Perception of Charlotte Nationwide

[Windsurfer]

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

[Temeteron]

1 hour ago, Windsurfer said:

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

Cringe Alert

[davidclt]

2 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

For all the quality enumerated and then . . . this

[stw52]

6 hours ago, Temeteron said:

Cringe Alert

why doesn't he advertise on CATS, we know they need the money more! 

[DCMetroRaleigh]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:36 AM, Windsurfer said:

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

Definitely for worse

[KJHburg]

Lets move all this Christian bashing to another thread or better yet keep it to yourself.  

Franklin Graham is not even from Charlotte and his organization is based in Boone. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by KJHburg

[davidclt]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Lets move all this Christian bashing to another thread or better yet keep it to yourself.  

Franklin Graham is not even from Charlotte and his organization is based in Boone. 

@KJHburg, respectfully, I would not call this "Christian bashing." I don't see any Christian bashing, I see Franklin Graham bashing. To classify FG as an avatar of Christianity is a bit disingenuous. Frankly as a Christian, Franklin Graham isn't any Christian I recognize (although I believe he would also find me to be a CINO).

To which scripture does he adhere?

Love your neighbor as yourself.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Edited September 9, 2023 by davidclt
Fixed typo

[nakers2]

On 9/7/2023 at 10:30 PM, DJ8hep said:

My favorite kind of quiz! Haha I had two super easy guesses (Minneapolis and of course Charlotte!)

60% of readers got Charlotte. Could be that most WaPo readers are East Coast residents, but seeing as the only ones that got higher (All 75%) are Las Vegas, with a very distinct stadium and obviously in the desert per the photo, and Chicago with the Willis/Sears tower, and Seattle with the Space Needle. Being the most recognized behind those places is not nothing. 

[Crucial_Infra]

5 hours ago, nakers2 said:

60% of readers got Charlotte. Could be that most WaPo readers are East Coast residents, but seeing as the only ones that got higher (All 75%) are Las Vegas, with a very distinct stadium and obviously in the desert per the photo, and Chicago with the Willis/Sears tower, and Seattle with the Space Needle. Being the most recognized behind those places is not nothing. 

Charlotte was also the only shot where the name of the stadium was clearly visible (panther logo as well) so maybe we’re not as recognizable as we like. Still, those aren’t bad numbers. 

[LKN704]

I'm in town for a week visiting my folks, and a friend from DC was also here (for the first time) for a work conference for the past two weeks. I picked her up at her hotel earlier today and we went to lunch in Plaza Midwood and then walked around Camp North End and drove through the South End before I dropped her off at the airport. Here's what she thought of the city (criticism really):

• She thought the city had an amazing business environment - in the sense of the excellent spots in Uptown to go for lunch, the nice convention center, the ample hotels around Uptown, the decent bars to go to after work - that sort of thing. She said she wouldn't mind attending a conference again in Charlotte. 
• She thought UNC Charlotte was beautiful and was an asset to the city. She said she was bored throughout her trip and took the light rail to campus a few times and just walked around. She said it was easily one of the most beautiful campuses she's ever seen. 
• She thought the city was devoid of culture...she said the region had a generic "Applebee's culture" and she felt people who live in Charlotte just go to work, hang out with co-workers at a brewery after work, and then just go home and do nothing else.  One thing that she thought was weird is that people in Charlotte said they loved to live in Charlotte because "it's close to Charleston" or "because it's close to the mountains." She said that would be like saying "I like to live in DC because it's close to Philly" or "I like to live in SF because it's close to Lake Tahoe." 
• The lack of third spaces bothered her. She asked if there was a park we could go to and have a bottle of wine and people-watch in the middle of the day (as we often do in DC)...that type of thing just doesn't exist in cities outside of NYC/DC/SF so it really isn't a fault of Charlotte. 
• She thought the neighborhoods outside of Uptown - NoDa, the South End, and Plaza Midwood in particular, all felt incredibly rural to her. She said she was excited to go to NoDa and pictured it being like Greenwich Village (which I can understand as that's how it is somewhat described) and was sad to see it was just a tiny commercial strip. She was shocked at how car-centric the South End was and how suburban it felt. She said something akin to "Do people who live here just drive to bars and then return home and stare out the window of their apartment onto that road?"
• She's Asian American and said that people she interacted with were constantly asking "where she was from" and that she got cat-called here on the light rail more in the past two weeks than she ever did in DC in the past two years. Other than that she did like the light rail and thought it was fine if you planned your day around its schedule. 

