It has been interesting so far, especially in today’s tour, to see the stark differences in buildings for the different parts of the city. Today’s walk through the lower class areas helped me understand the contrasting lifestyles presented in North and South. It was even more powerful to be able to stand outside of a building that today has been renovated as a shop or a single family home and hear how people used to live 10 or more to a room. If anything after today’s tour I felt a little like the novel undersold the living conditions. While the workers are described as poor and living in small rooms, I never felt like they were as poor of conditions as we saw and heard about today. Higgins and his daughters’ home seemed to be livable for them. Perhaps the conditions were not as crowded further north. At any rate, seeing the area and hearing the vivid descriptions had so much impact on my reading, more than my imagination could provide for sure.