Today is the first of my London Bundles that ventures out into the neighborhoods outside the City, yet still considered fairly “central London” (i.e., Zone 1).
Let’s start our journey at South Kensington Tube station (which services the District, Circle, and Piccadilly lines). As soon as you ascend the Underground station’s steps into the light, you’ll find yourself at quite the center of action. Surrounding the station are endless choices of restaurants and shops, so you can dip into a cafe here if you didn’t grab breakfast at your hotel or flat (you know, the perfect abode where London Relocation Ltd. just successfully placed you). Might I recommend the darling Cafe Creperie just Northwest of the station and along the way to where your area tour will continue (make sure you bring cash, though, for those crepes…last time I was there, they didn’t accept credit or debit).
Continuing North on Exhibition Road, you will soon enough see the Victoria & Albert Museum to your right and the Natural History Museum to your left—take your pick (I am, however, partial to the V&A for its artifacts, artwork, and antique furnishings and textiles on exhibit, as well as the special Grace Kelly exhibition currently on display!) Best part of either museum is that they’re FREE.
All right then, mosey onward further North on Exhibition Road, past Imperial College, and hang a left at Kensington Road. You will see that Kensington Gardens is just across the street. You can enter the park if you stay on Exhibition Road, but by walking along Kensington Road, you can go past the famous Royal Albert Hall (the acoustically brilliant concert that hosts the annual Proms) and see the exotic Albert Memorial (that Queen Victoria commissioned in honor of her dearly departed husband in 1875) just across the way inside the park. Once you reach the Southwest corner of the park, enter onto a walkway that will lead you directly to Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was born and pronounced Queen and where Lady Diana lived the rest of her years (if you recall the footage of the masses of bouquets mourners piled up outside palace gates, this is the place where those vigils took place). The palace recently kicked off its Enchanted Palace exhibit to offer a bit of avant-garde eye candy while the building undergoes extensive renovation. Venturing inside does come at a price, but just touring the grounds for free is worthwhile—the blooms decking out the Sunken Garden and swans preening on the Round Pond being visual delights.
Enjoy a pleasant stroll on the main walkway (The Broad Walk) between the pond and palace as you continue North and exit outside the Northwest corner of the park. The main road you encounter here is just where Bayswater Road becomes Notting Hill Gate, so hang a left and continue into the well-known neighborhood. Just past the Tube station, you can jog over onto Pembridge Road for a couple blocks until you see the entrance to Portobello Road. Wandering the length of this road will take you past the antique, clothing, and produce stalls that give this area its character (and, yes, you’ll see sites from the movie, including the storefront of the travel bookshop in the film as well as the original shop on which it was based).
Notting Hill is an ideal neighborhood in which to close out your day, with no end to the pubs, cafes, and restaurants to grab your late lunch or dinner, or cinemas to enjoy some seated, passive time to yourself (try the Electric on Portobello for an ultra-cozy recliner as a seat or the Coronet on Notting Hill Gate for its history). From here, you can catch the Tube at the Notting Hill Gate station (District, Circle, and Central lines), or, first, pop down onto Kensington Church Street for more dinner options, including the Churchill Arms pub if you’re thirsty. Cheers!
Woohoo! The sun is out with not one cloud in the sky, and I’m feeling like I’ve hyperspaced into Spain. Seriously. This can’t be England. There is a whole new wardrobe strutting out there on the catwalks, I mean sidewalks, that I’ve never seen in this city before—who knew that people here have shoulders and legs and toes?! Tank-tops, shorts, flip-flops—all these clothing items that I know from home—have surfaced as folks must have raided their holiday-wear storage to dress appropriately for this heat wave.
The parks over the weekend were flooded with pale skin sizzling pink in the sunlight as we all gulp up the Vitamin D we’ve been so deprived of after a particularly crappy winter. I live in Southwest London, so my own park-hopping included Brompton Cemetery (yes, though I just walked through eating my lunch, plenty of sunbathers found a patch of bare grass that did not accompany a headstone to stretch out and veg upon), Putney, and Parsons Green. The pubs opened their windows and doors to the breezes, so if you couldn’t snag an outdoor seat, you could still delight in the sunny cross-ventilation.
