It's a little out of date, but it's up!
We are alive and well in London. Our feet are a bit sore from walking EVERYWHERE!!, but we're enjoying getting to know our new home. We are staying in some great corporate housing in canary wharf (the new business sector of the city) with a great view of the east side of London. We have been looking around at some houses and it is CRAZY how expensive it is here. We've seen signs for 5,000 up to 15,000 pounds per week for an apartment. Needless to say we're a bit out of our league. :) We found a couple cute apartments though.
Here is a quick recap of our time here thus far: Wednesday - sleep zero hours in the US; depart 9:30 am arrive UK 9:50 pm. We were picked up by a personal driver with sign, that conveniently drove a BMW 735i (fabulous). We went to our first corporate apartment and slept til 2:30 pm...a bit jet lagged. Thursday - walked around central London and found the Deloitte office...seemingly a very nice place. Walked around south kensington and chelsea at night, which was very nice, but my allegiances made it difficult for me to be there. We had dinner at a great little restaurant on the side of the road. We thought it was traditional English fare as it served "bangers and mash", but fortunately, it was a French brasserie and was delicious. The area is really nice, but a bit pricey, naturally.
Friday - walked around Notting Hill area for hours. It was very cold outside, down in the low 50's, with rainy mist....lovely. We had dinner with David Phillips, a fellow Aggie that works as manager for Fat Tire bikes, at a neat place (Electric) on Portobello Road. The Notting Hill area is really nice with tons of cute shops and side streets.
Saturday - still super jet lagged, but got up and walked around Holland Park, High Kensington Street, and Kensington Gardens, in and out of streets, up hills, down hills, etc. The weather perked up to a nice sunny by London standards (aka partly cloudy).
Sunday - woke up and popped over to the Hillsong Church in London. It was an overall interesting experience as it was quite different than the usual services and teaching we've become accustomed to at McLean Bible. We plan on going back next week, but will also check out other local churches along the way. After church, we took off to Islington and Angel areas of London and did what we do best...walked! We took the tube down to South Kensington and walked around for a bit. The weather today was terrible! Intermittant showers and cold wind gusts. Needless to say, a pop in to the coffee shop for a cappuccino was necessary. I must say, caffeinated AK is hilarious! We went to dinner tonight with Valerie, our colleague from DC who is also here. On our way back east after dinner, the Jubilee line on the tube shut down half way home, so we "got" to walk across Tower Bridge and take in the views of the Thames. It was a blessing in disguise as the sites were quite pretty.
Monday - had multiple site visits of Notting Hill properties. We found a couple flats that we like that are near the tube, near Kensington Gardens, and in a safe area. After viewing about 10 properties, there are two that we are still seriously considering. We have more to see tomorrow, so we won't make a decision right away, but things move off the market so quickly here we need to be on our game. The downside from a visitor perspective is that both are just one bedrooms about the size of our first apartment. Later I'll have to share the craziness that is the real estate process in London. I'll just sum it up with this...every letting agent has different properties, so to see them all, you have to contact ALL of the letting agents on your own...dumb. But...all in all the first week in our new city was pretty great!
We are alive and well in London. Our feet are a bit sore from walking EVERYWHERE!!, but we're enjoying getting to know our new home. We are staying in some great corporate housing in canary wharf (the new business sector of the city) with a great view of the east side of London. We have been looking around at some houses and it is CRAZY how expensive it is here. We've seen signs for 5,000 up to 15,000 pounds per week for an apartment. Needless to say we're a bit out of our league. :) We found a couple cute apartments though.
Here is a quick recap of our time here thus far: Wednesday - sleep zero hours in the US; depart 9:30 am arrive UK 9:50 pm. We were picked up by a personal driver with sign, that conveniently drove a BMW 735i (fabulous). We went to our first corporate apartment and slept til 2:30 pm...a bit jet lagged. Thursday - walked around central London and found the Deloitte office...seemingly a very nice place. Walked around south kensington and chelsea at night, which was very nice, but my allegiances made it difficult for me to be there. We had dinner at a great little restaurant on the side of the road. We thought it was traditional English fare as it served "bangers and mash", but fortunately, it was a French brasserie and was delicious. The area is really nice, but a bit pricey, naturally.
Friday - walked around Notting Hill area for hours. It was very cold outside, down in the low 50's, with rainy mist....lovely. We had dinner with David Phillips, a fellow Aggie that works as manager for Fat Tire bikes, at a neat place (Electric) on Portobello Road. The Notting Hill area is really nice with tons of cute shops and side streets.
Saturday - still super jet lagged, but got up and walked around Holland Park, High Kensington Street, and Kensington Gardens, in and out of streets, up hills, down hills, etc. The weather perked up to a nice sunny by London standards (aka partly cloudy).
Sunday - woke up and popped over to the Hillsong Church in London. It was an overall interesting experience as it was quite different than the usual services and teaching we've become accustomed to at McLean Bible. We plan on going back next week, but will also check out other local churches along the way. After church, we took off to Islington and Angel areas of London and did what we do best...walked! We took the tube down to South Kensington and walked around for a bit. The weather today was terrible! Intermittant showers and cold wind gusts. Needless to say, a pop in to the coffee shop for a cappuccino was necessary. I must say, caffeinated AK is hilarious! We went to dinner tonight with Valerie, our colleague from DC who is also here. On our way back east after dinner, the Jubilee line on the tube shut down half way home, so we "got" to walk across Tower Bridge and take in the views of the Thames. It was a blessing in disguise as the sites were quite pretty.
Monday - had multiple site visits of Notting Hill properties. We found a couple flats that we like that are near the tube, near Kensington Gardens, and in a safe area. After viewing about 10 properties, there are two that we are still seriously considering. We have more to see tomorrow, so we won't make a decision right away, but things move off the market so quickly here we need to be on our game. The downside from a visitor perspective is that both are just one bedrooms about the size of our first apartment. Later I'll have to share the craziness that is the real estate process in London. I'll just sum it up with this...every letting agent has different properties, so to see them all, you have to contact ALL of the letting agents on your own...dumb. But...all in all the first week in our new city was pretty great!
Well, honestly, all we want to see is your new apartment! I really hope you have a bed that pulls out of a wall. That's something I've always wanted to see in person, not so much in my apartment as in someone else's. It holds a lofty place in the imagination right next to bound feet of something that exists only books and Hollywood movies.
ReplyDeleteGlad you guys are settling in well and hope you find a good church. I recommend the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile or Saint James Church at 22 George St just north of Marble Arch.