Why London?London is arguably now the most exciting city in the world. Well, it depends of course what you are coming for - but for variety of art, restaurants, theatre, museums, green space and sheer energy - when taken together - it beats New York and Paris hands down. Paris is a more beautiful city, and New York more exciting architecturally - but London has a charm that is hard to resist.

However, it is not an easy city - locals are not naturally welcoming, and walking into a pub or bar in search of a conversation is unlikely to elicit the desired response. New York is much friendlier in this respect. But the real uniqueness of London revolves around its village atmosphere - each district has its own distinct character, whether Chelsea, Islington, Kensington, Knightsbridge, the City. Part of this is historic, in the way the city has evolved over the centuries by enveloping outlying villages and suburbs - and part down to the fact that periodic conflagrations such as the Great Fire of London on the 17thC and the Blitz of the 20th have enabled the city to have regular injections of fresh architectural blood.