In the capital of England, people speak — you guessed it! — English. Londoners speak with a British accent, which strikes many Americans as either funny or fancy. As in Ireland, it's pretty easy to understand English accents in the well-educated, wealthy city. Farther into the countryside, it might get harder to tell what words lurk behind English people's regional accents.
England runs on the pound sterling. Like American dollars, pound notes have pictures of important people on them, such as the current Queen Elizabeth II. The symbol for pound is £, and the abbreviation is GBP.
You can find a bottle of water for £1.20 at a cheap convenience store or tourist shop.
My favorite meal in London was at an Indian restaurant called Punjab. Partly because Britain ruled India from 1858 to 1947, London is one of the best places in the world to eat Indian food. I ate at Punjab with an Indian friend who knew all the best dishes to order, including tandoori paneer (which is grilled pieces of cheese) and a seasonal pumpkin curry.
For lunch one day, we also ate at a Lebanese restaurant called Maroush. I ate at Maroush the last time I was in London, back in 2012. I wanted to go back and see if it was as good as I remembered.
