Olympics & Paralympics

Now that the Olympics and Paralympics are officially over with, I thought I would do a quick post about our experience and share some of our pictures.  We were nervous about moving to London right before the start of the Olympics not knowing how it would impact our apartment search and how crazy the city would be.  It didn't seem to have an impact on our apartment search at all.  Most landlords were not interested in renting out their places to short-term tenants here for the Olympics even if it meant a lot of money for a few weeks.  It wasn't worth the hassle to them.  The city did not seem significantly more busy either.  There were warnings to avoid public transportation and tourist sites during the Olympics.  However, David had no trouble at all getting to work during the Olympics.  Most business actually complained about business being down over the Olympics as locals were too afraid to come out due to all the warnings and the tourists were here simply for the Olympics, not to spend a significant amount of time sightseeing or shopping.

We were fortunate to secure tickets to a Team USA vs. Turkey Olympic volleyball game and a session of Paralympics swimming and athletics.  Before we moved here, a lot of tickets were given out in a lottery type system.  However, the official ticket site held on to some blocks of tickets that were released randomly.  The lower priced tickets also had options to buy child tickets for significantly reduced prices.  We were able to get Colin these tickets for swimming and athletics which was really nice considering his attention span usually means we only see about an hour of each event.  Our volleyball event was outside of Olympic Park at a venue called Earl's Court that is normally used for concerts and exhibitions.  The swimming was at the Aquatics Centre and athletics was at Olympic Stadium, both within Olympic Park.  We were super impressed with how organized everything was.  You had to go through airport style security but all lines went extremely fast.  Buggy parks were set up to leave our stroller before going to our seat.  If anything, we noticed there were too many volunteers; a problem I am sure they were happy to have.

Olympic Park was really nice and there was quite a bit to do outside of going to events.  We enjoyed walking around to see all the venues and trying some of the different food and drink options.  It should be interesting to see what happens to the area now that the Olympics are over.  A lot of the venues were temporary and will be taken down; others have been sold.  There was quite a bit of infrastructure built around that area (a giant shopping mall, various hotels, extended transportation links) so time will tell what happens with those things.

I am glad I can now cross "Go to the Olympics" off my bucket list!  Here are some pictures from our Olympic and Paralympic Events.

At the OLYMPICS!!

Ready to watch Olympic volleyball

USA vs. Turkey Women's volleyball

At the Aquatics Centre for Paralympics swimming

Waiting for swimming to start

Olympic pool and diving well

Family photo at the Aquatics Centre

Colin and I in front of the Orbit

Watching Paralympic athletics

Paralympic athletics at Olympic Stadium

Family photo in front of Olympic Stadium

London Living

We are getting more and more settled by the week in London and falling into a pattern of everyday life.  Now that I have more of a feel for living here, I thought I would write a post about some of my likes and dislikes of London living.

Like - Online Grocery Shopping
Why would I start out my list by discussing grocery shopping?  The discovery of online grocery shopping was like heaven after close to a month of walking to the grocery store with Colin and stroller in tow, fighting my way down the narrow aisles while Colin attempted to pull items off of shelves, and realizing I could only get about 10 items before I couldn't carry anything more.  I would then have to do the whole thing over again the next day (and the next and the next....).  I know online grocery shopping exists in the US, but it is rarely used.  In London, all of the grocery store chains deliver, and I see a truck from one of the chains going to almost all of my neighbors' houses at some point of the week.  It take a little more organization but in the end I think I spend less because there isn't the impulse shopping that occurs when walking down the aisles of the grocery store (hmmm...I am starving, better throw some cookies in my cart!).  The main problem is not understanding metric measurements so ending up with products that are either way too large or too small.