A lot of the things she noted weren't really unique to Charlotte but rather common to all of Charlotte's peer cities (Indy, Columbus, Kansas City, etc.)...she was born and raised in NYC, has only ever lived in NYC/SF/DC, and hasn't traveled throughout the South, other than going to bachelorette parties in Austin and Charleston, so just keep that in mind. She'd likely say the same thing about any other city that wasn't NYC/SF/DC/LA/BOS/CHI. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by LKN704

[videtur quam contuor]

That is an honest report.

[elrodvt]

Good review.  I think there are plenty of interesting cities more or less our size (although I can't think of one in the South off hand). With the right leadership and a different ncga it's possible to turn this ship. Our city leaders go visit them to benchmark but I've yet to see anything concrete come from it. 

[Temeteron]

3 hours ago, LKN704 said:

I'm in town for a week visiting my folks, and a friend from DC was also here (for the first time) for a work conference for the past two weeks. I picked her up at her hotel earlier today and we went to lunch in Plaza Midwood and then walked around Camp North End and drove through the South End before I dropped her off at the airport. Here's what she thought of the city (criticism really):

• She thought the city had an amazing business environment - in the sense of the excellent spots in Uptown to go for lunch, the nice convention center, the ample hotels around Uptown, the decent bars to go to after work - that sort of thing. She said she wouldn't mind attending a conference again in Charlotte. 
• She thought UNC Charlotte was beautiful and was an asset to the city. She said she was bored throughout her trip and took the light rail to campus a few times and just walked around. She said it was easily one of the most beautiful campuses she's ever seen. 
• She thought the city was devoid of culture...she said the region had a generic "Applebee's culture" and she felt people who live in Charlotte just go to work, hang out with co-workers at a brewery after work, and then just go home and do nothing else.  One thing that she thought was weird is that people in Charlotte said they loved to live in Charlotte because "it's close to Charleston" or "because it's close to the mountains." She said that would be like saying "I like to live in DC because it's close to Philly" or "I like to live in SF because it's close to Lake Tahoe." 
• The lack of third spaces bothered her. She asked if there was a park we could go to and have a bottle of wine and people-watch in the middle of the day (as we often do in DC)...that type of thing just doesn't exist in cities outside of NYC/DC/SF so it really isn't a fault of Charlotte. 
• She thought the neighborhoods outside of Uptown - NoDa, the South End, and Plaza Midwood in particular, all felt incredibly rural to her. She said she was excited to go to NoDa and pictured it being like Greenwich Village (which I can understand as that's how it is somewhat described) and was sad to see it was just a tiny commercial strip. She was shocked at how car-centric the South End was and how suburban it felt. She said something akin to "Do people who live here just drive to bars and then return home and stare out the window of their apartment onto that road?"
• She's Asian American and said that people she interacted with were constantly asking "where she was from" and that she got cat-called here on the light rail more in the past two weeks than she ever did in DC in the past two years. Other than that she did like the light rail and thought it was fine if you planned your day around its schedule. 

A lot of the things she noted weren't really unique to Charlotte but rather common to all of Charlotte's peer cities (Indy, Columbus, Kansas City, etc.)...she was born and raised in NYC, has only ever lived in NYC/SF/DC, and hasn't traveled throughout the South, other than going to bachelorette parties in Austin and Charleston, so just keep that in mind. She'd likely say the same thing about any other city that wasn't NYC/SF/DC/LA/BOS/CHI. 