All good things must come to an end, alas, so evidently tomorrow we’ll be dipping down into the upper 60s tomorrow. Enjoy it while it lasts, people!
Well, today is already shaping up into an interesting (if not a bit nerve-racking) day…we’re trying to act normal and go about our day-to-day business with a camera on us. No, we’re not on the latest episode of Big Brother, and Yvette Fielding isn’t here trying to stir up paranormal activity in our old mews office—we’re filming a promo video for our business!! We want to give our prospective clients a sneak-peek at the people behind the scenes—behind the web forms, emails, and phone calls—so that when you do arrive in London to attend your property viewings, you’ll know exactly who you’re working with.
We like to think of ourselves as a small business with a heart—we’re all expats here in London from the United States and Australia, so we’re each personally invested in what we do, mentally and emotionally. We know how many varied stressors a relocation can entail no matter what the circumstances are that bring you to the UK—whether you’re a student, transferring employee, or professional beginning a new job and a new life overseas, and whether you’re moving over as an individual or a family. London Relocation Ltd. has experienced it all, and we want you to benefit from this collective experience so that you don’t have to waste your time, money, or peace of mind unnecessarily. We hope that our new video montage will provide you this reassurance in our services in advance of your travels. Cheers!
This probably doesn’t sound like too much fun, but with a political history like England’s, it’s actually downright fascinating. Last week, my virtual walking tour took you through some major sites along the Thames; today, we’ll start out at the same spot (Westminster) and remain just north of the river.
Starting at Westminster Tube station, you have another chance to take in Big Ben and Parliament upon exiting. To spend more time here, you can schedule a tour through Parliament (during the summer only for overseas visitors, but anytime for UK residents and visitors, including climbing the clock tower!) or attend Parlimentary debates or committee meetings.
And if my previously recommended Thames Circuit does not allow you enough time to tour the inside of Westminster Abbey, definitely do so this time round. My personal favorite is the “Poet’s Corner” area of the cathedral, where renowned writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and Robert Browning are buried and several other greats like Jane Austen, Keats, and Shelley are given memorial. But since I’ve dubbed this the “Government Grouping,” allow me to usher in the relevance by merging Church and State: the Abbey is the site of all coronations (so make sure you see the 13th-century Coronation Chair), and many monarchs are buried here (including Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and St. Edward the Confessor). And make sure not to miss former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s memorial on your way out, near the poppy-lined Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
Speaking of whom, just a couple blocks toward St. James’s Park delivers you to my favorite museum in London, the Churchill War Rooms. Here you will experience the actual bunker setting in which Winston Churchill and his cabinet strategized during WWII, down to the actual maps charting military movement and sugar cube rations! The adjoining Churchill Museum is a relatively new installment that provides engagingly interactive ways of perusing the immense wealth of information stored there.
From here, you can let the greenery of St. James’s Park tempt you across the road and into acres of pleasant walking paths, duck ponds, and ice cream vendors. OR, you can postpone this delightful stroll a bit longer and walk up Whitehall toward Trafalgar Square. Along the way, you’ll pass the Treasury, Downing Street (with its new resident down at #10), and Horse Guards (a perfect photo-op of uniformed guards) before coming into the square. Standing tall at its center is Nelson’s Column commemorating Admiral Nelson’s 1805 victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and as its backdrop is the expansive National Gallery Museum if you’re looking to wile away a rainy day inside amidst works of art.
If you didn’t pop over into St. James’s Park before, do so now from Trafalgar Square by walking through the Admiralty Arch and down the Mall toward Buckingham Palace. You can tour the State Rooms and gardens during August and September when the Queen is away on holiday at her Scotland retreat.