Dislike - Apartment Living
As I wrote in an earlier post, we pay an insane amount each month to live in a small apartment.  You would think we would be living in luxury for the crazy amount we pay.  I can't complain too much as I know our place is nicer (and larger) than the vast majority of homes here, but it is still a big adjustment coming from our nice (built in 2010) house in Denver.  I think the top three things that drive me crazy about this place are: 1) No window screens which means either the windows stay shut all the time (which is awful when it is 85 degrees out, and we have no air conditioning) or we have bugs in our house.  I would prefer the windows shut over the bugs.  David the opposite.  They also make me SUPER nervous as Colin could crawl right out.  I have barricaded the window in his room so I think the chance of him getting to it and opening it are slim, but they are definitely not up to child safety standards in the US.  2) Tiny combination washer and dryer.  The washer/dryer is located in the tiny kitchen, and takes 4 hours to do one load of laundry.  After this 4 hours, our clothes are still damp to wet and need to be hung up on the clothes rack for 4 more hours before putting them away.  So, 8 hours per tiny load of wash.  I need to do 1-2 loads per day to stay caught up.  I miss my full size front loading washer and dryer so much!  3) Lack of closets.  Oh, how I miss my walk-in closet!  We are lucky and at least found a place with built in wardrobes, but they are still jammed full.  This is after giving away at least half of our clothing before we moved here.  After we move back to the US, I am sure any place we live in will feel like a mansion. 

Like - Abundance of Parks
Most people are familiar with the large parks in London - Hyde Park and Regent's Park are probably the most famous.  However, London has a ton of smaller parks most of which have playgrounds.  I am glad Colin isn't older as the playgrounds here are crazy (think super high climbing structures with no rails).  I would have loved them as a kid, but they make me cringe as a parent.  Apparently, there isn't the worry about lawsuits from injury here.  We live right across the street from a 27-acre park called Paddington Recreation Ground which has younger kid and older kid playgrounds, soccer fields, tennis courts, a full track, gym (where I take yoga and other classes), basketball courts, a cafe, etc.  We are also within walking distance of two of London's larger parks - Regents Park (which has the London Zoo that Colin and I got a membership to) and Queens Park.  We are a short bus ride from Hyde Park; the Princess Diana Playground there is a favorite.  There are a number of other smaller parks within walking distance as well.  Having all these options to burn off 18 month old boy energy is great. 

Like - Free Kid's Activities
Although the parks are great, there is only a certain amount of time I can spend each day trying to prevent Colin from doing something dangerous on playground equipment before needing to find another activity.  Fortunately, there are a lot of Children's Centres (usually my British English)  and schools near our house that host free drop-ins for children under the age of 5 most days.  They generally host both a morning and afternoon session.  Afternoon sessions conflict with Colin's nap, but we try to go to at least one of the morning drop-ins every week. They have free play with tons of different toys and stations set up that vary daily with different activities (play-dough, water play, painting, pizza making, etc).  The sessions usually end with a snack of fruit and group singing and story time.  Did I mention they are free?  There are also three or four libraries within walking distance that have free story times.  We have went to a couple, but Colin is at a age where he has a really hard time sitting still so we probably will do this more as he gets older.  I am trying to mix these free activities with a few classes that we have to pay for (this fall we are doing music and swimming) as both of us go crazy if we hang out at home too much.

Like & Dislike - Public Transportation
You can get almost every where in London using public transportation.  This is a definite "Like", and I certainly don't miss driving one bit.  However, using the Underground (aka "Tube") is next to impossible when I am alone with Colin.  We have a Tube station right across the street from our house which is great for David going to work and on the weekends when we go places as a family.  However, taking the Tube alone with Colin during the week is extremely difficult as the vast majority of Tube stations are not handicap accessible.  Carrying a stroller with an 18 month old down stairs is awful when alone.  So during the week, I only use the bus.  I am glad I have this option, but the bus is generally slower than the Tube and more difficult to get to places far from our house.  The other issue with the bus is that only two strollers are allowed on at once.  Last week when I was leaving the gym, three buses flew past me since they already had two strollers before I was able to get on one.  Not a huge deal at this time of the year, but it will be a major pain when it is winter and freezing or raining.  I am glad we have the bus as an option though.  I joined a gym with a daycare (called a "creche" here) that is a bus ride away so we use it quite a bit during the week  I just wish London had the accessibility rules of the US so we could use the Tube.  I am sure this is really frustrating for those that have a handicap.  They are slowly changing some of the stations to being handicap accessible, but this is a huge project as most of the stations are very old and in the middle of crowded areas making construction difficult.

We FINALLY got out and saw the main sights of London last weekend so will end this post with a few of the pictures from this trip.

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament

London Eye and River Thames

Checking out a London phone booth