Students marched. Cockroaches protested. And somewhere in between, an Indian tourist was desperately searching for a free toilet.

Paris did not simply welcome us. It put us through a little entrance exam, complete with cultural jet lag, linguistic curveballs, and a sudden realisation that the traffic rules here appear to have been designed by someone who once lost a bet with chaos.

In one astonishing day, we ‘invaded’ three countries. France, Belgium and the Netherlands fell before our comfortable tourist bus, and by night we had reached Frankfurt in Germany.

“Just five more minutes!” Those are the famous five minutes that never obey the household timer. In a Paris home, a 14-year-old boy is glued to his mobile phone. His mother shouts, “The food is getting cold!” His father, half angry and half pleading, says, “Put the phone down.” The boy turns around and says, “Dad, this is the last video."

It may sound far-fetched. Yet the question is no longer confined to political circles. In a London coffee house, a casual conversation about Britain’s future soon turned into a serious discussion about its unity.

Is London just Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the Thames? After spending a few days there, I felt the real story of London isn’t in its stone buildings but in the people who live their lives among them.