Bank Holiday

Monday was a bank holiday.  I had a few errands to run and decided to handle them in Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a really neat area with lots of shopping, cafes, markets, theaters, and restaurants. It has several street that are pedestrian only so it is really easy to get around.

As I was running my errands I decided to stop by Laduree and treat my self to a pan au chocolate. This is probably the happiest bakery you could go to. It is so colorful and everything looks simply amazing. Sadly I ate my pan au chocolate before I could snap a picture...but when you come visit you can look at all the pretty pastries and treats for yourself (and eat some as well).

I also stopped by Waterstones, which is a book store here. I could wonder through this book store for hours. I loved the wall of staff recommendations. All the books have such beautiful covers. I want them all to just sit on my bookshelf and look pretty.

So all in all Covent Garden is a super cool area of London. Great for shopping, eating, and simply wondering around. We can go when you come visit.

Busy Week

It is surprising how busy I can get even without work or school to occupy my time. This past several days have been very busy. We did lots of socializing with people in our ward, went to a modern art exhibit (pictured above), I had my internship, found a new hair salon, tried to buy new shoes (2 times, both unsuccessful), went to a book club, bought a desk off of gumtree (like craigslist, but for London), and spent several hours at vodafone trying (unsuccessfully) to get my phone working. All in all it has been a busy past couple of days.

Most importantly I was able to get my hair cut. It was getting awkward, mullety, and puffy. Not a good combination, especially when it is humid a fair amount of the time. I found a salon using reviews on yelp, and I was very happy with my stylist. I will defiantly go back there next time I need a trim, which with short hair will probably mean next month.

We also purchased our first piece of furniture this week! A new to us desk :) It is very nice and we love it. It is glass with black metal frame legs. We saw it at Habitat and loved it, but really didn't love the price, but we found one on gumtree for less than half the price. The tricky thing about buying big pieces of furniture is transport. As we don't have a car, we have to be creative. Sadly we couldn't carry the desk on the tube at it is glass and weighs 60 or 70 pounds. We instead we booked an Addison Lee taxi van and were able to get it to fit in the back.

So, our week has been busy. So far we don't have any weekend plans, but I am sure that we will come up with something fun to do :)

Weekend in Review

My weekend was great. Our laundry is caught up, we did some sight seeing, and most importantly relaxed, ate some good food, and took a nap. Here is a little break down of what we accomplished this weekend.

Tate Modern- This amazing museum is located across the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul's Cathedral. The collection of art is really stunning, but just as stunning is the view from their many balconies over looking the Thames and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Millennium Bridge- A quick walk that has amazing views. You can get a good view of London Bridge, and there are lots of vendors selling roasted nuts, so it smells nice as well.

St. Paul's Cathedral- A truly stunning building. We have passed it many times and ever time I am in awe. It is beautiful, and massive. Here is a picture from Tate Modern, over looking the Millennium Bridge, and St. Paul's Cathedral.

John Lewis- This is a department store I stopped by while looking for a kitchen trash can. It is a massive department store that is fun to look around in, however I didn't find a trash can that I loved. I'll just have to keep on looking.

Church- The major event of Sunday was church. A major plus is that the tube station for the Hyde Park Ward is on the same line as the stop nearest our house. A downside is that it still takes 45 minuets to get to church. The Hyde Park Ward is located on Exhibition Road which is home to many of the London Museums (Natural History, Science, Victoria and Albert). The ward is also a five minute walk to Hyde Park. It is definitely a great area to spend a Sunday afternoon in.

New Washer/Dryer

Behold, our new (to us) washer/dryer. We lasted all of three weeks before we caved and bought a washer/dryer off of gumtree (a UK classified site). It is a lot of work to have to air dry clothing, and after having clothes laying out to dry everywhere in our apartment all the time we decided to treat ourselves to washer dryer combo.

Most apartments have the washing machine in the kitchen, which means that there is not usually enough room for a washing machine and a dryer. Our apartment came with a washing machine, but we talked to our landlord and asked if we could replace it with a washer/dryer. He said that that would be fine and now here we are.

It fits perfectly into the spot where the old washing machine was and I think it is very clever to combine the washer and dryer. Now we don't have to change our our clothes into the dryer. I am now looking forward to doing all the laundry that has been piling up :)

Hooray for clean and dry clothing!

Our London Apartment

Hello Friends. Here is a first look at our sparsely furnished London apartment. The above picture is the view from our bedroom, which I have not pictured as it is a complete mess at the moment. We don't have a dresser so our clothes are in piles on the floor and in suitcases. We also don't have a table so our mail and paperwork is also in piles all over the bedroom floor. But the view from the bedroom is nice :)

Our apartment consists of a very large bedroom, a decent size bathroom, a good sized kitchen, a tiny living room, and a good sized patio. There is a pop up table in the kitchen, but when it is up there is no access to the fridge- we have solved this by eating on the bed. We are looking through the classifieds everyday and are hoping to find a nice couch in the near future.

One nice thing about our apartment is the very high ceilings.  They allow for double high windows that let in lots of light which is great. There is a lot to be done to our little apartment before it feels like our home, and not just a place we are staying, and I look forward to decorating and making this place our home.

Enjoy the pictures :)