Comparing London with Washington DC is similar on the surface and very different in detailed experience. Going to London, one may sense going back in time. Going to Washington DC, one may sense visiting a fight at ringside.
On holiday travel to London, I had the opportunity to compare it with my home community of Washington DC and the metroplex. London is the capital of Great Britain as DC is for the USA. They are both the seats of government.
When you watch BBC news sometimes, you may see the Prime Minister standing before members of Parliament taking questions and answering them on the fly. We don’t see that in the USA. The President may address Congress as he delivers the State of the Union speech, however, he is the guest in Congress and is given special consideration as President.
Sometimes there rare outbursts with a congressman shouting something to the President, calling him a liar and such. But, that is most unusual. In England, members of Parliament may ask imposing questions and the PM answers them directly.
That is a cursory description on a high order.
In London, there is a sitting Queen and Royal Court. We don’t have that. We have Mitch McConnell instead.
In DC we have monuments galore celebrating past Presidents and military heroes. We have buildings named for distinguished public servants. We are not building as fast as we once did and that is a good thing because we are running out of distinguished public servants to name them.
In London, people live and work right up to the edges of the royal gates. There are large parks that the royalty share with citizens. In DC, we see similar circumstances although there are vast populations of impoverished people living in both places.
High priced real estate continues to be developed that will remain out of reach for most citizens.
In London there is spectacular old architecture. The communities in which people live have been preserved, so people live in smaller scale flats more so than in DC. Anyway, nation’s capitals are wonderful places to visit and to appreciate architecture and culture.
In London, the skyline is beginning to resemble New York City. Maybe that is a better comparison.
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