Tower Bridge

Since Warren starts work on Monday we are trying to fill our last free days with walking around the parts of town that will be a bit too far for us to come to regularly. We walked from our temporary apartment to Tower Bridge.

We also walked by Dead Man's Hole which used to be an open air morgue for bodies that were found in the Thames until they could be identified and buried. Kind of gross, but also a clever way to solve a problem.

After that we walked over to the outside of the Tower of London where they have ceramic poppies representing British soldiers who died in World War I. In total there will be close to 900,000 poppies. The last one will be placed on November 11th. 

We walked for a bit longer and walked to the building where Warren's office is located. It was on a cute little square with some really cool looking old buildings.

This is the gate to enter the square to get to Warren's building. At first the porter wasn't going to let us in but then said it was okay since Warren is starting there on Monday.

One New Food

We tried the ubiquitous beans on toast with a slice of cheddar cheese. I quite liked it but Warren was not a big fan.

We also tried a Cornish Pasty. These are pronounced past-ee not paste-ee. 

There are loads of stores selling Cornish Pasty. I prefer the chicken and mushroom filled pasty.

Warren likes the beef and onion pasty. 

These were purchased at the grocery store and we baked them at home. They were really good!

King's Cross and Queen's Walk

We started out going to the King's Cross/St. Pancras station to go to an internet cafe nearby to wire some money to our (hopefully) new landlord so we can (hopefully) move in next week. The station is lovely! 

Part of it is now a hotel and there is a really nice shopping center in the train station.

For the Harry Potter fans...you may remember King's Cross as the station where you can board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4.

This next photo is for Amelis. We came across this Dr. Who section in a cute little bookstore in the station. We thought about getting a sonic screwdriver (10th Doctor version) but decided against it until we are in a more permanent apartment.

In the evening, we went on the Queen's Walk around the River Thames. We passed many London highlights including Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and the Millennium Bridge. I would strongly recommend this walk as a first day intro to the city for any potential visitors. 

I also had the opportunity to gaze into the eyes of David Beckham on our walk. Just another perk of living in London!

Bank Accounts and Gelato

We set up our UK bank accounts today. So by the end of next week we should have our 'chip and pin' debit cards. It is crazy how difficult it can be to navigate London with a credit card from the US. We are unable to add money on our Oyster transportation cards, use self checkout, and have to show ID with every purchase. Because the banks are really busy we had to change our appointment to the branch at Canary Wharf. It was a beautiful day and Canary Wharf was a really cool part of town. There is a mall with loads of shops and really nice financial buildings. 

We went to Covent Garden to try to get a plug for our computer at the Apple Store (no success). The area has a lot of stores, restaurants, and street performers. Matt, I took this next picture for you. We have to come here for macarons when you come to visit!

For dinner we went out for fish and chips at Rock and Sole Plaice. 

Good thing we took the advice from my good friend, Clausen, and split because the portions were huge! This is considered a single serving.

In London, restaurants charge more if you eat at the restaurant and less if you get take away. We got a picture of the menu that shows the significant difference in price. £5 more to eat there!

Then we got gelato at Scoop.

I got cheesecake and Warren got chocolate and hazelnut. It was super smooth!

On our way home we stopped by the grocery store for a few things and came across the American section of the grocery store. You'll never believe what they have...PEANUT BUTTER M&MS!! I don't regret stocking up on them in Omaha because they cost £1.50 for a small bag! That is $2.50!

One New Food

In an effort to try new foods, we picked up these chili and lemon chips.

With a claim of "Britain's Favourite Indian Snacks!" my expectations were high. 

Success! These chips were delicious, although a touch spicier than my preference. Warren really liked them! Not something I would keep on hand but would be really good for a long train ride.

Malaysian Pancake

Yesterday at the Sunday UpMarket near Spitalfield we tried a Malaysian Pancake. It was a sweet pancake with black rice and coconut filling. It was delicious!

 And this is what it looks like after taking a bite. Hopefully you can see the filling a little better.

First Day in London

We dropped Poppy off at 3:30am CST Friday morning. After we boarded the plane at 6:30am we were able to see Poppy and our boxes being loaded.

We arrived in London Saturday morning at 8am GMT/2am CST. We ran into very few hiccups along the way. Here is what our boxes looked like upon arrival (we had not opened them at this point):

It took a lot longer for Poppy to get home than we expected. I'm sure the man answering the phone at JCS Livestock was pretty tired of me calling him for updates. The officials at the Animal Reception Centre needed to contact my vet in Omaha to get additional information about which rabies vaccine she received. She was finally delivered to us at 5pm GMT/11am CST so she had a very long day. But she has acclimated better than expected!

We tried a new food tonight on recommendation from my sister and brother-in-law: Scotch Eggs

As you can probably see from the label they are basically a hard boiled egg covered in meat and breadcrumbs.

Our attempt to heat an entire egg did not go so well.

All in all the scotch eggs were really good! I didn't have high expectations but I would definitely eat them again!

Goodbye Nebraska

Dear Omaha,

We will miss your charm, cornfields in the middle of the city, friendly residents, lack of traffic (except during the College World Series), local restaurants, and the inexpensive cost of living. We will especially miss all of our dear friends and family. 

Kind regards,

Rachael and Warren

Are you ready for some football?

Warren's coworkers got him an awesome Arsenal jersey! Guess we'd better brush up on our soccer...

First Accent Run In

Made a lot of calls this morning trying to get Poppy's arrival and delivery booked. I was attempting to give the man on the phone my email address which starts with the very challenging word "the" and here is what happened spelled out phonetically:

"What is your email address?"

"thuh smiths..."

"Sorry, what was it again?"

"thuh smiths..."

"Sorry I'm not understanding."

*Rachael spells it out with the outdated phonetic alphabet...T as in Tom...H as in..."*

"Oh, THEE smiths..I see. Like thee one and only."

"Yes, that is correct."

*Rachael is mortified*

I guess I need to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet for the word "the": Tango, Hotel, Echo

Moving Day Schedule

We get a lot of questions about what moving day will look like. Here is our tentative plan:

4am--Drop Poppy off at Delta Cargo

5:30am--Arrive at airport with our 6 boxes and carry-on bags.

10:15am-Arrive in Atlanta. Leave the airport, pick up Poppy from domestic cargo. Take Poppy to the international cargo drop off. Return to airport. Go through security again.

6pm--Leave for London

7am--Arrive in London. Take 6 boxes and 4 carry-on bags to temporary corporate housing. Poppy will be delivered later by a livestock import/export company. Then eat fish and chips.

Furniture Moving Day

Before: 

After:

Before: 

After:

Before: 

After:

Just a few rooms left to clear out...then on to packing!