Go-to Places...

One of the hard things about settling into a new city is finding all of those “go-to” places. This process is especially difficult when in a foreign country because all of the “go-to” places that you want to find aren’t necessarily there. We have been going through that process since moving to London about nine months ago. Being such a large city, there is a lot of diversity and many options when it comes to choosing shops, restaurants and places to go. But due to its size and layout, London is also a very difficult city to get to know. All of the good places to go are tucked away down hidden alleys, while all of the bland, overpriced, overcrowded places are right out in the open.

I’ll give an example of a recent struggle. I had to find a new pair of indoor soccer shoes for my Wednesday night soccer. You would think that in a country that is so football crazy, there would be widely available shoe shops (perhaps some even specializing in football equipment), with a huge range of shoes to choose from. Unfortunately this is not the case. The big shops that are easier to find didn’t carry many of the style of shoe I was looking for, and the shoes that they did have cost way more than I wanted to pay. The smaller shops are only open 9-5 Monday to Friday making them very hard to get to due to work. So, I consulted the phone book and for some strange reason, none of the shops that I was interested in answered their phone, additionally they did not have an answering machine! Finally, last Friday, I snuck out of work early to go and explore a couple of the shops from the phone book. I found one that had the exact shoes I was looking for at the right price, only a few miles from my house, and they are actually open until 8PM, so I can go after work in the future. So now I have a go to sports goods shop, but it took me weeks to find.

The best way to find these go-to places is when you just stumble on them and that is exactly what happened this weekend. We were exploring a little market just off Oxford Street. As we were getting to the end of the market (and the neighbourhood was starting to look a bit seedy), Heather spotted a little Cal-Mex restaurant. We enjoyed the best burritos that I have had since Café Rio or Barbacoa in Salt Lake. The best part was that we both ate for less than £10! It is so hard to find good Mexican food here (perhaps due to the fact that there are no Mexicans in England). This truly is an extraordinary find.