I can understand how she feels coming from a massive place like NYC but it also depends what day of the week and if there are things going on uptown/South end.  Also,  you can easily do the “drink wine at the park” and people watch at both Freedom Park and Romare Bearden Park.  Used to do that all the time!  As far as the cat calling that is very unfortunate.  Let’s not forgot Charlotte also has a lot of transplants from bumbleville small towns that don’t know how to act.  

Edited October 11, 2023 by Temeteron

[LKN704]

One thing I would add - she really liked the Diamond! I personally thought it went downhill (though I didn't say anything because I didn't want to influence her opinion)...I vaguely recall there being more Greek-ish items on the menu (they might have even had a Greek section on the menu at one point?) but it is still a treat as DC lacks divey diner spots. Their chicken salad sandwich and sweet potato fries were as good as I remember.

42 minutes ago, Temeteron said:

Also,  you can easily do the “drink wine at the park” and people watch at both Freedom Park and Romare Bearden Park.

I thought about taking her there - but I was a bit worried about drinking in public here. I regularly drink in public in DC -  I'll walk to bars or a friend's house at night with an open beer or a drink in a plastic cup or I will have a picnic with a bottle of wine but I wasn't sure about local etiquette or if CMPD actively would cite folks for that. 

[nakers2]

5 hours ago, LKN704 said:

A lot of the things she noted weren't really unique to Charlotte but rather common to all of Charlotte's peer cities (Indy, Columbus, Kansas City, etc.)...she was born and raised in NYC, has only ever lived in NYC/SF/DC, and hasn't traveled throughout the South, other than going to bachelorette parties in Austin and Charleston, so just keep that in mind. She'd likely say the same thing about any other city that wasn't NYC/SF/DC/LA/BOS/CHI. 

     I'm going to try and be civil, because many of the criticisms she levied are very valid, but this is about what I'd expect given her background. The idea of the coastal elite, though often weaponized, is a very real phenomenon we see from NoVa northward. The fact is that more people than could ever possibly fit in these cities would love to live in these places. That is why they are so often romanticized in popular media, or emulated to varying degrees of success in smaller cities nationally and globally. To have lived in one of these cities, or even just a place that excels over another (such as my Belgian mother when it comes to chocolate and beer) and then to move to smaller place, or a less established place, can be like trading in your Mercedes for a Toyota. But much like in the latter example, when one makes that choice, who knows? They might be able to get two Camrys for the price of that S class. Perhaps it's a bit ironic to use cars as an example when one of the biggest complaints your friend has was car dependence, but I think that being the case most on this forum could relate to the value calculation. Ultimately that's what Charlotte (and cities like it) are, value calculations.

     A city like NYC is the creme de la creme, top notch, you got everything you need, but at a cost. For the privileged a city like NYC is a playground, but for the working class it can be tiresome making that high "payment" every month, and especially for the working poor, the risks associated with being lower class is a city like NYC, where the seedy underbelly is the stuff of pop culture legend, a place like Charlotte can offer the chance at a better and safer life than one might find in the northeast. I don't want to assume too much of your friend, but usually low paying jobs don't fly you to conferences. I won't comment on the catcalling other than to say it's unfortunate, and the "where are you from" question is one that gets asked a lot of my girlfriend, but it's often from transplants as much as it's from locals, people up north just mind their business more, I wouldn't look at it as any more than nosiness rather than racism. 

     I guess in short, your friend is at least moderately successful, in a stable career, likes the big city feel, can clearly afford or is at least willing to compromise enough to make it work, and doesn't have much experience living in the South. It's not for everyone, but personally I like living in a place where you can more clearly see the change and growth. Not many places in the US where you can look at a view less than five years apart and not recognize it. 