From here, I leave it entirely up to you. You can cut through the park to catch the Tube at St. James’s Park Tube station, walk through the adjacent Green Park for the, that’s right, Green Park station, or perhaps wander further west to Hyde Park Corner to catch the Tube, walk into the extensive gardens, or cut over into Knightsbridge for some expensive shopping. But that’s getting into a whole other London Bundle for another day…
As Sue Hillman of It’s Your London was so gracious to provide her month in review yesterday, I figure today I’ll throw in a mini May Day bank holiday weekend-in-review of my own.
Saturday morning we caught the overground train from Liverpool Street station and rode it out to Bishops Stortford, about 45 minutes outside of the city (and near Stansted Airport). Well outside of the labyrinth of urban streets, we then hopped off the train and onto our bikes to embark on the remaining 30-mile journey to Cambridge. [side note: If you're not bringing your bike over when you move to London, which I didn't, you can easily rent one throughout the city. I unfortunately don't have a particular shop to recommend from personal experience as yet...I won't slam the East London business where mine for last weekend came from, but let's just say the bike was not up to par for the distance we told them we'd be going. I ended up with a heavy cruiser with skipping gears and just no power at all in the pedalling, when clearly a road or hybrid bike would be in order.]
Once within Cambridge’s city limits, we washed up and regrouped at Arundel House Hotel for a rewarding pint in the conservatory to cure what “aled” us (*hardy har*). The hotel was located just off the River Cam near Jesus Green park, which made for easy walking into the University center for more libations at The Anchor (where Pink Floyd’s founder, Syd Barrett, used to be a regular) as we watched the brave souls that still went out punting under the ominous purple sky. Dinner was at Loch Fyne, a reasonably priced, quality seafood restaurant with locations scattered throughout the UK. The next day brought us even cooler air and greyer skies, but this didn’t keep us from wandering the University, perusing the wealth of information within its bookshops, poking around the miscellaneous wares of its outdoor market, and warming back up at The Eagle pub with pints and a traditional Sunday roast. Within one of the several intimate little rooms in which you can tuck yourself away is a historic ceiling written all over by members of the U.S. Air Force and RAF when they hung out here awaiting their commands during World War II. Having blacked out the windows for concealment from the outside, inside they drank, smoked, and burned their legacy on the ceiling using candles and lighters. An easy-enough train ride (only an hour or so) delivered us back to London for a restful evening.
The following bank holiday Monday brought an old college roommate of mine into town. She had already seen London’s major sites during previous visits, so I showed her the neighborhoody side of London with lunch at The Troubadour in Earls Court (its downstairs music club has seen the likes of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Joni Mitchell) and a wander down Portobello Road in Notting Hill, where we grabbed dessert in the form of a £2 Red Velvet cupcake at The Hummingbird Bakery. Just when the chilling winds of this unusual cold snap were getting the best of us, it was time to duck into the Adelphi Theatre for some lyrically and visually haunting indoor entertainment—namely, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies. While I didn’t find the songs as memorable as those of Phantom, the vocal quality of the performers and dazzlingly different set design helped it stand strongly on its own.
So this just goes to show you but a few of the countless iterations of things you can do over a weekend once you move to London—and do it so easily for really not that much £££! When London Relocation Ltd. finds you your new home base within just one day, you’ll have so much extra time to venture out like this on your own.
AmProWoLo: practice it a few times, and it will start rolling off the tongue. “AmProWoLo” is an attempt at abbreviating the lengthy “American Professional Women in London.” There you go—make more sense?
I probably need not go into too much length to explain the self-explanatory, but I will divulge that the American Professional Women in London group is one that you can join for FREE on Meetup.com (pending membership approval).
I wish I could say that, in working in the relocation industry, I see an even spit between male and female trailing spouses. And I don’t know about you, but I hate the term “trailing spouse”—I moved for my husband’s job, so I resent the connotation that I merely came “trailing” after as though my carcass left a path in the dust as I was dragged here by my hair. Anyways, the fact is that, in most situations we see involving a trailing spouse, it is usually the wife.
