We're finally settled (sort of) in a new flat. It's for sale, but we're hoping no one will buy it, because we really like it.
Our neighborhood is a bit up-and-coming, so there are lots of cute boutiques and restaurants to the south of us, and big box chain stores and fast food joints to the north. It's a nice mix. Our street is quiet, with a library at one end and a big park at the other, but it's a 5 minute walk to the tube and the main part of town. We're looking forward to visitors!
Thursday 20 September 2007
Tuesday 11 September 2007
Out of time sequence
I know we've been trying to catch you up on what we've been up to since began this journey, but I'm going to just skip ahead to today for a minute.
I've been traveling more than ever before. Mostly it's to Switzerland, so I've decided to try to learn German via podcast. So far, I know how to say, 'I have nothing to declare' (not at all useful as Swiss border patrol is nothing if not lenient) and, 'I would like a coffee with milk and sugar' (very useful but a limited set of words). Also, the audio podcast isn't that useful in learning to read German.
Today, after my meetings were done, I wanted a little bite to eat but didn't feel like hotel food. I wandered a bit until I found a grocery store. Notice that my words did not include anything about the different kinds of beer and cheese, nor do I know how to read anything that isn't a rough approximation of the English word. I wound up with: Babybel (because it's the same around the world), Italian grapes (even I know what Italien means), and this. It's a good thing I like Hefe-Weizenbier.
I've been traveling more than ever before. Mostly it's to Switzerland, so I've decided to try to learn German via podcast. So far, I know how to say, 'I have nothing to declare' (not at all useful as Swiss border patrol is nothing if not lenient) and, 'I would like a coffee with milk and sugar' (very useful but a limited set of words). Also, the audio podcast isn't that useful in learning to read German.
Today, after my meetings were done, I wanted a little bite to eat but didn't feel like hotel food. I wandered a bit until I found a grocery store. Notice that my words did not include anything about the different kinds of beer and cheese, nor do I know how to read anything that isn't a rough approximation of the English word. I wound up with: Babybel (because it's the same around the world), Italian grapes (even I know what Italien means), and this. It's a good thing I like Hefe-Weizenbier.
Monday 10 September 2007
Sports in the UK
One of our first outings here in the UK was attending the England v. Wales rugby match, in preparation for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France. England dominated the Welsh 62-5 at Twickenham, the home of England Rugby. Since it was a blow-out, the match stopped being interesting fairly early. However, we really enjoyed the atmosphere at the stadium, which basically turns into a huge beer garden for the day of a match. Needless to say, we partook in numerous delicious beers, and even tried a famed Pimm’s Cup (the traditional English summertime cocktail, we aren’t big fans). I think we’ll visit the stadium again, perhaps to catch the Barbarians play South Africa later this year.
Being huge rugby fans (most of you probably know that we met playing rugby for Chicago North Shore), the ability to catch test matches in person is an incredible luxury, and almost makes up for the total lack of baseball in this country. The only baseball we get to see is on espn.com or the occasional game that we get to watch on TV. Sky Sports gets the ESPN feed for the Sunday and Wednesday night games. However, since we’re 5 hours ahead of the East Coast and 8 hours ahead of the West, we rarely get to catch them, unless we’re fighting a battle with insomnia. Needless to say, we are terribly missing the Cubs attempt at making the playoffs… LET’S GO CUBBIES!!!
Being huge rugby fans (most of you probably know that we met playing rugby for Chicago North Shore), the ability to catch test matches in person is an incredible luxury, and almost makes up for the total lack of baseball in this country. The only baseball we get to see is on espn.com or the occasional game that we get to watch on TV. Sky Sports gets the ESPN feed for the Sunday and Wednesday night games. However, since we’re 5 hours ahead of the East Coast and 8 hours ahead of the West, we rarely get to catch them, unless we’re fighting a battle with insomnia. Needless to say, we are terribly missing the Cubs attempt at making the playoffs… LET’S GO CUBBIES!!!
Photoblogger
I'm the assigned visual documenter of our move. Meg mentioned our numerous trips to Borough Market and the amazing foods there.
Here's a photo of some of the delicious jams - the red onion marmalade that's closest to you is one of my favorites. More photos on Flickr.
Here's a photo of some of the delicious jams - the red onion marmalade that's closest to you is one of my favorites. More photos on Flickr.
We're alive!
Hello friends and family! Many of you have asked for updates of our UK travels/adventure so far. We’ve been here for about 6 weeks, and certainly a lot has happened. We’ve both been very busy with work-related activites, but wanted to reserve space in this blog to account for our more fun, personal activities. So let’s see, where to begin…
We began our adventure at the end of July, travelling on Silverjet (an all-business class airline – VERY highly recommended, especially for you folks over 5’10” out there). We stayed at a hotel in Mayfair for a couple of days before moving to a extended stay hotel. Our room in this hotel is very nice – more of an apartment than a traditional hotel. It’s especially nice, because it has a fully outfitted kitchen, allowing us to cook many of our meals at home. This is one of the biggest ways we’ve been able to save money over here. As you may know, the exchange rate is about $2 to £1, making everything feel very expensive. However, since we’ve been here, we’ve discovered numerous ways to save money, including “self-catering” (that’s “cooking” for the Yanks), and booking travel online.
Contrary to popular belief, we’ve found the food here to be pretty good – certainly there is a fair amount of nasty stuff available, but overall, we’ve been quite pleased with the quality of the produce and other grocery items. One of our favorite places to shop is Borough Market, a farmer’s market that’s been operating in London for several hundred years. You can buy things like green beans and aubergines (that would be an eggplant), but also more exotic items are available, as well as a wide variety of prepared jams, pasta, hummus, etc. The prices are very reasonable, and we frequently return home with a backpack full of goodies. My favorite stop in the market is Utobeer, a beer vendor who sells all sorts of beers I've never heard of... but more on beer later... :)
Well, that's probably long enough for now. We'll post more soon!
We began our adventure at the end of July, travelling on Silverjet (an all-business class airline – VERY highly recommended, especially for you folks over 5’10” out there). We stayed at a hotel in Mayfair for a couple of days before moving to a extended stay hotel. Our room in this hotel is very nice – more of an apartment than a traditional hotel. It’s especially nice, because it has a fully outfitted kitchen, allowing us to cook many of our meals at home. This is one of the biggest ways we’ve been able to save money over here. As you may know, the exchange rate is about $2 to £1, making everything feel very expensive. However, since we’ve been here, we’ve discovered numerous ways to save money, including “self-catering” (that’s “cooking” for the Yanks), and booking travel online.
Contrary to popular belief, we’ve found the food here to be pretty good – certainly there is a fair amount of nasty stuff available, but overall, we’ve been quite pleased with the quality of the produce and other grocery items. One of our favorite places to shop is Borough Market, a farmer’s market that’s been operating in London for several hundred years. You can buy things like green beans and aubergines (that would be an eggplant), but also more exotic items are available, as well as a wide variety of prepared jams, pasta, hummus, etc. The prices are very reasonable, and we frequently return home with a backpack full of goodies. My favorite stop in the market is Utobeer, a beer vendor who sells all sorts of beers I've never heard of... but more on beer later... :)
Well, that's probably long enough for now. We'll post more soon!
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