The Tube

One of the very cool things about London is their super easy transportation system. I read a statistic this morning that the underground subway or "Tube" transports about 5 million people every day. The city of London has about 7 million people living here. Pretty impressive. It has I believe 12 different lines that run constantly every few minutes from about 5 in the morning until 12:30 at night (except Sundays it's a little less).
When the Tube ISN'T running there are Night Buses that take you just about everywhere as well (they're just slightly more complicated to figure out).
The atmosphere on the Tube itself is interesting. Although people are crammed on (especially during peak morning and evening times) NO ONE talks. You can be smashed from all sides with your face 2 inches from someone's armpit, maybe crotch if you're lucky enough to have a seat, and it is silent. People stare straight ahead or read one of the many free papers that are handed out around the stops. I actually saw a guy yesterday ask someone if the guy next to him could please stop talking as he was helping a lady figure out which stop she needed to get off of. That was a little extreme. Most of the time people just give rude looks.
Anyway it's an interesting experience. It's absolutely amazing for someone like me who has no other way to get around because the city becomes so accessible with the Tube. I can go practically anywhere in London with all of the different lines and stops.
Yah for public transportation!