London, UK

I love London at Christmas. Everyone thinks that NYC is the city to be in but i've come to realise that London is a much better place to be at this time of the year.

London really comes alive at Christmas, normally dull and grey the city seems to glow under the heavily fairy lighted trees, like the buildings have had a little spit and polish put to them.
People are more forgiving, kind and cheery, everyone has a little bit of Ho, Ho, Ho jovility in them. The air really does smell of roasting chestnuts instead of car fumes mixed with vomit and Thames water. (Although on my way home last night i had to manouver myself around at least 6 piles of puke) There are still many cobbled streets in London which seem so very Oliver Twist, the pubs are quaint with big firey hearths and the churches are filled with Carol services.

I spent this morning at The City of London Cemetery, not for fun although it is pretty impressive and in the past i spent many an hour bunking off of school lessons trying to find the oldest headstone. It's a 200 acre site near Epping Forest, it's been open since 1856 and my grandpa has his ashes stashed under a rose bush in the Garden Of Remembrance. So i took my nan for a visit, it seemed everybody was out to visit the dead before Christmas celebrations kicked in. What normally takes an hour there, back and a visit with my grandpa took 2.5 hours.

I needed a drink after that so jumped on the tube to meet my friends at The Ealing Park Tavern , a gastropub in Ealing where they were having dinner. As i was so behind, i only made it for dessert. I was exotic and chose the Basil Ice cream over the Death by Chocolate. Bad choice. I prefer my basil with olive oil and pasta. I was hoping that it would taste like lemon basil but no, it had a very distinctive basil flavor. I should of known by the amount of greenery sticking out of it.

After a visit to my friends new baby (Riley Isobel), a friend and I headed to Camden to meet friends at The Lock Tavern. I used to really love this pub, definitely a North London institution but now it seems to be overrun with underage hipsters and the great unwashed. I swore i saw Ronnie Wood walk past with his 20 year old Russian waitress girlfriend holding hands with Amy Winehouse holding hands with Daisy Lowe. Everybody is a Pete Doherty clone except those trying to emulate Bob Dylan and his groupies. It was pretty comical but The lock Tavern is still a great pub and the Fish & Chips were delicious. No question there.

I ran out of the pub for the last tube, something i love the thrill of, the ultimate adrenalin rush as missing the last tube means a £30 cab ride or the dreaded stranger-danger filled night bus. I caught it even though i tried to swipe through with my Metrocard.