London Flat

Shane and I almost have our flat completely furnished! It definitely has not been easy, but our flat slowly but surely is starting to feel a little bit more like home.

Furniture isn't exactly cheap anywhere but it is far from cheap in the U.K. Even the 'discount' furniture stores are insanely priced, so we resorted to IKEA. My parents were more than generous and purchased our bedroom furniture for us for Christmas! We definitely couldn't have gotten our flat put together as quickly as we did without their help. Thanks Mom & Dad!

While IKEA's furniture is much more affordable, especially when you are furnishing a whole flat, the assembly, delivery service, customer service, picking service, etc. are less than ideal. Rather than dwell on my experience with IKEA, I'll highlight some of my favorite moment's below. 

• If you order online, delivery takes anywhere from one to four weeks. If you go in-store, they will deliver next day. The 'closest' IKEA store ending up costing us 40 pounds in a round trip journey - zone 3 tube and a cab. Shane decided one trip was enough.
• IKEA delivery is supposed to call an hour before they deliver in the five hour time slot they provide. They called me at work telling me they would be two hours and then showed up 45 minutes later. I was already on my way to the tube, thinking I had left in more than enough time, and had to plead with them to wait 20 minutes. As I was rushing to get home, our neighbor got home and let them into our building - IKEA dropped everything in the hallway. It took me 45 minutes to move it all inside.  
• IKEA has a 90 day return policy on their mattresses (amazing!) but they ask that you sleep on the mattress for a month before you return it. After 35 minutes on the phone with customer service, I convinced them that the more days I slept on the mattress, the more I would dislike it. I explained to them that I was American and regardless of the comfort, a 14 centimeter thick foam mattress was too thin for me. (I didn't look at the dimension before I ordered - measurement fail #1).
• IKEA's return policy on everything but mattresses is a nightmare. If you order online for delivery, IKEA will not come pick up your return item. They will only do this for mattresses. Not only will they not come pick up your returned item but if your return item is a bed they will not take back the bed slats (approx. 30% of the cost). I ordered the wrong sized bed (measurement fail #2). This measurement fail I blame on inaccurate information about the mattress left in the flat. We were told it was a double, I ordered a UK double - logically. The mattress left in the flat was in fact a European double, which is larger than a UK double and to my surprise does not fit a UK double bed. This fiasco ended up with me a tears, four bed frames in our flat and a hatred for centimeters.  
• Assembly. It's fair to say I assembled the majority of the furniture. Shane told me I was better at it than him. I was, but I think he was just saying that to encourage me to keep building. Shane was extremely helpful in pushing pieces of wood together when I wasn't strong enough, and I was better at following instructions and filling in all the individual screws. 

Despite the difficulties, we are happy with how our flat has turned out. We still need some photos on the walls, and I would love to paint, but for now we are taking a spending break.

Here is some photo's of our flat as it looks today:

 downstairs - extra bedroom/martha's bedroom

downstairs - living room - table

downstairs - living room - couch (glass door is to garden)

downstairs - living room - attempt to get a full room view

downstairs - half bath

downstairs - kitchen - side 1 - stove, washer, dishwasher

downstairs - kitchen - side 2 - bar, fridge

stairs

upstairs - bedroom

upstairs - full bath

London Christmas

The Swiderski's (Adam & Alana), our friends who are living in Hamburg, Germany, traveled to London for Christmas! It was so fun to have them here and made us not miss home quite as much.

Christmas Eve - 

Adam and Alana arrived Christmas Eve morning and we quickly headed to Southbank to take in the views of Parliament and Big Ben from south of the river. As noted in a previous post - it is one of our favorite views of the city. Southbank also has a small Christmas market that we wandered through for a bit and used to take shelter from the rain. Rain is not uncommon for London, but the magnitude of the rain on Thursday was the worst that Shane and I had experienced. We decided that we weren't going to let the rain ruin our day and continued on our excursion heading across the river to explore Trafalgar Square and see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey up-close. We attempted to get some photos from the bridge with Big Ben in the background but the rain and wind had other plans for our photo-op. We thought our plan was full-proof; Shane holding the camera and me holding the umbrella above him to keep the camera dry, until a huge gust of wind blew the umbrella inside out and almost took me Mary Poppins style over the edge into the river. Luckily, I was able to hang on and crisis averted.

After seeing Trafalgar Square, we decided it was in our best interest to duck into a pub and grab lunch. We were soaked. To our pleasant surprise, when our lunch was over, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We checked out Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. See below.

