Househunting Hell

The past week and half have been incredibly hectic.  In fact, it feels like it has been a roller coaster and I may or may not have shed a few tears and thrown a few tantrums.

Finding a flat in this city is soooooo much harder than what we thought it would be.  We initially wanted to share so that we could live in a house or bigger flat and not a shoe box studio.  We were also told by some real estate agents that we would need to pay 12 months rent in advance if we wanted our own place.  RUBBISH! It is really competitive to rent in London and new properties go within 24 hours of being put on the market.

We soon learnt the errors of our ways when we would find an area and a flat that we liked but didn't like the people or loved the people but the area was dodgy.  We also met an actual con artist in action.  Scams in the rental market happen every day here.  Luckily, we were both on to him and walked off. 

After seeing quite a number of people and properties, we decided that we would get our own flat.  We spent all day last Saturday walking in and out of real estate agents asking what they had on their books.  I may have cried again (whoops).

We have FINALLY found a place in Angel.  Angel is a really trendy part of London and is a lot more east and grungier than I thought I would be up for.  I love the area though and cannot wait to move in.  It is literally 3 stops away from work (so central).  Heaven by London standards!

The paperwork is processing and my fingers are crossed it all goes smoothly.  It is such a relief.  I was feeling quite unsettled and a little bit lost there for a moment.  

Photos to follow when we move in (the photos above is not of our flat!)

xoxo

E&S

Wonderful Windsor

For our first wedding anniversary, S and I decided to have a weekend away in Windsor.  We were meant to be in Burgundy, France at the time but decided to postpone that trip because we just wanted to settle in London for our first week.

Windsor did not disappoint.  As it turned out, we had such a romantic weekend together.

Windsor is about 45 minutes to an hour train ride out of London and is home to the largest inhabited/used castle in the world.  In fact, while we were there the flag was raised which meant that the Queenie Poo herself was in residence.  Windsor is apparently her weekend home!  How humble of her.

The weather was just glorious.  Blue skies and a beautiful temperature.  See the pictures below for proof.   It is such a quaint, relaxed little town with streets lined full of amazing looking cafes, restaurants and pastry shops.  And how can I forget the gorgeous little hidden gardens.

We decided to splash out on accommodation and stayed at the Mecure Castle Hotel which was literally opposite the castle.  It was A-mazing.

We spent the whole of Saturday afternoon exploring Windsor Castle.  We also did it in true tourist style and opted to take the audio guide which was actually really useful.  Our favourite part of the Castle was the State Rooms.  My favourite room is the one in which the British Royals host banquets/balls and which has each plaque of all 1000 knights (number 1000 being Prince William himself).  Amazingly, each knight has a separate plaque and symbol.  We also found the artwork in the Castle absolutely incredible.  The room filled with a portion of the Royals china and crockery was also a favourite!

The Windsor Chapel was equally as fascinating.  It houses the graves of King Henry VIII and his favourite Jane Seymour as well as the Queen Mother.

After our visit to the Castle we had a traditional afternoon tea at Windsor's oldest restaurant.  Yum!  Scones, jam and cream - I could eat you all day.

On Saturday night we had an amazing "First Wedding Anniversary Dinner" at a ritzy Italian restaurant called La Taverna.  I possibly had the best calamari I have ever had at that restaurant.  We were underwhelmed when a white plate was brought out with only the calamari and lemon.  No garnish.  Not fancy.  But it didn't need to be because it was all in the food. 

On Sunday we had a lovely sleep in followed by a scrummy breakfast in Eton.  Eton is a little town right next to Windsor and is home to the famous Eton College.  Prince William and Prince Harry both attended Eton College.  As did many other famous/royal Britons.  Eton College is amazing because it is like a little town.  It is also incredibly incredibly expensive.

We finished our weekend in Windsor with a lovely boat ride down the Thames River.  We saw lots of beautiful houses, the Windsor Race Track, lots of Brits getting red raw sun burnt having picnics and all the beautiful swans owned by the Royal family.

It was a perfect way to spend our first wedding anniversary.

 The Queen's private residences.

 Eton College Chapel (that's right not Cathedral.  Chapel!)

 Eton College Main Courtyard

 Eton College

The Thames.

xoxo

E & S

Our first week in London

I thought it was about time that I did a post about our first week here in London.  Well, actually, it's been 13 days. 

