When I lived in Greece I had quite a few friends that had lived or spent some amount of time in London. When I told them I was moving here seven out of ten people looked at me like I was crazy, often followed by the words, "London...? really?" (those other three were in most cases Londoners). I actually still get that look from people when I get out of the city. People look at me with an expression that says "why would anyone want to live in
London? no honestly, I've been there, I just don't get it" but ask me really politely if I am doing alright. In which case I always smile and say that I couldn't be better.
Ask just about any "Londoner" what they think about London though and almost everyone loves it, not in a "I suppose it is pretty good" sort of way, but actually really like it. I suppose that is normal for a city where a small fraction of the population happens to be born and bred here, which means almost every person living in the city is here by choice. (Plus that normally means the individuals are more driven and ambitious than your average Joe). Besides they pretty much better as it would otherwise be ridiculous to pay so much time, energy and money to live here.
I'd say tourists are definitely one of the biggest landmarks in London. They are literally everywhere. If I would see London one day without a single tourist I would probably be more freaked out than if there was a bomb scare at my local tube station. Still I am always really surprised why people come here as tourists. The geographical landmarks are far less interesting than in just about any other European city. You have to go through the London airports (or at least one of them). There sure are great museums and exhibitions here, but not nearly all of them go there. There are far nicer shopping streets than Oxford Street and Regent Street. Everything is about twice as expensive as it needs to be (still cheaper than Iceland! It says more about Iceland though). Allowing myself to stereotype that is pretty much what, at least first time visitors, do in London: Trafalgar Square, H&M on Oxford Street and party on Leicester Square.
I find London great despite these things. As any good citizen of London would do, I do my very best to avoid as far as humanly possible to visit those places. When I do I make sure to moan about it before, during and after. Then be a bit frustrated when I secretly enjoy it. Still on any day of the week I'd rather go to a tiny, dirty bar in Hackney than a glamorous club on Leicester square (even though that probably would not be very good for my health), finding a H&M with a reasonably long queue is a precious experience (Hammersmith! God, I miss working there, they even had Primark and Sushi too). There is nothing better than finding a great little hole in the wall restaurant. Then moving on to a bar that is a little quirky. Or has surprisingly cheap drinks. My favorite is finding a place that serves really good coffee (fortunately they've got Starbucks on every other corner). Then you tell your friends about it and try to remember where it is. After a lot of these swap stories you start having a mental map of places to be, things to see and what to do. Plus all the gigs. The gigs are great.
But I think I have finally figured out why Londoners love London. I do not know a single person in this city that is not spreading themselves a tad thinner (or you know, a lot) than can be considered healthy. Everyone works crazy hours plus an additional hour or two on transport every day. So when the long desired free time finally arrives, the aim is for excellence. As you only have a time to do a fraction of what you'd like to, you always go for the most awesome option. Pretty good life, innit? Having to prioritize from awesome to great. There is absolutely no need to eat at an so and so restaurant when there is a great one next corner down. You'll hopefully have more than one friend that you try to fit into an evening here and there. As your friends are just as busy as you are, plus travel takes ages you will not be able to see them as often as you like. When you finally do you have a great time as there is so much catching up to do. There is definitely some research involved, but it's not the destination is it? Plus if it was really bad you have new material of complaints, which after bitching about the weather, no respectable Londoner could possibly pass down.