 Westminster Abbey

 Big Ben

In front of Big Ben

Buckingham Palace Garden Gate

On our way back home, we took a detour one stop north to Hampstead to pick up some things for our Christmas Day dinner. Our butcher is located in Hampstead and we had placed an order for pigs in a blanket and a ham earlier that week. Alana especially enjoyed the butcher as it has an 'American' section. She has been on the search for chocolate chips, Pam and baking soda in Germany and was able to find them all in one place in London. 

That evening we attended the Christmas Eve Crib Service at Hampstead Parish Church. The Crib Service is the children's service and the parish children act out the Nativity. If you've seen the movie Love Actually, this was almost identical. The children were dressed in homemade costumes, and the costumes were hilarious. There was everything that you would expect: an angel, sheep, three kings and there was even a cat, elephant and dog. It was adorable. 

Crib Service Program

Christmas Day - 

London shuts down on Christmas Day; the public transit doesn't run and almost all the shops, pubs, and restaurants are closed. The pubs and restaurants that do stay open require reservations and the menu is quite expensive. 

We spent Christmas Day exploring the parks of London by foot. Primrose Hill is about a fifteen minute walk south from our flat and just south of Primrose Hill is Regent's Park. We may have been a tad ambitious on our walk through Regent's Park forgetting that the further we wandered, the longer the trek back. Martha was leading the way and she doesn't slow down for much of anything. 

View of London from Primrose Hill

That evening, we made our Christmas dinner. On the menu was pigs in a blanket, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, chocolate chip cookies and eggnog. Cooking Christmas Dinner on our own was a first for all of us. We are used to being at our parent's house and them handling the brunt of the meal preparation. For not having any idea on how to cook or cut a ham, our meal turned out quite delicious.

 Christmas Ham

Christmas Bush

Boxing Day - 

In London, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day, another holiday. Luckily, some of the public transit runs on Boxing Day and shops are open which made it easier to show Adam and Alana more of London. We headed to London Bridge to the view Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We walked along the Thames to Tower Bridge and then crossed the bridge to see the Tower of London. From the Tower of London we headed to the St. Paul's Cathedral. 

Tower Bridge

In front of Tower Bridge

We purchased tickets at St. Paul's to the climb to the top and it was more than worth it! The climb up is divided into three sections: 257 steps to reach the Whispering Gallery (inside of the dome), 119 more steps to reach the Stone Gallery (vantage point outside at the top of the dome) and 152 more steps to the reach the Golden Gallery (vantage point outside at the top tower of the church). The views from the top made the climb worth it! It was another extremely windy day, and the Golden Gallery doesn't have a ton of the space at the top so I stayed as close to the wall as possible.

Alana navigating through the small staircase

panoramic view from the top facing east

 panoramic view from the top facing west

windy pic on the middle tier

windy pic on the top tier

After St. Paul's, we found a pub that had the Liverpool match on TV. Liverpool beat Leceister City (first place team in the league) 1-0 so Shane was very happy. That night, we went out to dinner in Covent Garden, one of our favorite places in Central London.  We had a delicious Italian meal while sitting outside in the square under heaters.

Last Day - 

On the last day of Adam and Alana's trip, we stayed close to home and explored the Camden Markets.  These markets date back to the late 1800's and have pretty much everything you can think of: antiques, souvenirs, street food, trendy and alternative fashion...and even erotica.  After a couple hours of browsing, Alana and I decided to purchase some trendy brogues (shoes). 

Thanks for visiting, Adam and Alana! We (especially Martha) already miss you!

First Visitor!

We hosted our first London visitor Andy Stites, a friend of ours from St. Louis.

The primary purpose of Andy’s visit was to attend a Liverpool football (soccer) match in Liverpool. The match was on Sunday and Andy arrived on Thursday giving him plenty of time to explore London prior to the match. Unfortunately, Shane and I were unable to take off work so Andy was on his own during the day but we were able to make up for it during the nights.

On Thursday, Shane and Andy saw Mumford & Sons at the O2 arena.  This arena is huge and it was sold out with over 20,000 people.  A little different from when Shane and I saw Mumford in St. Louis 4 years ago at a venue which had a 2,000-person capacity.  However, the band is from London so the crowd was very lively and sounds like it was a great show.

On Friday, we went to dinner in Covent Garden. Covent Garden is in central London and has a ton of pubs, restaurants, shops and theaters. Our dinner reservation wasn’t until 20:45, so we grabbed a pint before. We went to The Lamb and the Flag which is a pub rumoured to be where Charles Dickens frequented. The pub is located off a side street/alley and is very quaint. It was packed when we arrived, with the overflow outside in the street in front of the pub.