We have done a ridiculous amount in such a short amount of time.  I feel like I have been here for weeks.

We are absolutely loving London.  Everything is new and exciting.  I don't think it is possible to ever get bored in this city.  In saying that, we have experienced a lot of things that, how can we say it, are a little different.  But that is half the fun.  More on London's quirky side later.

In my first few days of being here I got offered a job!  I think that is half the reason it has been so FULL ON so far.  I'm pretty sure 2 days is a record for anyone who relocates here without a job lined up.  I actually started this week. S is doing super well and has some interviews this week with some pretty top notch banks and investment companies.  Keep your fingers crossed.

On the flip side, finding a flat is ridiculously hard in this city.  We are hoping to share for fear of being lonely in a studio apartment the size of a bedroom.  It will also allow us to live in a great spot, in a lovely flat for a reasonable price.  We've now picked some beautiful spots and our hunt continues. 

Our hosts are being very hospitable and arranged a blow up mattress with sexy black satin sheets.  Yeehah. We are really enjoying living with Carrick, Stav and Susie Q and are very grateful for them putting a roof over our heads. 

We've also been to some awesome awesome places in London.  Our first weekend consisted of a visit to Clapham, Brick Lane for dinner, a lovely lunch with a friend in Belgravia and shopping in Regents Street.  Last week we gallivanted around London ALOT (we spent nearly 80 quid on Tube tickets).  I was able to show S around some of the iconic London sites like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London etc.  He loved it! I also fell in love with an area called Marylebone.  My equivalent of heaven.  And another called Maida Vale.  I also took a visit to one of my favourite areas, Covent Garden.

Everyone here is raving about the weather.  We have had an amazing amount of sunny blue skies and the other day I even said I was hot!

Anyway enough with my rambling, here are some photos from our past two weeks:

An average sized street in London....just kidding :-)

We are loving the gorgeous flowers that grow over here.  The daffodils are amazing!

Lancaster Gate - a very posh area.

 Look at that amazing blue sky.

London Bridge.

 St Paul's Cathedral - the view I get on a walk to work.

Our temporary abode in Fulham.

Kisses to everyone at home from Buck Palace. Mwah.

xoxo

E & S

Crazy KL

On our way over to London we stopped in Kuala Lumpur for three days.  Let me tell you, this city is CRAZY! Crazy shopping, crazy driving and crazy heat. 

No matter how many times I visit an Asian country nothing prepares me for their way of driving.  I lost track of the amount of near misses we had with other cars.  There is basically a no lane, no give way system in KL.  This also makes it very dangerous to cross the road (I may nearly have been hit by a car a few times.  Woops).

The people were so so friendly.  Especially the staff at the Park Royal who upgraded us to a Deluxe Room. It was music to our ears after a long and uncomfortable flight from Brisbane.

KL and Malaysia is such an amazing place.  The country is a combination of Malays, Indians and Chinese.  With this comes different religions all living under one roof harmoniously - Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.  It seriously is a mish mash of Asian culture.  You can just imagine the choice of food.

These are the Petronas "twin" Towers.  The tallest twin buildings in the world.  They are also home to an amazing shopping mall and are pretty much the icon of KL.

One night we had dinner at the Menara Tower Revolving Restaurant.  The restaurant is 300 metres high and revolves to give you a 360 degree view of the entire city.  We were literally on top of the city.  It was a very romantic evening.

 

We also visited the Batu Caves which contain various Hindu shrines, temples and stalagmite formations.  The Batu Caves are the second most important Hindu shrine outside of India.  To get into the caves, we had to walk up 282 very steep stairs.  The trip up was made even more difficult by the cheeky little monkeys chasing each other up and down the stairs. 

One of the highlights of our stay was a visit to the Islamic Arts Museum.  The museum had a very impressive collection of artistic Islamic artifacts. We were stunned by the elaborateness of the jewellery, kitchenware, armory and even the decoration of the Koran.  There was an entire section dedicated to mini models of mosques and important Islamic buildings all over the world (like Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia).  We soon realised that our Catholic churches don't even compare to the size and architecture involved in an Islamic mosque.

  



Because of the heat in KL (roughly 35 most times of the day) we spent a lot of time relaxing by the rooftop pool, sipping cocktails and having massages.  We also enjoyed a visit to the Bird Park which houses roughly 3000 different types of birds. 

All in all, we had a wonderful time in KL.

xoxo

E & S