If this applies to you, even though you may be excited about the adventure a London move will bring, it can inevitably lead to frustration if you’re a professional and not able to easily find that on-ramp back into your profession in the UK. It may be due to unavailability of relevant positions in the job market, or, if your profession requires certification like nursing and teaching, you will have reciprocity of your qualifications to deal with***. And regardless of whether you’re job-searching or gainfully employed here, networking reigns as your means to success, professionally and personally. As a professional woman living in London, I cannot stress enough how important it is to build those support networks around you when you have to start from scratch upon relocating here.
And so, AmProWoLo will give you both your professional and personal networking fixes, so check out their profile online and see what events are coming up to attend! The next one on the agenda is 19 May for only £10.
Ladies, if you’re seeking to get involved in other American women’s clubs in the London area and willing to pay a fee (if you’re a mother, they’re also excellent for connecting with others so your children can have an enriching social life in London as well!), there is also:
And don’t forget that London Relocation Ltd.‘s London Living forum is another fabulous place to network—I’ve met a stellar group of amazing women through this group who greatly empathize with the complexities of being a confident and capable woman who has been uprooted from one environment and looking to seize this next one by storm!
***Nurses must have at least 1 year of full-time nursing experience in the U.S. before being able to set out on the bureaucratic paper-trail that will officially UK-certify you in a few months’ time. Home-country-certified teachers can initially teach here for 4 years—with the tremendous help of teaching agencies, like Classroom Canada—but at the end of those 4 years must have obtained UK qualification to continue.
While I rarely indulge email forwards, this is one that I received that really made me giggle. I wish I could credit its clever author (I suspect it was a Brit), but as it came to me through a chain of email forwards, I will have to post it anonymously and just give the disclaimer that I am not the author. Hopefully it causes no offense—I figure since it makes fun of everyone (or, as the British would say, it’s “taking the piss”), we can all take it in good spirit. What fun is life, after all, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, especially during times of international uncertainty when we should unite?
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to a “Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was during the great fire of 1666.
The Scots raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line in the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.
It’s not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout loudly and excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.” The Germans also increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and ”Lose.”
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.
And in the southern hemisphere…New Zealand has also raised its security levels—from “baaa” to “BAAAA!” Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister’s bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is “S**t, I hope Australia will come and rescue us.”
Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be right, mate.” Three more escalation levels remain: “Crikey!’, “I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend,” and “The barbie is cancelled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.
Hopefully that gave you a bit of a laugh at the international community you’ll be living near and among when you relocate to London. When that time comes, there’s no need for you to raise your personal alert level—London Relocation Ltd. will be here for you to find a high-quality, conveniently located London flat where you can feel safe and without stress.
It’s eerily quiet in London as the airspace over Europe is empty of anything but birds and clouds. A bizarre turn of events yesterday with Iceland’s volcano eruption, which has grounded the planes. Makes for an interesting and surely frustrating predicament for travelers who are stuck where they’re at.
I’m benefitting, though, because it means I get to catch up with a couple former colleagues of mine who had expected to only zip in and out of London for a conference and are now stranded here until at least tomorrow. We’re heading over to the Churchill Arms tonight, which provides the best Springtime eye candy with its exterior pimped out with flower boxes all a-bloom. As they seek to kill time with this unexpectedly lengthened London holiday, I also recommended to them a stroll through Hyde Park (near their hotel), perhaps visiting the Enchanted Palace exhibition at the opposite end in Kensington Gardens, and giving Portobello Road a wander. But I’m biased, of course, in bringing them in this direction because my office is located in Notting Hill .
Our fellow friend and former colleague who also lives in London likewise offered up an easy London-in-a-day sampler that I think is great to share with you if you’re relocating to London and want to familiarize yourself quickly with some its city center flavor or if you’ve already done the London move and are prepping to entertain your visitors. In addition to the usual touristed points-of-interest of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London, she recommends Borough Market (near London Bridge) for lunch and then a stroll along the water, with the option of either crossing the river to St. Paul’s Cathedral or delving into the arts on the Southbank at Tate Modern and/or the Globe Theatre.
