Welp, I'm back in London again! This time it'll be a brief trip, only a week long.

This time I was prepared for the late summer/early Autumn weather. Typically when Americans think London weather, the main thing that comes to mind is a grey, cold and rainy city. Well, it may still be grey and a little rainy, but it is definitely not cold! It wouldn't hurt to bring a light rain jacket, but otherwise you need to dress like it's mid-summer in SF. As someone who grew up in the bone-dry heat of the high desert, temp gauges stating "70F degrees" can be VERY misleading. One word: HUMIDITY

But enough about the weather, more about the city! This time around Michelle and I are staying in the Kensington area where her work is located (the main reason for the trip). It's a very nice part of London although it is noticeably touristy compared to Shoreditch or Islington, the areas where we stayed before. Many of the buildings have been converted into hotels or hostels so there's an unusual amount lot of late-night activity for such a distanced neighborhood. To make things stranger, if the buildings aren't being used by a collection of students/travelers, then they're owned by a wealthy family, so the area still has an upper-class neighborhood feel to it.

Ah the Scirocco. The elusive yet sexier European cousin of the GTI. Such a tease...

Our place is located within a 3 min of Hyde Park. Not the worst place in the city to be.

Oh look! Some blue sky!

The Shard is a pretty amazing looking building. It stands out quite a bit compared to all of the older building arourn, especially since it's so difficult to build skyscrapers in London.

Gotta love how well London combines the new & old architecture styles.

Or how well they combine contrasting styles in general. That new vs old juxtaposition is present everywhere you look in this city. Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!