[LKN704]

9 hours ago, nakers2 said:

     I'm going to try and be civil, because many of the criticisms she levied are very valid, but this is about what I'd expect given her background. The idea of the coastal elite, though often weaponized, is a very real phenomenon we see from NoVa northward. The fact is that more people than could ever possibly fit in these cities would love to live in these places. That is why they are so often romanticized in popular media, or emulated to varying degrees of success in smaller cities nationally and globally. To have lived in one of these cities, or even just a place that excels over another (such as my Belgian mother when it comes to chocolate and beer) and then to move to smaller place, or a less established place, can be like trading in your Mercedes for a Toyota. But much like in the latter example, when one makes that choice, who knows? They might be able to get two Camrys for the price of that S class. Perhaps it's a bit ironic to use cars as an example when one of the biggest complaints your friend has was car dependence, but I think that being the case most on this forum could relate to the value calculation. Ultimately that's what Charlotte (and cities like it) are, value calculations.

     A city like NYC is the creme de la creme, top notch, you got everything you need, but at a cost. For the privileged a city like NYC is a playground, but for the working class it can be tiresome making that high "payment" every month, and especially for the working poor, the risks associated with being lower class is a city like NYC, where the seedy underbelly is the stuff of pop culture legend, a place like Charlotte can offer the chance at a better and safer life than one might find in the northeast. I don't want to assume too much of your friend, but usually low paying jobs don't fly you to conferences. I won't comment on the catcalling other than to say it's unfortunate, and the "where are you from" question is one that gets asked a lot of my girlfriend, but it's often from transplants as much as it's from locals, people up north just mind their business more, I wouldn't look at it as any more than nosiness rather than racism. 

     I guess in short, your friend is at least moderately successful, in a stable career, likes the big city feel, can clearly afford or is at least willing to compromise enough to make it work, and doesn't have much experience living in the South. It's not for everyone, but personally I like living in a place where you can more clearly see the change and growth. Not many places in the US where you can look at a view less than five years apart and not recognize it. 

I think your rebuttal is fair and frankly, I would even agree with you in regard to the coastal elite. I've encountered plenty of people from the northeast (haven't really experienced with people from the west coast) who were disgusted that I lived in NC for some time. 

My friend comes from a working-class background and grew up in public housing so I wouldn't necessarily consider her coastal elite. She works at a non-profit and just finally started making 55k - below the per capita income of DC. Like you said, people are often willing to make compromises to make city living work. She does so by living in a row house with four other people  - certainly not everyone's cup of tea. 

In regard to the "where are you really from" question, that is a microaggression that specifically affects the Asian American community. It's racist. No one has ever asked me "where I was really from" (as in what part of Europe) as a white man. 

[Professor]

20 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

I think your rebuttal is fair and frankly, I would even agree with you in regard to the coastal elite. I've encountered plenty of people from the northeast (haven't really experienced with people from the west coast) who were disgusted that I lived in NC for some time. 

My friend comes from a working-class background and grew up in public housing so I wouldn't necessarily consider her coastal elite. She works at a non-profit and just finally started making 55k - below the per capita income of DC. Like you said, people are often willing to make compromises to make city living work. She does so by living in a row house with four other people  - certainly not everyone's cup of tea. 

In regard to the "where are you really from" question, that is a microaggression that specifically affects the Asian American community. It's racist. No one has ever asked me "where I was really from" (as in what part of Europe) as a white man. 

My last long-time residence away from Charlotte was in Boston.  I liked it fine and had no adjustment issues.  I found people there friendly enough, and any comments or humor about my accent were always positive. People seem to be less hostile in their own environments, I didn't generally see much difference in locals from here or there except for their odd accent.  In regard to negativity about asking an Asian or anyone else where they are from, I don't understand the racist assumption. I don't care if I am in a bar or any other place. If someone speaks with a non-familiar accent, I often ask where they are from. I only do it as an act of friendliness, hoping to open an interesting conversation. I also ask "white" people where they are from if they have an unfamiliar accent. I casually present the question after a friendly tone has been established and don't just walk up and ask.