And there you have it. The mild air outside my window is beckoning me outside, so I’m off to meet a friend first at Kitchen & Pantry here in Notting Hill before it’s pub time. Hopefully you’ll be able to spare plenty of time for exploring London like this with all those days London Relocation Ltd. will save you in flat-searching. Have a lovely weekend!
Aaaahhh…London has been rescuscitated back to life with the onset of real Spring weather. Hurray! I honestly have to laugh at myself and how much I comment on the weather here in our blog and on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Hopefully that’s not a sign of how boring I’m becoming—if it is, then it applies to everyone else I know here. I think talking about the weather is mandatory for local residents; you’ll see for yourself if and when you’re relocating to London.
The logic is as such: increasing duration of daylight + higher proportion of that daylight that is sunshine + warmer temperatures = an awakening of the senses, rotation of the wardrobe, and overall higher motivation to get out there and do everything worthwhile doing outdoors. I, for one, went for a wander yesterday with my husband over to Battersea Park, just south of the Thames from Chelsea. This substantial bit of green space gets overshadowed by more touristed parks like Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James’s Park, so I recommend it as a more local spot of tranquility. One can rent cycles, paddle boats, and row boats there, visit the children’s zoo and pagoda, play cricket, tennis, and other favorite sports, or just lie about on the flat expanses or little hills and watch the dogs dart about at full speed while the herons stand perfectly still. Not too far a walk toward the main roundabout is a relaxed pub named The Masons Armsthat offers a healthy menu, unlike most pubs, and provides a low-key place to chat or read amid good music and local artwork. The walk across Albert Bridge in itself is a treat (though mind the construction that is presently diverting motor traffic).
I’m also in the midst of brainstorming our next London Living social, tentatively scheduled for later this month. Sunshine and ever-greener trees makes me yearn for pints in a proper biergarten, so some possibilities I’ve offered up to our Londonistas are the The Spaniards Inn in Hampstead and Stein’s Bavarian Restaurant in Richmond for a chance to visit non-central areas with great charm. For something more central,there isHenry J. Bean’s on the Kings Road in Chelsea. I actually just hung out there on Saturday after the Grand National horse race; while the interior of the venue as well as its menu are blatantly American-inspired, it does have a large and atmospheric beer garden in the back. Another hot spot you might hit for enjoying your libations out of doors would be the Ice Wharf in Camden, located right on the canal—this one comes highly recommended by my colleague
Whatever meets your fancy outside this Spring, make sure your indoor space does as well by entrusting your London flat-search to London Relocation Ltd.
Here’s the scoop on the sales vs. lettings climate right now in London…let’s separate fact from fiction so you really know what to expect when you move to London.
MYTH: It’s a tenant’s market right now as housing prices are depressed.
FACT: Regardless if there’s a decline in overall UK housing prices, the rest of the UK is not to be confused with London. London has its own microeconomy spinning its gears independently of the nation given the high demand to live here as well as differences in demographics (economically and internationally).
What will continue to keep rent prices high, unfortunately, is the fact that supply is decreasing in the face of strong demand. As I wrote in a previous post, there is a greater number of renters out there since last year—even first time buyers are out there renting again. And yet there is increased interest in sales again (yes, there are still people out there with money to burn), so many landlords who once made their properties available for long-term let are pulling them off of rental listings to put them back on the market for purchase.
If you’re relocating to London and deciding on neighborhoods, the boroughs that have held their value well are Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. These continue to be high in demand among foreigners (especially Americans and Canadians) and locals alike, as they are safe, well-maintained, and central.
Finding a flat that you can afford is no easy feat in this popular city, so consider contacting a relocation company like LondonRelocation Ltd. to at least consult with a relocation agent who can advise on what to realistically expect. We’re all expats on staff here, so you’ll know we understand too well where you’re coming from; we want to make it all easier for you, so do not hesitate to contact us.