We had dinner at Belgo Centraal and ordered from the Christmas Menu. A Christmas Menu is a pre-fixed, three course, slightly discounted menu that a good number of restaurants in London have during the month of December. We sat in the Bier Hall part of the restaurant which is an old cellar that the restaurant remodelled. There was also a huge Christmas party going on that night which made things very lively.

On Saturday afternoon, we paid another visit to the Winter Wunderland. We had to share the craziness with Andy. Needless to say, after back-to-back visits to Winter Wunderland, we’ve experienced it more than enough.

We had dinner in Chinatown Saturday night. The restaurant we ate at was extremely tiny; tiny space, tiny tables, tiny chairs.  Only 20 people or so can be seated in the restaurant at a time and people line up outside to wait for a table. The food was traditional Northern Chinese. It was very different from the ‘American Chinese’ of the crab rangoons, eggrolls, etc. and it was very delicious.  

After dinner, we grabbed a pint and then headed south of the river to celebrate our friend Ben’s birthday. Ben moved to London from the U.S. after he graduated and has no plans to move back. We met Ben through multiple friends during one of his visits home and he has been extremely helpful in getting us acclimated to London.

Sunday was the highlight of the trip for Andy, the Liverpool match at Anfield. Liverpool is a three-hour train ride from London so Andy and Shane were up early to catch their train and arrived in Liverpool a few hours before the match. The boys went to a local pub before the match which was packed with supporters.

The boys sat in the “Kop", which is where the rowdy fans sit and sing chants throughout the match.  Given that Andy lost his voice the next day, I think they had a good time!  Liverpool was able to draw West Brom with a final score of 2-2. Liverpool needed a late goal in the 5^th minute of extra/stoppage time to tie it up.  Below is a video Shane took of the famous song they sing before the match starts.

Andy’s last night was on Monday and we had a relaxing dinner at an Italian restaurant in Camden Town. He flew out Tuesday morning and arrived back safely in St. Louis that night.  Thanks again for visiting, Andy – we miss you mate!

Christmas Markets and Parties

The past week and weekend were Christmas filled. We explored the Southbank Christmas Market, attended Shane's EY London Christmas party and experienced Hyde Park's Winter Wunderland.

We met up with Brett & Mary during the week to explore the Southbank Christmas Market. The market had various craft and food stands set-up along the river. The best thing about the Southbank Christmas Market was the view. In the background is Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. The view from Southbank makes you feel as if you are looking in on all of London from the outside. Another favorite from the market was the mulled wine. We all grabbed a glass to keep us warm while we explored.

On Friday night, we were last minute invites to the EY London Christmas Party. In London, you have to RSVP and purchase a ticket for your guest - 40 quid! We were on the wait list until mid-day Friday for the party that night.

The Christmas Party  was more than we would of ever expected, especially for such a big office; there were over 2000 people there! The Christmas Party can be summarized as follows: black tie, champagne cocktail hour, three course meal, dinner performers, 15 piece band, dance floor, mock casino, go-carts, and live band karaoke. Combined all those into a glass venue located in Battersea Park and that was the party. Unfortunately, we mostly snap chatted during the mayhem but below is a picture from the night with Brett and Mary.

The next day we experienced Hyde Park's Winter Wunderland. It was insane. It's a Christmas Market to a carnival extreme; think temporary amusement park. Winter Wunderland is full of craft stalls, food booths, ice-skating rinks, carnival rides and games. It is a lot to take in. Also inside Winter Wunderland is Bavarian Village (our favorite). The Village consists of traditional German food stands and a large beer tent complete with a DJ/singer that plays a unique mix of German and American pop tunes. The tent also served for great people watching and was heated, so we stayed in there for a bit before taking on some carnival games. Below are some pictures from Winter Wunderland.

London Thanksgiving

When you have to work on Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, it doesn't feel like much like Thanksgiving. You have to find other ways to celebrate such as an after-work Thanksgiving dinner or a weekend expat Friendsgiving; we did both. Shane and I are thankful for our family and friends who know people living in London who were kind enough to welcome us into their homes and help us celebrate the holiday.

