First Impressions

I apologize in advance for this being a rather long post. Obviously I have a lot to talk about and many of you have already asked me more than once to post something, so here it is! Regardless of how long this is, I'm sure some of you will want to see and hear more, so don't worry, there is A LOT more where this came from...

So I'm here. After a deliberately sleepless last night in Boulder, I left town around 8am and departed at 11:30am for my first stop in Houston. I slept for most of the 2 hour flight and then it was off to London. I stayed awake long enough to get dinner and then passed out for about 4-5 hours. I woke up in time to get breakfast and gaze over some people out the window as we approached London and landed.

Once I landed and got through customs, I had to drag my two 49 pound checked bags, my completely full backpacking pack and my messenger bag with two laptops onto the tube (subway, apparently pronounced "chube") and then to the hotel. The first thing I noticed walking around is that the streets are very narrow and not in our normal square/block system. Since there were no street signs, I ended up walking 3 blocks too far and then had to turn around. I later noticed that the street names are actually on signs posted on buildings at the intersection. Although it still seems like they just assume you know what the main roads are called because I don't see many street signs labeling them. This is good to know now.

I got to the hotel around noon and was able to check in early. My room is much smaller than American standards, but very nice. I have a single bed, a desk, a wardrobe, a microwave and a very nice bathroom. There is also a small tv and internet access. The tub does not have a shower curtain or door, so I guess they assume that everyone takes baths. I took a shower. The bathroom got a little wet but it was fine. Below are pics of the street with my hotel (blue awning) and my actual hotel room.

















After cleaning up, I decided to explore a bit. I walked around the area where I'm staying (Earl's Court/Kensington) and then took the tube two stops up to Hammersmith which is where my office is. The office is very interesting. There are 5 full timers and one part timer all crammed in one small room. There are no cubicles set up or anything, and as far as I can tell by looking in other offices, they are all very similar. So there is no privacy at all, but my coworkers are great and there is a lot of random banter going on all the time. A great advantage of working in the office with Active.com (our parent company) is that I hear about all of the races and athletic events in London, the UK and Europe. Simon is an avid cyclist and does many races and finished well. Sam is an ex-professional triathalete and still very active. Jenny is a runner and recently finished another marathon. Today the debate was how to see how many of us would be interested in signing up for an Active event running 100 miles in 48 hours. I think Sam is going to do the smaller part of the event which is 50 miles in 20 hours. I told him that if it wasn't just two months away I would do it! Our office does have a great view, as it is over 10 stories high and there really aren't many buildings much taller than that around. The building is in a very busy area and basically connected to a mall and the tube station, so very convenient. Every Thursday there is a great market that sets up in the courtyard just outside our doors. I had a great roasted pork sandwhich for lunch my first day! On my 2nd day we walked to one of the literally hundreds of places to get food near the office for lunch. It is also a couple blocks away from the Thames River which runs through London. It apparently has a path that follows it forever and ever and also has many parks and green spaces along its banks. I'm guessing it's going to be a great place to run, among the wide number of other large parks spread throughout the area. The pics below are of our office, the view from the window, and the river. We can see downtown London from our building, but not on the side that we are on.




















Thursday night was a pretty big night. 4 of us from work went out for what I thought would be a drink and some dinner for a nice evening. It ended up being three pubs, a resturaunt, and a club and I didn't get back to the hotel until 3am. Thank goodness for the low elevation or I'd probably still be in bed. From what I can tell, the Brits do drink a lot which is definitely an adjustment I'll need to make from my recent lifestyle. In any resturaunt, it's basically the norm to order some kind of drink, whether it's beer, wine or cocktails. They don't bring you water unless you ask for it, and then they will bring you an expensive bottled water unless you specifically request tap water. So that's something I will definitely need to remember. The first night here I went to a pub near my hotel and had a steak sandwich and salad with a nice tall glass of cider served over ice. It was delicious! On Thursday I ate at the market outside work for lunch and then went out at night with the coworkers. We went to a wonderful italian place that serves pizza by the metre. So we got one metre of pizza for four of us and it was amazing! I also had an excellent drink that night called a Snake Bite Black. It is 1/2 cider and 1/2 lager (they used stella) with a splash of black currant concentrate. It was very sweet and extremely tasty. Today for lunch I ordered penne pasta with pesto, asparagus, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. In case you're all wondering, the ketchup is exactly the same as it is in the States...it's even Heinz!

