We finally left Newton and made it to London. Our flight was delayed 4.5 or so hours, but the timing of the flight was actually better for the kids. A 7:20pm flight that's only 5.75 hours means that the kid would sleep about two hours. Lucky for us, we didn't leave until about midnight, so after a quick meal, we told them the TVs go off, and they slept for the rest of the flight. Magic. Mostly it was because we were in business class, so it was actually comfortable. This is a once in a lifetime experience for the kids (unless they have jobs like Matt has and I had where it's still luxurious but a bit more common), and they couldn't believe it. As a parent, I barely had to do anything - the flight attendant took care of their needs, and they could just do whatever they wanted at their seats. Super pleasant.
Arrival in London was uneventful. Family line (most countries have that - the US DOES NOT) for immigration, we had visas, got our bags and headed out to get a taxi. A SUPER nice taxi driver squeezed in all of our bags and all 5 of us and took us to our air bnb.
We were able to find an air bnb in the area we want to live in, and so far so good. (The price listed in air bnb is not at all the price we are paying). It has a downstairs with a living area, dining area and a kitchen that could use a few more shelves, but does the job. Upstairs has three bedrooms, and again, nowhere to put our stuff, but that's ok. And THREE bathrooms total. Clean. GREAT street and location. We're good.
We went on an adventure in the neighborhood the first day, found dinner and groceries and unpacked. That was enough. Yesterday we went to Matt's work to get our residence cards and our ATM cards at a bank branch down there. Somehow simple things are ending up taking hours, so that was most of the day. We walked from there (Victoria Station area) to Westminster Abbey and saw Big Ben and Parliament quickly before we hopped into the tube to get back up to meet our friend Stephanie and her son Oscar in Paddington Recreation area - a park and playground. That area (Maida Vale) looked amazing. So far I'd be happy to find a place to live that's near where we're renting (Greencroft Gardens) or there - but let's see what's available! We walked back from there, and Matt got Persian food for us, and I made grilled cheese and fish sticks for the kids. At least that's the same!
Today we had tickets for a tour of Buckingham Palace. It was really well done, with an audio guide for kids/families. All the kids enjoyed it (as did we), and we made it out just in time to watch the changing of the guard - or at least what we could see of it through the billions and billions of people. So...not much, but we got the idea.
We took the train up to St John's Wood and went to a fancy deli store (like an upper scale Zabars) to get challah for shabbat. We got grilled cheese panini (grilled cheese is definitely a theme) and walked by the American School, so the kids could see what it looks like. Unfortunately, it was behind a gate, so we didn't see much, but enough to get a sense. We walked back from there to see what their commute will look like. It's an INCREDIBLY beautiful neighborhood and walk home. Wow. It felt like a fancy neighborhood and somehow also a bit tropical. May just be that it's summer? No idea, but we're digging it.
We have been spending time trying to figure out sports for the boys, how our laundry machine works (no small feat! It's probably been a few hours of time, but I think we got it), where things are, how to get places, registering with the National Health System, finding a shul and just about everything else. I am super grateful we speak English here, as getting around is clearly SUPER easy. Things have been really pretty easy so far - some things feel similar to Singapore (the outlets, Marks & Spencer). Some things feel similar to Israel (the bathrooms, security, hanging laundry). Some things feel similar to New York (lots of people, public transit, lots of walking). Some things feels similar to our Boston life (grocery stores and food products, school stuff). But there are some differences. The laundry detergent doesn't say laundry soap (or laundry. or soap. or anything like that - can you tell laundry is my priority? When you have 5 people and a tiny machine and the dryer doesn't seem super useful, you can't really go a day without it...but we went two...).
Elie's first impressions: Meh. Don't like it
Koby's first impressions: Love it. Including going on the subway
Samara's first impressions: Big city. Very dirty but very cool.
Matt's first impressions: Need to readjust to urban life again.
As usual, photos below not in order (apologies).
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