One of the best parts of travel to me is breaking away from the tourist hordes, and exploring the "local" side of where I am. I'm not saying don't follow the tourists and skip the guidebook locations. The tourists usually crowd these places for a good reason. The Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower are things you must see if you're in the neighborhood. It's just that my vacation isn't complete if I don't find an interesting place with nary a Hawaiian shirt in sight. A case in point was our last trip to London, England. We stayed in the Swiss Cottage area of London. I see you scratching you head, Swiss Cottage? And that's exactly what I found so appealing about staying there. We found it a wonderful, safe neighborhood, with many shops and restaurants. We stayed at the Swiss Cottage Hotel, which was a wonderful historic hotel, two minutes from the Underground. The day we arrived there after a 9 hour flight, my wife took a nap, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Come with me on this little photo journey of that walk, and you'll see what I mean about discovering the real character of a place by turning right when the tourists are turning left. This is the London that most tourists never see.