 My best friend is from southeast Asia, he is fine with being asked where he is from. He often asks others the same question. Maybe being educated and professional makes him feel secure?  Other Asian friends are not offended if asked in a friendly tone. Perhaps it is because they see me interacting with strangers and see me as   either innocently curious or nosy. In reality, I'm probably both.   When I travel abroad, I am regularly asked about my accent.  Why should I get angry?  I am proud of who I am (not as proud these days if you know what I mean). Americans are probably the most hated nationality on earth.  I do my best to change that image when I travel. Bottom line, who cares what some nut from NYC, DC, Boston, or Phili thinks? They are coming here and moving here not visa-versa. If we aren't good enough, they should stay. I have noticed that the ones move here are not as classy or nice as the ones that stay. They tend to mistake money with class. Besides, I am sure that they were not as advanced and enjoyed our standard of living we see today when they were  small (compared to them) like us. We are a newer city and have lots to look forward to.  All they tentatively have to look forward to is poverty, declining populations, and lawlessness. 

[CLT2014]

I'm not surprised by her experience in Charlotte. NoDa is small and definitely not like Greenwich Village! I'm from Southern California and despite the region having ~18 million people, the region's sprawl typically resulted in most people from areas like NY/Chicago/Boston/DC, et... commenting on how suburban everything is and often not liking it. This is simply due to the built environment being different than what they are used to. The reality is Charlotte is a Sun Belt city and we largely get around our city like people in Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Tampa, Jacksonville, Nashville, Houston, et. versus the Bostons, DCs, and New Yorks of the world.

Edited October 11, 2023 by CLT2014

[tozmervo]

21 hours ago, LKN704 said:

• She thought the city was devoid of culture...she said the region had a generic "Applebee's culture" and she felt people who live in Charlotte just go to work, hang out with co-workers at a brewery after work, and then just go home and do nothing else.  One thing that she thought was weird is that people in Charlotte said they loved to live in Charlotte because "it's close to Charleston" or "because it's close to the mountains." She said that would be like saying "I like to live in DC because it's close to Philly" or "I like to live in SF because it's close to Lake Tahoe." 
• The lack of third spaces bothered her. She asked if there was a park we could go to and have a bottle of wine and people-watch in the middle of the day (as we often do in DC)...that type of thing just doesn't exist in cities outside of NYC/DC/SF so it really isn't a fault of Charlotte. 

My only $.02 on this is that the breweries often are the third space for people. I think they are much more integral to Charlotte culture than they are in peer cities like DC and Atlanta. 

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, tozmervo said:

My only $.02 on this is that the breweries often are the third space for people. I think they are much more integral to Charlotte culture than they are in peer cities like DC and Atlanta. 

You also have locations like the Whitewater Center and many of the new luxury apartments in areas like South End provide "third space" amenities outside of your unit that don't exist in an older building in urban DC, NY, Boston, et. Things like swimming pools, gyms, community lounges, et... Whereas a hot summer day in New York, people may gather in Central Park, South End residents are gathered around the pools of their "luxury" apartments. Overall I think there are less "public" amenities in Charlotte (and many Sun Belt cities) compared to the grand legacy cities where there was planning. Charlotte is the opposite of a planned city (hence the status of streets outside of Uptown). Really a small town that morphed into a city. As that happened, some amenities ended up private rather than public. 

Edited October 11, 2023 by CLT2014

[nakers2]

14 hours ago, LKN704 said:

I think your rebuttal is fair and frankly, I would even agree with you in regard to the coastal elite. I've encountered plenty of people from the northeast (haven't really experienced with people from the west coast) who were disgusted that I lived in NC for some time. 

My friend comes from a working-class background and grew up in public housing so I wouldn't necessarily consider her coastal elite. She works at a non-profit and just finally started making 55k - below the per capita income of DC. Like you said, people are often willing to make compromises to make city living work. She does so by living in a row house with four other people  - certainly not everyone's cup of tea. 

In regard to the "where are you really from" question, that is a microaggression that specifically affects the Asian American community. It's racist. No one has ever asked me "where I was really from" (as in what part of Europe) as a white man. 

