Hello from London

Eleanor and I got up bright and early this morning in Serbia and got ready to leave. Stevan picked us up about 8:20AM which actually worried me. We stopped for fuel (butane was $1/liter) which I bought in order to be fair and pay our way. We arrived at the airport around 9:30AM for a 10:40AM flight. It was fine though. We had just enough time really to go to the restroom and then get to our gate. The flight was easy and Eleanor and I both dozed a little during it since she got in late from her outing last night and of course I didn't sleep until she did get in.

We arrived in London about half an hour late and our luggage seemed to take forever to be loaded on the belt, but it all arrived and for that I am thankful. I got some cash at an ATM and turned around and there was our driver with my name on a card. We had an easy half hour ride to our building and got checked in easily.

London is a seriously expensive city to visit or to live in. Nice hotels seem to start around $200 night. After much research on the travel forums at fodors.com, I decided to look into apartment rental this summer. I found a studio flat (meaning it's all one big room) for less than $200/night for the week. The flat is on the 5th floor, which is really the 6th floor since the 1st floor is labeled Ground. :-) The regular lift is broken, but the porter took us on the service lift with our luggage which was greatly appreciated. He didn't really give us much in the way of instruction however. the flat is nice and large--it's like the Taj Mahal in comparison to our little room in Serbia.

We managed to figure out how to start the washing machine (finally) and have finished one load; however, the machine is a combo unit (one drum) and we haven't figured out how to make it work as a dryer yet! I think I'm about to hang a line in the bathroom or on the balcony and hang clothes up to dry. Geesh!

After we unpacked and got oriented (and talked to Will), we went out to explore the area a little. We found a cute little restaurant called "Ask" and ate lunch/dinner there, then went to Marks & Spencer Simply Foods (very high priced in retrospect) and bought some fresh fruit--all organic and grown in Britain--the name of the grower and the place where they are grown is on the label. We just finished off some blackberries from County Kent.

We then walked back down the road to Tesco Market and got some bread, cheese and drinks (much more like a normal grocery store in prices) and came home. Eleanor made herself a fruit salad with her high-priced fruit, but said it was all very good.

We are seriously considering just hanging out this evening. It's only 6:15 though and the night is young. We may decide to go out and walk around in a little while after we just enjoy the space and comfort of the apartment versus our little room in Serbia.

The flat is cute and has a Murphy bed and a futon sofa (but a cushiony futon sofa). I'll take the bed and Eleanor will take the sofa! It also has a little table and chairs, a small kitchen and, by our standards of the last couple of weeks, enormous bathroom. I'm going to turn on the "telly" in a few minutes and see what is on TV here in the UK.

I had Eleanor write a list of her "must dos" for London this time and it is pretty short and therefore quite doable. I need to research one of them though. It wasn't something that was on my list at all and so I don't have much in the way of information. She is operating off a recommendation from a former teacher to definitely see Hampton Court Palace, so I need to see about operating hours, etc.

We considered going to the Tate Modern for a while this evening since it is open until 10PM on Friday and Saturday night, but instead we walked down Palace Gardens Terrace and looked at all the embassies near Kensington Palace. Some were really beautiful. When we neared the end of the road, we saw police barricades in front of one and police men guarding it. It was the Israeli Embassy. It's really sad that is necessary. Something tells me that if we go by the American Embassy in Mayfair, it will be much the same though.

We then walked through Kensington Park and saw the Round Pond and the statue of Queen Victoria. We exited the park and considered riding the tube back one stop to our flat, but saw an ice cream shop and decided to get some. Since food isn't allowed on the tube, we walked back and found that it was really close. We had some serious sticker shock on the ice cream though. A small cone with 2 scoops of ice cream in Novi Sad was about $1.20; here a waffle cone with one scoop was 2 pounds--$4 to you mate!

We are settled into the flat for the night now. I have run what I hope is a dryer load on our underwear, but I still may end up hanging them up on the balcony in the breeze coming in. It is finally cooler. It isn't hot here, per se, but it was humid earlier and that got us a little warm. The flat had an electric fan in the closet though--it is running and we have a nice breeze going with the double doors to the balcony open too.

Cheerio and good night!

P.S. Identifying the pictures. The first is me and Eleanor, taken by Eleanor with the camera held in front of us. The second are the swans on the round pond in front of Kensington Palace. The third is of the "living area" of our flat. The sofa turns into a bed.