Things I love about London

1. Savory Pies
Chicken pot pie is merely the tip of the iceberg. The Pie Man is a shop conveniently located between my flat and the playground, so I walk by it two to four times a day. We pick up dinner from there at least once a week. The steak and guiness pie is heavenly. Even the frozen pot pies from Waitrose are better than any similar food in the States.

2. Department stores sell fabric and notions
This is such an amazing convenience. I can just exit the flat, and a 5-minute walk away is the Peter Jones store where I can pick up thread, zippers, buttons, etc. No more paying $7 shipping on a $1.50 zipper to avoid the 40-minute-round trip drive to Joann's.

3. The water table at the Science Museum
If you have kids and are visiting London, DO NOT MISS the water table at the Science Museum. They also have satellites, locomotives, etc (real ones, not models), but the water table is really more impressive than all that.

4. The textile library at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Thousands of samples from all eras and from all over the world, mine to examine.

5. Designer shops right in my neighborhood
You'll get this in any big city, but I still love it. I went to the Miyake shop last week. Amazing. I walk by Chanel all the time, too, and they always have something lovely in the window to look at.

6. Breathtakingly beautiful flower gardens
These are possible in part because it rains all the time, but they're lovely nonetheless. They even have palm trees, which I found a little startling at first. And fuschia grows so big it covers entire brick walls.

Science Museum II

Pascale had such a good time yesterday at the Science Museum that we returned today. Instead of an hour at the water table, though, it held her attention for maybe 15 minutes, then she moved on to the Legos, musical instruments, jungle gym, etc. Then we went to the Bob the Builder show. Pascale really liked it. The actors sing, dance, and involve the kids in building stuff. What could be better? Oh, and notice her current footwear preference.


I'm still using my phone to take pictures, which really does not work with Josephine. Whenever she sees my phone, she tries to grab it away from me, so every pic I take of her looks like the following. She never had that reaction with the camera. Hopefully the novelty will wear off with the phone.

Science Museum

We went to the Science Museum today. It was amazing. I've been trying to get Pascale to go there for a while now, but with so many new things, she tends to want to do the same things over so she can have something familiar. But today she agreed to the Science Museum. They have an area in the basement that is meant for 3-to-6-year olds, including the most amazing water table in existence. Truly, this water table is a towering testament to the glory of Britain. It has locks, eddies, fountains, wave pool, you name it. Pascale played there for at least an hour. We're definitely going there again. The battery died on my camera that I normally use, and I can't find the charger, so until the charger turns up, I'm reduced to taking photos with my phone. Those orange shirts are the waterproof smocks that the museum provides.

We have the flat!

The lease is signed! As of July 9, we are the proud residents of SW3, also known as Chelsea! I'm not sure of the mailing address, but will send it when I know it. The new flat is much, much smaller than our house in New Jersey, but so much bigger than the place we're staying in now that it will feel huge, at least when we first move in. Our stuff is supposed to arrive when the lease starts, so the kids will have their own beds to sleep in. Now I can work on getting Pascale into a play group and a preschool. Neat.

Here they are today, being brides:

Quick trip to playground

We went to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground again. This is no small feat, since it involves getting 2 children to and from the tube, plus the train trip. When we got there, it was so cold that after half an hour, Josephine was shivering uncontrollably, so we had to leave. I just can't believe that it's so cold here at the end of June. So we're home now and I'm using my new cell phone to change the mailing addresses on all our accounts.

Yes, that's right, I have a cell phone! And a Visa card! But the Visa cards here have PIN numbers, and they have not sent me my PIN yet. I can't get everything all at once now, can I? Anyway, if you want to know the phone number to call me on, send me an email and I'll get it to you.

Rainy, Rainy weekend

Boy, did it rain last weekend. It was a good time to have DH home, since he took over most of the child care duties. It's much harder watching them here, where we don't have any scheduled things to do. After the lease is signed on the flat, I'll find a day camp for Pascale so we have something on the schedule.

The Victoria and Albert museum has these art projects every Sunday. It's always in a different gallery, and you're supposed to make something based on one of the works of art in the gallery. Pascale LOVES IT. Of course, since she's only 3, she does not have the coordination to make what you're really supposed to make, but she will sit there for 90 minutes or so, cutting and pasting colored paper. It's great. This is the second week we've gone, and I think we'll go every week for the forseeable future. Here is a pic of the castle she made yesterday. I think it shows great promise.


