Lost in the City

David had been looking forward to his trip to London for months. He had saved money, booked his hotel, and made a long list of things he wanted to see: Big Ben, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the British Museum, and Hyde Park. He only had three days, so he wanted to plan carefully.

He arrived at St Pancras station on a Thursday afternoon. The station was enormous and very busy. David stood with his suitcase and looked around. He felt a little nervous, but also excited. He had never been to London before. He had only seen it in films and on television.

He took the Underground to his hotel and checked in. The room was small but clean. He had a view of a brick wall, but he did not mind. He was not planning to spend much time in his room.

On Friday morning, he got up early and had breakfast in a small café near the hotel. He studied his map while he drank his coffee. He decided to visit the Tower of London first. He took the Underground from the station near his hotel.

But he made a mistake. He got off one stop too early. He came out of the station and looked around. Nothing looked familiar. The street was quiet and mostly residential. There were no tourist signs. He opened his map, but he was not sure exactly where he was. The map was quite large and difficult to read on a windy street corner.

He walked for a few minutes in what he thought was the right direction, but he became less sure with each step. He stopped and looked around. He could see the river in the distance, but he was not certain which bridge was which.

He decided to ask someone for help. A woman was walking towards him with a bag of shopping. He stopped her politely and asked how to get to Tower Bridge.

She was very helpful. She told him he was about ten minutes away on foot. She explained that he needed to turn left at the traffic lights ahead, walk past the large supermarket, and then follow the signs to the river. She said he would be able to see the bridge from the embankment.

David thanked her and followed her directions carefully. He turned left at the traffic lights, walked past the supermarket, and found a path leading down to the river. After about fifteen minutes of walking, he came around a corner and saw it: Tower Bridge, standing over the Thames, grey and enormous and beautiful.

He stood and looked at it for a long time. He took many photographs — of the bridge, of the river, of the boats. He walked across the bridge and looked down at the water. The city stretched out around him in all directions.

He spent the rest of the morning at the Tower of London. He joined a guided tour and learned about the history of the building. He saw the Crown Jewels. He watched the ravens walking on the grass.

In the afternoon, he walked along the South Bank, eating a sandwich and watching the street performers. He was tired by the time he returned to his hotel, but it was a good kind of tired. He looked at his photos on his camera and felt pleased.

The next morning, before he left for the station, he wrote in the small notebook he always carried with him: "When you are lost, ask someone. It wastes less time than worrying, and you usually find something better than what you were looking for."

He thought that was probably true of many things, not just cities.