I recently visited Oregon and Washington, as well as lived in California when I was younger (in other words, my adult interactions were limited) and the reactions I generally got when I told people I was from North Carolina were at best, apathy, and at the worst, negatively opinionated. I just think our state gets lumped in with the rest of the South, and I suppose I'm too proud to just throw the rest of the South under the bus to make us seem better even though I do sometimes want to. I think NC does small towns, and natural beauty just as good as any other state, but when it comes to our cities, they're largely new and developing beyond what folks from more established cities expect. My brother and I ran into each other in NoDa the other day, and he lamented as he often realizes how "small" Charlotte is sometimes when that happens, and I had to remind him that NoDa is like a small town within a city, similar to Plaza, or parts of Southend. If I'd decided to go elsewhere that night our paths might never have crossed. In a city like NYC or DC, that is far less likely to happen, though I'd still argue more likely in DC as I could absolutely see myself running into a friend if we both were in Georgetown or Adams-Morgan, etc. 

As far as your friend, I didn't want to make too broad of an assumption, but you said it yourself, she's making major sacrifices by living with four others, meanwhile I just bought a home that could house four (or more) people in Stallings (just outside Charlotte in Union County) which to your friend might as well be hell on earth. Albeit 55k still won't afford you a super nice home, a decent apartment, or maybe just one roommate would be necessary in Southend, for example,

Regarding the last part of your post, I have to push back on the fact that the question ONLY affects Asian Americans. My girlfriend is actually from China (in other words, just Asian) so she often feels conflicting pressure to either say the truth, which to be more specific would be Wuhan (obviously not a good answer to have in recent years) or play the coy "I'm from {insert adoptive family's home city here]" it also doesn't help that she's Jewish which leads to even more uncomfortable questions, especially in the past few days. Also, if I'm not being as pedantic, I could point to the numerous Latin Americans in my life, including my brothers girlfriend and sister who are often hit on with that same classic line. They are both white passing so it almost always is followed by "oh wow, I'd have guessed Spain!" or some variant thereof. Last but not least, my Belgian mother is still asked to this day where she's from, and even if Belgium is a first world country, she was fired from her first job here because she biked to work and couldn't run home to change her shirt. Is the latter example as extreme as the racial component your friend experienced? No, certainly not, but it's a microagression nonetheless. 

[Crucial_Infra]

I knew this person didn’t have much experience outside a few elite world cities when I read her analysis. It’s not a knock on her or anyone from New York but New Yorkers are some of the most provincial people in the US. In fact, they might be the most provincial. And it’s not really their fault, either. Not only is everything there but so is the focus of the world.

[Professor]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:36 AM, Windsurfer said:

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

Nice photo. It looks like a nice cool, dry day in my favorite city. I like the ad on the bus. I am not a religious guy, but It represents peace and love.  Such ads certainly can't hurt these days. 

[davidclt]

12 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

I knew this person didn’t have much experience outside a few elite world cities when I read her analysis. It’s not a knock on her or anyone from New York but New Yorkers are some of the most provincial people in the US. In fact, they might be the most provincial. And it’s not really their fault, either. Not only is everything there but so is the focus of the world.

Always reminds me of this: View of the World from 9th Avenue - Wikipedia

[Professor]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:36 AM, Windsurfer said:

I can't begin to tell you the quantity of common day products I see in Oregon from Charlotte....Charlotte Pipe and Foundry PVC pipes, EB1 Gunk, etc.  Anyway, attached is a photo of another one of our exports, for better or worse. look closely at the billing on the side of the bus. I shot this on the way to Imperial Museum in London as per Singer's recommendation. Pretty good museum, I'll add.

Glad you made it. It's a nice walk from Westminster to the museum. Glad to see the weather is dry and cool. I think the ad on the bus is a nice change. As a person not very religious, I find peaceful ads representing something good are a pleasant change. Eat some great Indian food while there.