P and J's cousins made a video for them to watch! It was very nice hearing from them.


Josephine is startlingly active. She does this wild Tarzan swing by grabbing on to the bar at the top of the slide at the playground. I can't get a photo of it, though, because I'm busy spotting her when she does it. Here is the playground this morning:


I saw a great pair of shoes at Harvey Nichols last weekend. I think I may go back and buy them, although they are the sort of shoes for which I have no use whatsoever. Maybe if I get really glamorous shoes, I'll eventually get a really glamorous life to go with them.

I keep wanting to get a pic of the boys' school uniforms for a school down the block. They include a tie that's maybe 5 inches long. This is really cute on, say, a 7-year-old, but the school goes all the way up to high school (or whatever they call it here). So they have these 17-year-olds who are the size of grown men wearing these silly little ties. It's hilarious.

Relaxing at home, then a visit to the V&A

We spent the morning reading and relaxing at home, then the afternoon rearranging the furniture in the coutyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Still no lease signing. The relocation people say it will happen by the middle of next week. That will have been a full three weeks from the time we decided we want this flat. I just cannot imagine why it should take that long, and I'm thinking the whole thing will fall apart and we won't get that flat.

London Zoo

I met this woman at the playground today who's from Chicago. She's been living in London for 7 years, and she totally freaked me out with stories about apartments being rented to someone else just as she was about to sign the lease. AAACK When will our lease be signed? The lease will actually be in the name of a company hired by the company DH works for, and since there are so many layers, it's hard to find out where the holdup is.

We went to the zoo this afternoon. Pascale was actually interested in looking at the animals today rather than just playing on the amusement park rides.

PDMP

I've blogged about the Princess Diana Memorial Playground enough that I think it deserves an acronym. It's a nice summery day today, so here we are. It's a fairly large playground, but we're all comfortable enough there at this point that I'm fairly certain no one will get lost. Pascale likes it there so much that she's willing to walk several blocks to and from the tube both ways to get there. Lots of Americans there today, so we had some people to talk to.

Lease still not signed, still no Visa card so no cell phone.

Victoria and Albert

We had a nice family weekend. Spent a lot of time walking around the neighborhood. I really like Chelsea, and hope that we end up in the Chelsea flat.

Yesterday, I brought my box of makeup into the girls' room because DH was sleeping in for Father's Day, so I could not put my makeup in my room. Then I just left the box on the desk next to the crib. So when Josie was taking her nap, it seemed like she was there for a really long time. Bernie went in to see if she was OK, and there she was, makeup all over her hands, face, and crib sheet. Good thing she's not dextrous enough to open a compact. All she got to were the lipsticks and the pencils. It was actually pretty funny.

Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is my favorite museum ever. Actually, I took Pascale there yesterday too. Yesterday, they had a mask-making family activity. Here is the headdress that we made:

We went there again today to look at the sculpture. Pascale likes sculpture. Here they are in the main sculpture gallery and the courtyard:


They have this really nice cafe in the courtyard, but it was raining earlier today, so the cafe was closed when we got there. We went to the indoor cafe instead.

Slow Friday

We went to our normal playground earlier this morning when the weather was nice. Pascale met a little girl who's visiting from Australia, and they played together a bit. I'm always glad for the opportunity for her to play with kids her own age.

It's been threatening rain all afternoon, so we've been hanging out at home. We did try to get back to Battersea Park, but I did not put sweaters on the girls, and Pascale decided that it was too cold when we were about halfway there. So we turned around and came home. We did manage to get to a store to get a Father's Day gift for DH, which was quite an accomplishment. Pascale picked out a lovely tie.

Josephine likes to put clothing over her head and walk around bumping into things.

Still no news on the lease on the permanent flat.

Here are some pics of the girls playing in the living room of our temporary flat:

The Air Shipment Came!

We received the stuff we shipped by air today. I have the double stroller! It's so much better to be able to walk places that are further than the couple of blocks that Pascale is able to walk. We went to Battersea Park. It's actually really nice, and pretty much deserted. The few people who were there were much friendlier than people in Hyde Park. I had a nice conversation with an old lady out for a walk. Hey, when you don't know anyone, you take whatever company you can get.

