We moved into our flat near Highgate Village (Islington, London) on January 24th. We were all really excited about getting out of the hotel and into our own place! We lucked out because we also had beautiful weather for the move. During our last breakfast at LaGaffe, we took a picture with one of the owners Lorenzo who was really nice and helpful every day!

Our neighbor upstairs owns her flat and has owned it for 20 years - a very nice lady who immediately told me how to get to shopping on the bus etc... The flat came furnished, but we had to get linens, towels, and dishes. The first night we took a bus ride out to a huge American Style shopping mall to stock up on some basics. We even went to TJMAXX. The next day Ethan and I took the tube and then a bus across town to IKEA to get Ethan a bed (we have a one bedroom flat) and some cheap dishes. It was quite a sight after Ethan and I were finished shopping (bed in the box, matress, and all). We took a minicab home, and the driver helped us get everything inside. Here is a picture of Ethan in his bed!

Here is the picture of breakfast at the flat and the boys putting together the Lego Castle in the flat.

One night we roasted marshmallows over our gas stove in the flat! Yummy!

Our flat has a really nice view. We even hung a small bird feeder out back to see what different birds they have in England. We look forward to having some meals out back when the weather gets nice. The day we moved in they had put some wet cement around a garden shed in the back - Ethan wrote his name in the cement!

Life is different here. We have learned how to ride the bus and walk to local markets. They have grocery stores like in the US (but smaller). They also have stores that just sell fruits and vegetables, fish shops, meat shops, and great bakeries. Since we take the bus home from the store; I usually go a couple times a week (less to carry - and everything is fresh). Here we are at the bus stop with our laundry. Our washer is being repaired, so we won't have to do this often.

Probably the biggest news is that we enrolled Ethan in a local public school. He starts on Monday! The school is about a 5 minute walk from our flat. His class has only 13 kids, and he will wear a uniform. He will wear a blue or yellow polo shirt with blue pants and black shoes. I will do a separate post about his first day of school. Here are some pictures of a neighborhood park and playground.

The sun was out today, so Ethan and I decided to explore the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. It was quite a playground - complete with pirate ship.

Here is Ethan climbing the mast:

Where is Ethan?

After a picnic at the playground, we headed to Circle Pond to feed popcorn to the geese, ducks, swans, and other birds.

We strolled through the grounds of Kensington Palace and met a nice older man, who was feeding peanuts to the squirrels. He invited Ethan to feed them with him. It was a great day, and we enjoyed the sunshine.

In case you were wondering what we do in the evenings at the hotel, here are some shots of Ethan in his room (a small room inside of our room) making Lego ships and watching a movie.

Here is a picture of me working. I like to call this shot the command center.

We visited Hampton Court Palace today. Hampton Court Palace was a favored residence of Henry VIII, an obligatory residence for some other Tudors, a retreat for some of the Stuarts, kind of a hangout for the Hanovers, and then more or less an administrative burden for the later monarchs. But it is a great example of the typically British architectural pastiche, combining Tudor neo-Gothic construction in brick with an earnest effort in Georgian neo-classicism overseen by none other than Christopher Wren during the 1700s. We rode one of the overground British Rail system trains for a short 30 minutes Southeast of London to the Palace from Waterloo Station. That was a fun experience for all. Here we are outside of the train!

Once we arrived Ethan met some "courtiers." He asked them whether or not there had been any battles at the palace. Ethan learned that there had not been any battles at the Palace and that most battles take place at castles.

Another exciting feature of the castle is the hedgerow maze. Ethan and William studied the map before entering the maze. When we entered the maze, Ethan took off. William and I were hopelessly lost until Ethan came back for us and announced that the had found his way out of the maze. He quickly led us out of the maze without any problems.

Here is Ethan at the center of the maze!

The Palace has some really nice formal gardens complete with fountains, inquisitive swans, and manicured trees. Here are some pictures.

Ethan actually had a "run-in" with an aggressive swan who thought he had some food. The swan kept following Ethan around - which Ethan thought was pretty funny.

Today we went to the British Museum. The British Museum is huge - lots to see. Since the museum is free, and we know that Ethan will not spend all day looking at things at a museum, we decided to see only a small part today and make muliple visits throughout our stay. After viewing the Rosetta Stone, we focused on the Eqyptian rooms. Of particular interest were the mummies.

Below is a real mummified body . . .

After a morning at the museum, we went to find a nearby playground billed as one of "London's Best" at Coram fields. Strangely enough, the playground is located on the grounds of a former orphanage (which includes a musem about the orphanage which we skipped). They also have a small petting zoo, a football pitch (soccer field), and several playscapes. The playground had a really great playscape, but the best feature for Ethan seemed to be the Zip Line. Here are a few shots of Ethan in action on the zip line!

Ethan found a boy his age to play football (soccer) with on the pitch. English kids (even young ones are really good a soccer). It is definitely the national sport. However, Ethan did very well and was excited to make a friend and get to play. The funny thing was - the boys wanted to play soccer using the entire width of the field. The second picture can give you an idea of how far the goals were apart (about 100 yards!). They were both tired out after about 20 mins. of playing.

Ethan on one of the playscapes.

Today we went to the Science Museum while dad was at work. We navigated the tube easily and found the Museum without much trouble. The Science Museum is huge, I mean the biggest one I have been to. We spent almost the entire day there and did not see it all. We will definitely be back - it is also free!

There are lots of hands on activities for kids which makes the Museum really fun. One of the highlights was a science show we attended where we learned about making a strong bridge. Ethan learned that the weakest point on the bridge is the center, and the show explored different ways to design bridges to make them stronger. Ethan was picked to be the safety manager (HA HA) and got to help with some of the experiements during the show.

Here are some pictures of Ethan in the science show (below).

The kids at the science show also got to sit on a chair with 500 nails, because of the way the nails were distributed evenly and close together it did not hurt at all!

I also took some pictures of our hotel LaGaffe in Hampstead today. You will see on the ground floor there is an Italian Restaurant and wine bar. Our room is actually in another building behind the cafe. Here is Ethan standing at the entry garden of our hotel.

Today we explored Camden to find the Chipperfield office (William's workplace). After walking around Camden for a while, we found William's office. It is a fairly unassuming building. Here is the picture of the outside. William starts work tomorrow.

The transportation in London on the subway or tube is great, but we do a lot of walking around - especially since we are new to the area and are exploring. Ethan has been getting tired of all the walking. So we came up with the idea of getting him a scooter ( a traditional push scooter). This has been one of our best ideas yet. He loves it, and it makes our errands go much faster!

We have an application out for a flat just outside of Highgate Village. The flat is called a "garden flat," because we have a back porch and a front porch or small garden area out front. Highgate Village is an extremely old village which is charming and has many cute pubs, restaurants, and shops. We are close to the tube stop as well and several parks for Ethan. Here is a picture of one of the main streets in the area (Hornsey Road - we will live directly off of this street).

Highgate Village at dusk:

Here is a picture of the street where you will find our flat (Fitzwarren Gardens). It is a ground floor flat (more like a brownstone with one apartment above ours). It is currently being renovated - new flooring (hard wood) paint and tile. We should be able to move in on the 21st of January if all goes as planned.

Above and below our pictures of us standing by the front gate of our flat. The bay window in the background is our front window.

The picture below is of Archway Road - We will live on top of the hill above this major street. Notice central London in the background. Also below are some pictures of me and Ethan at one of the neighborhood parks with a duck pond - Waterlow Park - in the old manse, now in the National Trust, there are community events: small concerts, plays for children, etc.

Notice the gloaming . . . it gets dark here around 4:00pm - that has been a big adjustment!