across to the Tower of London, and you realise London does not really separate past and present. It just stacks them, one on top of the other, and invites you to walk through.
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London is too big and too alive to fit into a single visit, never mind a single post. So I am treating this as a living notebook. As I walk the city, ride the trains and wander along the river, I will keep adding new photos, short videos and fresh field notes from whatever catches my eye.
If London is your home, your favourite escape or just a place you pass through now and then, feel free to check back, leave a comment or share a suggestion for where I should explore next.
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