Here is Josephine with a goat at the Battersea Park Zoo:

Here we are again

There's a tabloid today with a picture of the princes on the front and the headline, "We think of Mum every day." Well, I think of her every day, too, because it seems like we go to the Princess Diana Memorial playground every day. Here we are again. Pascale asked to go there again today because she met another little girl there yesterday, and had someone to play with. Unfortunately, I don't know how to contact her to meet her there again, and today there was no one there that Pascale connected with. I'm anxious to get our lease signed so I'll know which neighborhood to find a play group in.

I left the flat without my keys yesterday and it dawned on me that I'm stranded. No mobile phone and I don't know anyone around here to drop in on. We'll have to remedy that situation.

Hey, they have palm trees here!

Princess Diana Playground Redux

Pascale requested another trip to the Princess Diana playground, so we went there this morning. We left bright and early and took the tube there. When we arrived, we found that the playground does not open until 10:00, so we hung out in Kensington Gardens for half an hour or so. It's been a little chilly here, and I mostly packed summer clothes in our suitcases, so the kids have pretty much been wearing the same clothes every day. We're supposed to be getting our stuff that we shipped by air this week, and I think there are more sweaters and long pants in those boxes. And the double stroller, which will make my life SO MUCH BETTER!

Zoo Trip

One week after our arrival, and we've just completed our third trip to the zoo. I'm glad we've got two years here because if we were trying to see all the tourist attractions in 2 weeks, I'd be quite frustrated. At the zoo today, we saw the apes, the aquarium, and the butterflies. We spent the rest of the time at the jungle gym and in these little cars. I kept asking Pascale if she wanted to see the penguins, zebras, etc, but no interest. Maybe next time.

The really exciting news is that we took the tube there! It was not that bad. It was a long walk from the tube to the zoo entrance, but a bag of crisps made the walk a little sweeter for Pascale. I don't have our double stroller yet, but it should be arriving in the air shipment this week. I didn't bring it on the plane with us because I did not want to lug it through the airport. If I had it to do over again, I would bring it with me on the plane. I really miss it, and I'm spending a fortune on cabs to go to places that are walking distance for me, but not for Pascale. When I have the double stroller, I can just tell her to hop in and we can go.

The World-Famous Playground

It's warm, sunny and summery here today, so this afternoon we headed up to Kensington Gardens to experience the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. It's quite a place. They have pirate ships, huge sandboxes, and lovely treehouses. Pascale and Josephine had a wonderful time.

The Playground

Our main stomping ground is St Luke's Park, which is close to our temporary flat and has a nice playground for the kids. We've been there every day, sometimes twice. Kids like routine, and since everything is so new here, the repetition of playground visits seems to calm Pascale down a little.

They have different sorts of playground toys than in the States. Heres a pic of the kids on this huge teeter-totter thing:

Instant Lady

I'm constantly saying to Josephine, "Get that out of your mouth this instant, young lady!" Pascale said to her, "Get that out of your mouth, Instant Lady!"

Greetings!

We've been here for a week now, and I am cheifly occupied with keeping the kids entertained and awake during the day with some looking for a flat mixed in. Everything you've heard about London being really expensive -- all true. Our first-choice flat fell through. It was this spectacular place in St John's Wood that may have been bigger than our house in Summit. But it was furnished with all this really inappropriate furniture, like a white leather sofa. That's just not something I want my 2 toddlers around. So now we're focused on a smaller but wonderfully located flat in Chelsea. If this one falls through, it's back to St John's Wood. I would like to start a lease before our furniture arrives at the end of the month.

There's a nice playground near our temporary flat that we've been visiting every day. Here's a photo of Pascale and Josephine on the way there:


We also have a membership at the zoo, which we've visited twice.

Today, I took some time to myself to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and do some shopping. I wanted to familiarize myself with the tube before attempting to take the kids on it. I think I may have to forget about the tube with the kids because the stations are most assuredly not stroller-friendly. I'll look into learning to take the bus.

I told Pascale that she would be turning 5 when we're in London. So on Monday she asked me, "Am I 5?"