Night in Tunisia

In Londontown

Third day in Londontown and not a bit of fog yet. What a marvelous world of history, diversity, artistry and smog. I am constantly amazed by the multitude of people and the diversity of humanity in this town. I have heard people accented with the languages of places from every corner of the world in this place, English accents are almost hard to come by. And I find that already my neck is kinked with a particular bend from straining my eyes upward toward the details in the architecture that loom over me. Every narrow street is like a chasm and every wall is distinct. I am almost disappointed to find that Londoners forget to look, to marvel at the wonder of generation stacked upon generation and the sum of that history written in the walls. All the same I can appreciate the confusion it creates as well. There is an odd discord that is created by the luxury and intensity of so many richly designed structures in such close proximity. Perhaps Londoners block it out or gloss over it for their sanity.

We toured the town and saw the sights from the second story of an open air double decker. A whirlwind tour if ever there was one. It was a beautiful, unashamedly touristic event and gave us a feel for the rich history of the area. Who could have imagined so many years of history, so many generations of mankind concentrated and etched in one place? Very revealing.

We would dearly love to do it all, tour St. Pauls, visit the Dungeons of London, spelunk in the British Museum and so much more. It would take years to begin to uncover this great city, more years than I think I have available for it. I begin to wonder what I will find in Tunis and Carthage where the history goes back still further. I suppose we'll find out soon.

posted by tiaraletourneau @ 1:34 p.m.