The flat we found the week before didn't end up working out for us. The tenant decided to not move out after all... even though he had moved overseas?! Go figure. So we hit the 'letting market' again to find another place. We found another great spot, but the landlord wanted a 2 year contract, which is very unusual. Our relocation company suggested that we not accept and continue our search.... So I set up a few more showings for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since Jeff started work on Monday and we had to be out of our temporary accommodations soon, the pressure was on to really find a place. Unfortunately, we had exhausted our options in the area we liked (Fulham) so we branched out to an area a little further north to West London, vs Southwest London (Barons Court/Shepherds Bush) . I saw 3 properties on Monday and 3 more on Tuesday. I found one that would work great on Tuesday! It has plenty of closet space, a combined living room and dining area, bathtub and storage in the bathroom, already has a tv, is fairly close to a tub stop and was a good price! (Even though I never thought I pay this much for a ~400 SQFT flat... Raleigh is really a bargain!!! haha)
I put in an offer that day and it was excepted!!! We are moving in tomorrow afternoon :) Here are some pictures from the website... more to follow once we settle in some.
The bathroom
The Bedroom
The floorplan
The Kitchen
The living room
In between the appointments to see flats, I had several job interviews this week. I interviewed with 3 different companies. 2 were follow-ups from phone interviews I had prior to leaving the US and 1 was with a new company for the 1st round of interviews. I have since been contacted for the 2nd round with them! Fingers are crossed that I can secure a job with one of these amazing organizations.
Jeff's week has been fairly busy as well. He started on Monday and has been getting into the swing of things at the office. Clearly the London office is much larger than the Raleigh office. The human GPS did a fantastic job at figuring out his way to the office with out his smart all week too! (It took a little longer to get his phone unlocked since it was on a corporate plan, so we only had my phone for the first week or so we were here.)
To celebrate the big week, we went out to dinner with some friends of a friend, Giorgio and Jeff! We had a blast catching up with them! We meet up at a near by tube stop and then walked over to a Vietnamese restaurant. They had been several times before, so we left the ordering up to them and they did not disappoint! We loved it all.
Afterwards we went out for a few drinks. I had my first go at a Pimms and Lemonade (aka sprite)! It was delicious! It is similar to Sangria but better.
Cassie thank you so much for introducing us to them! and Giorgio and Jeff we had a great time! Can't wait to meet up again soon :) xo
This weekend we had a few loose ends with the flat we had to take care of, but afterwards we went out to explore the city some more! We started out with exploring the Sherhard's Bush area some.. since this is where we will be living now. Our flat is about a 15 minute walk to one of the nicest and biggest shopping malls I have ever been to before! It has 18 theatres on the top floor, all the prestigious stores (think Tiffany, Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo, Prada, etc), several champagne bars inside the mall that are set up as 'kiosk' in the middle like at home, the biggest grocery store (Marks & Spencers) that I have seen so far, and numerous restaurants along the outside of the mall. This could be a nice to live near... or could be super dangerous! haha A fifteen minute walk in the other direction, leads to a much quieter area that has 2 large parks and some nice local grocery stores and pubs. I think we will really enjoy this location :)
Later in the afternoon we started to explore the Covent Gardens area. There were several isles of arts and crafts, as well as street performers. Here are a few fun pictures!
The Apple Market at Covent Gardens
Jeff talked me to give this guy some change.. and then took enough pictures to tell the whole story! Enjoy!
(I had a hair in my mouth.. I promise I was't picking my nose:) )
On Sunday, we went to the 'Museum of London' to learn more about the cities history. It was an interesting place and had some pretty cool exhibits. There is so much history here, it is amazing!
Jeff having fun with the hat and buckets firefighters used to put out the great fire :)
Some fun facts for the week: Men do not wear undershirts period. There are foxes that roam the streets in central London. Black cab drivers go to college to drive a cab. (The mini cabs do not and are half the price of a black cab!)
Hopefully I will have more updates this week on the job front. Keep me in your prayers and thoughts!
Cheers!
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