On Thursday night, with the help of Shane's Aunt Geri, we were invited to Lisa Honeyman's Thanksgiving dinner. Lisa's family hosts a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner every year and they do Thanksgiving right. They had everything; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, pecan pie and apple pie. The winning dish was the turkey, and I don't like turkey, so that is saying something. They ordered the turkey from their local butcher. I don't know what the butcher does to his turkey but Shane and I both agreed, it was the best turkey that we have ever tasted. Lisa and her family were super welcoming and their friends were equally fantastic. Lisa and her husband, Baer, are the best hosts. First, their house is amazing. It's huge (American-sized), with a giant garden - very rare! Shane and I were in awe. Second, our drink glasses were never empty - from cocktails when we arrived, to carafes of wine at dinner, to dessert wine with pie...they had everything and we quickly learned how much the Brits drink at dinner parties. Lastly, they provided a take-away box packed with the delicious turkey, for Martha. We had a great time.

On Saturday night, with the help of our friends - Erika & Andrew, we were invited to Mary & Brett's Friendsgiving. Mary & Brett are American expats who both work at Big 4 accounting firms and have been living in London for the past 2 years.  They hosted 14 people which provided us with a wonderful opportunity to meet and make some friends! Mary is a phenomenal cook and did all of the cooking herself! When Mary & Brett first moved to London, Mary didn't have a job and started working at the local butcher shop. She still works at the butcher shop on some weekends and the turkey came from her shop. Again, the turkey, it was delicious. We had seconds. I don't know what they do to turkey's in the U.K. but whatever it is, I don't hate it. The winning dish, in our opinion, was the gnocchi. Mary hand-made it and we couldn't get enough. Mary & Brett sent all of their guests home with take-away - so nice! Shane ate his for breakfast on Sunday...probably because the wine/manhattans/pub beers wasn't the best combination.

Despite not being with our families, we had such a great time at both of our Thanksgiving celebrations which allowed us not to miss home as much.

First Week in London

Shane and I were initially hesitate to start a blog; we didn’t know if we would have time to keep one up, but after being in London for a week, we decided a blog might be the easiest way to not only keep track of our life adventures abroad, but also share our adventures with family and friends.

Shane arrived in London on November 10^th and I arrived in London on November 19^th. As I am the one writing this post, we’ll start with my time here.

Martha, the pup, and I flew direct out of Chicago. Martha was a trooper. From what we could tell, she travelled great! Our flight landed at 11am and Martha cleared customs at 2pm. The process was very smooth.

Shane met us at the airport and took us back to our temporary housing in Kensington. Martha and I were exhausted from our travel so we slept, a lot -  we didn’t wake up until 10am on Friday!

On Friday, we explored Hyde Park while Shane worked. Martha quickly stood out as an American pup as she was the only pooch in the park on her lead (leash). London dogs are extremely well behaved and stay with their owners off-lead. We don’t trust Martha enough yet to let her off her lead but we hope we can get to that point.

On Saturday, we moved - by way of three Ubers - to our permanent housing located in Belsize Park. It was great that Shane was able to find us a flat so quickly as our temporary housing was tiny. Our agent showed Shane 13 flats across the Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill, Regent’s Park, St. John’s Wood and Angel/Islington areas. We settled on the flat located in Belsize Park for one reason in particular – a garden for Martha! Belize Park is in northwest London located within the Camden Borough and is directly in-between Hampstead (to the north) and Camdentown (to the south). We are in walking to distance to both. We are also in walking to distance to two great parks, Hampstead Heath and Primrose/Regent’s park.  A fun fact about Belsize Park is that a handful of celebrities live in the area including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Kate Hudson.

Other positives about our flat is that it is about a one minute walk to the tube station and has a second bedroom. We are hoping for lots of visitors! A negative about our flat is that it came unfurnished. We are in the process of collecting/ordering/shipping various pieces of furniture and hope to have a furnished flat by mid-December. Pictures of our unfurnished flat are below.

On Sunday, we did housekeeping things. Purchased WiFi, signed me up for a UK phone plan and had an unsuccessful trip to the supposedly equivalent of Target, John Lewis. The things that we needed to purchase were too expensive so we resorted to Amazon.

On Monday, I started work and Shane started his second week of work. On the work front, so far, so good. We both are slowly adjusting to our new jobs and settling into a routine.

Our biggest accomplishment of the week might be finding our ‘local,’ known as the pub you visit most frequently in your area. A pub called Sir Richard Steele is about a five-minute walk south towards Camden and they allow dogs. We have few other pubs to try out before we settle on our favorite but so far Sir Richard Steele is a front runner. See below for Martha and a pint.  

With the travel, move and work, it has been quite the week. We are very much looking forward to this weekend to explore the neighborhood (and go to IKEA).

Until the next post - Jen