London Apartment

We moved in to our apartment three weeks ago today and are starting to feel more settled here.  Our shipment from the US arrived last week.  Since we were limited to 1,000 pounds of shipment weight (which goes much faster than you would think), we basically brought over only clothes and Colin's toys.  It is still nice to have some of our own stuff.  I was getting really sick of the clothes I had in the suitcase I was living out of for almost a month and poor Colin was so bored without his toys.  Our apartment was semi-furnished.  We had to make a couple of trips to IKEA to get the remaining furniture that we needed (baby furniture for Colin, couches, a desk, etc.) and everything for the kitchen.  We didn't want to buy anything too nice as we will have to try to sell or give away everything in two years since we have the same shipping restrictions when we move back to the US. 

The neighborhood we live in is called Maida Vale.  It is in west London and about a 30 minute commute for David to get to work.  I think it will be a good fit for us as it seems to be a really family friendly neighborhood.  We live right across the street from a 27 acre park called Paddington Recreation Ground that we go to almost daily.  London also has quite a few free activities for kids under 5 so Colin and I have been checking a bunch out to see what we like best.  I will post more soon about what we have been up to.  We finally have Internet now (it took over two weeks to get set up) so will try to update this blog more regularly.

Here are some pictures of our apartment.  The first one is the outside view.  We live in a Mews style home.  This is a British term for rows of stables that host carriage houses below and living quarters above.  Our home is actually a replica of a Mews and never would have been used to hold carriages or horses.  According to our relocation assistant, this house is a "modern build."  I think this must mean anything less than 100 years old as this place is not modern at all.  Definitely a different standard than the US.

Front of our mews home

Living room

Dining room (we eventually got rid of that awful table and light fixture)

Tiny kitchen (a very difficult adjustment)

Master bedroom (calling this a master is a stretch)

Colin's room

Guest bedroom/office