Dame Vivienne Westwood's creation is a 'dress for a rebellious princess' inspired by King George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte and is on show in the King's Grand Staircase. Photo: GETTY
I’m giddy as a school girl and restraining myself from clapping my hands at the news of the new exhibit opening in Kensington Palace today: “Enchanted Palace.” Maybe I’m getting overly pysched about it, but on initial impressions from what I’ve seen about it online, it appears to be an artsy bit-o-whimsy to behold within the historic structure. Fanciful in design, the exhibition veils the palace in an enchanting spell of couture fashion (contributed by world-renowned designers like Vivienne Westwood). Yet the enchanted map you receive on entry will guide you through these avant-garde interpretations of the true histories of seven princesses, including Charlotte, Victoria, and Diana. You will learn the secret joys and sorrows of these royal ladies on a surreal level that ironically is to have the effect of making their experiences only more real to us. I think I need to cease reading up on it and just see it for myself…and why not on opening day? It’s just a 15-20 minute walk from our office on this nice, sunny day, so I’ll report back on my findings!
I believe the exhibition is to run for a couple years (with variations in the exhibits every few months so you can go back again and again!) while Kensington Palace is undergoing its £12 billion refurbishment. So, if you’re moving to London this year, after London Relocation Ltd. has placed you into your new London flat, take yourself shopping along Kensington High Street until you find yourself at the emerald entrance of Kensington Gardens. From there, approach the grand golden gates of Kensington Palace and step into the decadent decades of England’s royal past.
Continuing with our series drawing from the Londonista discussion board on our London Living social network, Ann writes:
“A place I discovered on my last trip was Little Venice in St. John’s Wood. Probably not so “hidden” to the average Londoner, but a nice spot nonetheless. It’s a nice walk from the Edgware Road tube stop, and you’ll find a lovely little pub there that’s worth stopping at for a leisurely pint in the sun (if you can find a free table outside!), Warwick Castle.
Another nod goes to the Mayflower Pub on the south bank of the Thames, east of Tower Bridge. It can be a bit tricky to find (we actually stumped a black cab driver trying to get us there, which is nearly impossible to do!), but there are a lot of little interesting nooks and crannies in the vicinity, so it makes for a nice afternoon outing. It has the distinction of being one of the places the Mayflower stopped at along its journey out of England. The pub itself is a typical quaint, dark olde-tyme kind of place, but if the weather is hospitable there’s a seating area outside right on the river, with great views of the city. We found it on a whim years ago and make it a point to stop back whenever we visit.”
What hidden treasures will YOU discover in your new neighborhood once London Relocation Ltd. places you there?
Continuing with our series drawing from the Londonista discussion board on our London Living social network, MelissaMehta writes:
“When I’m a bit London-ed out and want some space and quiet, I head down to The Victoria near Richmond. It’s a fantastic gastropub with a lovely relaxed and friendly feel. It’s like staying at someone’s house. I recommend sitting on the sofas near the fire, reading the Sunday papers and having a coffee before going out for a stomp around the nearby Richmond Park. Despite being only a few miles from Central London, it does feel like being in the countryside. Watch out for beautiful stags and herds of deer, woodpeckers and those pesky parakeets!
Head back to the Victoria for some wonderful food, prepared by Paul Merrick (from the TV show Economy Gastronomy) and served by Mike Sheldon (award winning waiter) and his fabulous team in the wonderful conservatroy (or their garden – if the weather is good – there’s a great play area for children). If you’re in need of a real break, I can recommend the lovely rooms upstairs. I always feel completely re-energised after a weekend at the Victoria.”
What hidden treasures will YOU discover in your new neighborhood once London Relocation Ltd. places you there?
Today, I’d like to initiate a new blog series generated from our fabulous Londonistas over on the London Living networking site. We’ve recently been contributing ideas to a discussion forum there entitled, “My Favorite Hidden Gem in London is…“, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the great suggestions already accumulating!
