So in all my excitement about posting photos from Edinburgh I completely forgot about the ones from London and Cambridge. I didn't take as many photos there in general though because, after Petersburg, they didn't appeal to my dilapidation-loving photographic sensibilities. Or maybe I was just otherwise unmotivated.




I was in London all of about 5 or 6 hours, and I spent most of it being absolutely appalled at the prices of everything. Sure, St. Petersburg is an expensive city for things like buying apartments, eating out, and buying clothes (especially considering average wages), but a ride on the Metro costs like a dollar, and a round-trip bus ride to a nearby country's capital will probably set you back only like $60 or $70, whereas a train to Moscow is probably around $30. I'm not raggin' too hard on London though. I'm sure I'd appreciate being able to get sick and not bankrupt myself dealing with it, not to mention those weeks and weeks of sweet, sweet vacation time. You win some; you lose some.




Unlike St. Pete, where everything is interesting in its ridiculousness and ripe for photographing on account of it being either completely out-of-place in a developed(ish) country, or on account of it being this once-beautiful old shit that is now falling apart, Cambridge was just... nice. All pretty and put-together and clean. Meh? Oh man, those thrift shops though! I'm quite glad that I made it a priority to look through those. For very reasonable prices I was able to make my disintegrating Russian wardrobe last through summer and into fall.






Also, politeness. I noticed that shit from the second the border/customs lady opened her mouth to talk to me. Want to know why big-city Russians are so tough? It's because everyone is an asshole to everyone else all the time, so you have to grow your skin thick. Anyway, those British manners rocked my socks off. Damn.