Speaking of, I'm kinda amazed at how many things are similar to the US. There are McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, a surprisingly large number of Subways, and Starbucks. Right now Family Guy just came on TV. The accent does prove to be hard to understand at times. I've noticed myself asking others to repeat what they said occasionally. Last night at the club and a couple of the pubs, I just had to pretend to understand what was being said half of the time because it was so loud and I couldn't hear them clearly enough.

I also made a trip to a couple of grocery stores near my hotel. This is probably one of the biggest adjustments I'll have to make. The stores are very small. Like the size of a 7-11 or maybe a little bigger. Although they do have a decent selection of all the necessary items, along with plenty of produce and fresh baked breads/rolls/baguettes/etc. But obviously the selection is not near as good as to what I'm used to. I did find peanut butter but it took me two stores before I found pretzels. I did see Kettle Chips today (go Salem!!). I have heard of some of the store chains having bigger supermarkets in certain areas, and today I finally saw one. It actually had carts outside (the others just had hand baskets) and looks closer to a normal American sized store. I didn't go inside but I plan on going this weekend. I did buy some staples for my hotel room to have for bfast and snacks like fruit, cereal and pretzels. I also stole a handful of cookies they put in your room from the hotel closet in the hallway (the door was open) and the lobby has a bowl of apples so I take one every time I walk through. Overall I've eaten and drank far too much since I've been here so that needs to stop.

Probably the best thing I've done since I've been here was go for a run. This was good for two reasons. First, it's my first significant run since I hurt my knee over two months ago. My knee felt great and so far I haven't had any pain. Second, it was by far the best way to get out and explore the area around my hotel. I had only seen the few blocks around the tube station since my hotel is only one block from the station. Little did I know that there are tons of other pockets of resturaunts/pubs/shops just blocks the other direction. I ended up running and seeing all kinds of stuff that I will now have to check out (including the large grocery store). One thing I'm learning as I explore is that all you have to do is walk a couple blocks before you meet a busy intersection with dozens (if not many many more) of resturaunts, etc. It makes me feel better that in such a gigantic city, no matter where I am there will be stuff close by. There have been so many places I want to try already that I could be here for years and not eat/drink at them all. And I've only been within 2 or 3 tube stops around my hotel and office.

Tonight I visited my first London flat. By the sounds of it, it was a little misleading because this one was actually pretty spacious. It was 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, a full kitchen with dining room, living room, laundry room and a small "garden" aka patio in the back. It was about 10 blocks from work and the price for the one room is 700 pounds, which is roughly $1400 per month. That is a bit high for a shared flat, but it was very nice. I have 5 other appointments so far this weekend so we'll see how those go. However, places are taken fast so I need to jump on one that I like. I had not been to the area where the flat was, so I think flat hunting is going to be a great way to explore new areas and get a better feel for them. I've noticed that London is very old. I wouldn't say it's that dirty (although it certainly can be I think), but in general nothing is very new. Once you get away from the main roads, you have rows and rows of flats which really makes you realize how many people can cram into a city. I don't think I have seen a house yet, and I don't know that there are any in London itself. All flats basically look the same and they are all connected to each other. I'm a little nervous about finding the right area to live because I feel like it will really define my experience in London, so I want to make sure that I'm in a good area. Although to be honest, all the areas I have been to are all pretty similar.

During my run tonight, I've determined that the nicest area I have seen so far is the area around my hotel. I think this is so because it is in Kensington which is very touristy. There are a number of museums (I ran past the Natural History Museum and it looked absolutely amazing, I'll be sure to go and bring my camera next time). But I think this is the nicest area to me because it is full of real nice hotels and therefore the entire area seems newer and well kept. I don't know that I would actually like to live in this area though. I just need to be more comfortable knowing that I'm living in a really big and old city, and I do know that regardless of where I live I will find a lot to do and enjoy nearby. Hammersmith, where the office is and where I'm lookin to live, is one of the better places to live in all of central London from what I hear.

This weekend I don't really have a lot of plans. I have a handful of flats to visit. I also need to get a cell phone and bank account, although I think both might prove to be difficult since I don't have any credit established here or an address. Otherwise I want to explore some more and visit Hyde Park for a run which is fairly close. And of course take lots of pics for my blog.

Cheers!