Touring Shoreditch - London's Coolest Neighborhood

How do you see one of the world's most exciting cities in two days?  You don't.  All you can do is try to hit all the coolest spots as fast as you possibly can.  And it helps if you have a local tour guide- we were lucky enough to have two.  After chatting over a pint, we concluded we had to go to Shoreditch.  So off we went.

The Shoreditch neighborhood of London is like a combination of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Jackson Heights, Queens, and Lower East Side, Manhattan.  It's a street art mecca, a shopaholic's dream and if you like Indian food, you've come to the right place.  It's the home of Nike's 1948 outpost as well as a number of other street and skate shops, all of which have a hipster-type vibe (cue camp caps, skinny jeans, and ombre hair).

While we were there, we caught a Mr. Bathing Ape sample sale, visited a restaurant with Damien Hirst's massive Cock and Bull installation on display, and saw more graffiti than we could keep track of.  Staple artists in the area included Roa, D*Face and Shepard Fairey and the street art was so dense that it was basically a never-ending outdoor art gallery.  Needless to say, the neighborhood is a must-go if you plan to visit London. We could have spent a week there, unfortunately we only had 5 hours.