I’ll get this rolling with mine: the Brompton Cemeterynear the Old Brompton tube station. A serene Victorian graveyard for strolling, jogging, or pondering that I discovered my very first full day living in London. Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit children’s books, was a local who liked to walk through here, and to my surprise it was recently featured in a scene of the new Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. I almost hate to recommend it, though, as I don’t want it to become too populated with the living!
What hidden treasures will YOU discover in your new neighborhood once London Relocation Ltd. places you there?
I’ve mentioned before that London is very well-suited to getting around on foot. Sure, it needs to accommodate masses of tourists safely, but you’ll find that it is highly pedestrian-friendly for its locals citywide. This is something you’ll be grateful for once you’ve made your London move and need to deal with it on a daily basis.
If you have ever visited London, surely one of the first aspects of traffic that you’ve noticed is that automobiles are driven on the left side of the street. This inevitably sets itself up as a hazard when Northern Americans, Continental Europeans, and visitors of other nations in which one drives on the right side have the reflex of looking in the wrong direction of traffic when trying to cross the street. To blatantly assist with this problem, you will notice the words “Look Left” and “Look Right” literally painted onto the road at the edge of the sidewalks in the city center. In outer neighbourhoods, even though tourism is not as high, there are still large arrows painted onto the lanes–these confused me at first, as I intuitively thought the arrows pointed in the direction traffic flowed, but it’s actually pointing counter to that in the direction you should look to know where it’s coming from.
As in most cities, there are buttons you can press at the stoplight to get a “Walk” sign to light up for you at an intersection. Yet a regular feature on the streets here that is not-so common elsewhere is the zebra stripes, i.e., pedestrian crossings (indicated by parallel white stripes) that cross the road at a location other than the intersection. These are supplemented with a black-and-white pole with a round yellow light that flashes at the top, and cars are required to stop there if pedestrians are present. And if you’re having any remote difficulty picturing what I’m talking about, just think The Beatles’ Abbey Road. This album cover has resulted in non-stop tourists seeking the road out in St. John’s Wood to have their picture snapped at the legendary location.
And as is the case in most places you travel, there’s usually a pedestrian road sign or two that stirs up a giggle. In the UK, this one to the lower right is the one that does it for me:
If you don’t care for your commute to involve too much walking after you move to London, London Relocation Ltd. is always sure to find you a flat within easy walking distance of public transportation. The thing with this city, though, is that you’ll find yourself wanting to ditch the bus or tube for a nice stroll around, especially on those elusive sunny days. It’s a city made for walking, so you’ll feel footloose and fancy-free!
Direct: 
Continuing North on Exhibition Road, you will soon enough see the Victoria & Albert Museum to your right and the Natural History Museum to your left—take your pick 
(I am, however, partial to the V&A for its artifacts, artwork, and antique furnishings and textiles on exhibit, as well as the special Grace Kelly exhibition currently on display!) Best part of either museum is that they’re FREE.
You will see that Kensington Gardens is just across the street. You can enter the park if you stay on Exhibition Road, but by walking along Kensington Road, you can go past the famous Royal Albert Hall (the acoustically brilliant concert that hosts the annual Proms) and see the exotic Albert Memorial (that Queen Victoria commissioned in honor of her dearly departed husband in 1875) just across the way inside the park. Once you reach the Southwest corner of 
the park, enter onto a walkway that will lead you directly to Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was born and pronounced Queen and where Lady Diana lived the rest of her years (if you recall the footage of the masses of bouquets mourners piled up outside palace gates, this is the place where those vigils took place). The palace recently kicked off its Enchanted Palace exhibit to offer a bit of avant-garde eye candy while the building undergoes extensive renovation. Venturing inside does come at a price, but just touring the grounds for free is worthwhile—the blooms decking out the Sunken Garden and swans preening on the Round Pond being visual delights.
