local color

It was time for another haircut, so that meant a trip back to what is still my favorite area of London. I'm calling it Whitechapel, though I could be wrong about the name. It turned out that the barber shop wasn't open yet, so I killed some time wandering the neighborhood, only to discover that the side streets were full of great street art. You couldn't turn a corner without running into another great piece on the side of a wall. I doubled back to the shop again, still no barber, so I managed to find a hidden arts and shopping area and sat in a coffee shop filled with "workie" guys for a while. The neighborhood had been mostly still asleep with markets and stores closed - a far cry from the vibrant bustle of my first visit there last week. As I walked back again to the barber, gates were opening and the street was coming alive. Though it ended up taking a couple more hours out of my sleep time than I had planned, it was really nice to sit and soak in the neighborhood, and well worth it.