August 1
Many of you have asked “what is it like to live in London?” First, an update on our location…we moved from a very small two bedroom flat in Mayfair to a larger, two bedroom flat in Marylebone. Our new flat is in a period building within site of Regent’s Park and just a block off Marylebone High Street (the high street is like “Main Street” with all the shops and conveniences of the area). Our reception room has 12 foot ceilings and two large windows that open on to a tiny deck which is accessible from a spiral staircase in the small private patio outside of our downstairs master bedroom. We have a “proper” kitchen with a gas range, convection oven, garbage disposal, separate washer and dryer, and a small breakfast table. We feel as though we have moved into a mansion!!!
I continue with my 3 mornings a week at the gym only now instead of a 10 minute walk, I take the Tube. Rick’s daily travel time is much the same as before and he is on both the Tube and the train. I now have a regular size grocery store instead of one about the half the size of our neighborhood CVS. I have a small two wheel trolley that I use on days when I buy more than what I can carry.
Some of the things I have learned in my two months in London:
· Read the markings on the street and be sure to look in the proper direction before stepping off the pavement. Taxis and sometimes cars will stop for you to cross. Buses will never stop and motorcycles and bicycles do not observe any of the “rules of the road!”
· Prepare to be bumped into when walking. Londoners are multi-taskers and cannot agree on which side of the pavement or stairs to walk so even when you are walking on the left (which makes sense to me since they drive on the left and the signs often say: “keep left”) you will still come face to face with people and have to dodge out of the way as they are either listening to Ipods, talking on mobile phones, texting, reading newspapers or books (I can’t figure out how they manage that while walking) or in some truly amazing cases drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes and talking on the phone (how many hands do you need for that?)!
· The weather is unpredictable so always carry an umbrella or rain jacket and sometimes a sweater. We all know how the weather people in the US like to make an “event” out of every type of weather well in the UK they downplay the weather and the description often sounds like this “a few possible showers with some bright spells and later it will be fresher.” The temperature is in Celsius and I have pretty much mastered the conversion and now know that 30 is hot and 17 is cool.
· The British people and those from many other cultures who are here permanently or temporarily are civilized, polite, and proud. They will give you directions and send you off with “Cheers”, they will answer your questions and try to figure out what you want when you ask for a pound of ground meat (here it is called “minced” and they aren’t really sure how much a pound a weighs), they are patient when you try to pay for something with their 8 different coins and even if you make a mistake, they will always give you the correct change (I have learned that only 4 of the 8 are worth messing with…anything in copper is a pence or less and not worth carrying and if your purse weighs too much, you should get rid of the 5 and 10 pence pieces as well), they will always say “sorry” when they bump you, they will always ask where in America you are from but be delighted when you tell them that you live in London!
To learn more about our day to day life, you should plan a visit here as our spare bedroom is just waiting for more family and friends to sign our guest book!
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Sisters See London
July 9 – 22
My sister, Judy, arrived in London on July 9th and I was immediately determined that she get her money’s worth during her visit. After getting her settled in our small flat, we set out to see the neighborhood, grab a quick meal, then a walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace where Judy was given her first view of the red-coated Royal Guards and Queen Victoria’s Memorial. For lunch, we stopped at Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly Street and enjoyed one of the five restaurants in this one of kind elegant department store known for their own brand of tea and the famous clock which features life size figurines bringing out the tea service on the hour.
Beginning early the next morning, Judy and I became London tourists and during her two weeks we took the Big Bus Tour, saw the crown jewels at the Tower of London, walked across the Tower Bridge, rode in the London Eye and took a Thames River Cruise. We toured Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Royal Mews. We saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, and visited the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Wallace Collection. We saw Big Ben, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and shopped on Oxford and Regent Streets, Carnaby Square, St. Christopher’s Place, Harrods, the Portobello Road Market, and the Camden Lock Market.
Judy’s visit included some very special “beyond London” highlights! Rick booked us on a tour of the London 2012 Olympic Site. The site has completely transformed a very derelict part of London into a 350 acre site for athletics (track & field), swimming, cycling, basketball, opening and closing ceremonies, The Olympic Village, parks and waterways. This highly secure site has over 8000 workers each day and has been built with very high environmental standards….we were impressed!!! We spent a day in Stratford Upon Avon where we toured Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, and saw the charming River Avon. Our castle and palace tours included Hampton Court Palace (known as one of Henry VIII’s famous palaces), Warwick Castle (now a commercial property), and Windsor Castle (a working castle and home to the Royal Family). We had a leisurely Afternoon Tea at the Cheshire Hotel in Mayfair where we enjoyed flowering teas, finger sandwiches, tarts, and scones. We spent a lovely day in Richmond at The Ham House and Gardens, a very fashionable 17th century home owned by a close friend and court member of Charles I, it survived Cromwell’s rule and is now one of the National Trust properties.
We had a wonderful “sister visit” in and among all the touring, Tube and train rides, and walks and believe it or not, we did not see “it all!” Judy is already making plans to return with Lamar during her spring break in April!
See our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alysehirsekorn/SistersSeeLondon?authkey=Gv1sRgCLq08PqipeXPlgE&feat=directlink
My sister, Judy, arrived in London on July 9th and I was immediately determined that she get her money’s worth during her visit. After getting her settled in our small flat, we set out to see the neighborhood, grab a quick meal, then a walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace where Judy was given her first view of the red-coated Royal Guards and Queen Victoria’s Memorial. For lunch, we stopped at Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly Street and enjoyed one of the five restaurants in this one of kind elegant department store known for their own brand of tea and the famous clock which features life size figurines bringing out the tea service on the hour.
Beginning early the next morning, Judy and I became London tourists and during her two weeks we took the Big Bus Tour, saw the crown jewels at the Tower of London, walked across the Tower Bridge, rode in the London Eye and took a Thames River Cruise. We toured Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Royal Mews. We saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, and visited the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Wallace Collection. We saw Big Ben, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and shopped on Oxford and Regent Streets, Carnaby Square, St. Christopher’s Place, Harrods, the Portobello Road Market, and the Camden Lock Market.
Judy’s visit included some very special “beyond London” highlights! Rick booked us on a tour of the London 2012 Olympic Site. The site has completely transformed a very derelict part of London into a 350 acre site for athletics (track & field), swimming, cycling, basketball, opening and closing ceremonies, The Olympic Village, parks and waterways. This highly secure site has over 8000 workers each day and has been built with very high environmental standards….we were impressed!!! We spent a day in Stratford Upon Avon where we toured Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, and saw the charming River Avon. Our castle and palace tours included Hampton Court Palace (known as one of Henry VIII’s famous palaces), Warwick Castle (now a commercial property), and Windsor Castle (a working castle and home to the Royal Family). We had a leisurely Afternoon Tea at the Cheshire Hotel in Mayfair where we enjoyed flowering teas, finger sandwiches, tarts, and scones. We spent a lovely day in Richmond at The Ham House and Gardens, a very fashionable 17th century home owned by a close friend and court member of Charles I, it survived Cromwell’s rule and is now one of the National Trust properties.
We had a wonderful “sister visit” in and among all the touring, Tube and train rides, and walks and believe it or not, we did not see “it all!” Judy is already making plans to return with Lamar during her spring break in April!
See our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alysehirsekorn/SistersSeeLondon?authkey=Gv1sRgCLq08PqipeXPlgE&feat=directlink
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