Greenwich town...briefly

So, I haven't really been anywhere the past couple of days - well, that's not 100% true. I was in the Kensington area on Thursday, but it was very briefly and by the time I thought about taking pictures we were making our way to  leave it! We also went to Chingford...there is not one thing that is even worth writing about concerning there! I did however go to Greenwich on Friday. I initially went for a meeting in the morning, however, it was a relatively nice day and although I didn't have a lot of time to walk around, I did manage to explore a little bit, so this can be Greenwich part 1!

Greenwich...the place where time began...seriously!  Greenwich is the birth place of Greenwich Mean Time which is the baseline of world time. There is a huge sundial in the town center which gives a brief history of it...

My meeting was at one end of the park, so I when I was done I had a quick meander through the greenwich observatory. I will definitely go back when I have more time as it seems really interesting in there and it has a ton of things to see both relating to time and astronomy. There is a also a planetarium next to the observatory which I also want to go to at some point.

In the grounds of the observatory there is part of what was a huge telescope built in 1789 for William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus. Also in the grounds, is the prime meridian line. This does actually run along the ground and if you stand either side of it, you are standing on 2 different hemispheres! Unfortunately, I  didn't get a picture of the line as there where so many people standing on it, but I will try for next time!

After the observatory, I went back in the town center. Near the sundial, there is the parish church of St Alfege. Apparently, there has been a church on the same site since 1012!! St Alfege was the Archbishop of Canterbury who was taken hostage and murdered by viking raiders. The site of the church is the traditional site of the martyrdom of St Alfage. 

The church has it's own website which gives a much more detailed history of it if anybody is interested : http://www.st-alfege.org/pages/intro.php

A little further on is Greenwich Market. It's a pretty small market, however there are quite a few different vendors in there and it has nice vibe about it. You can pick up lots of different handmade crafts and jewellery as well as some different types of food ranging from dim sum to Brazilian churro's!! There are also a few little actual stores set in the sides of the market walls. One of which includes an awesome little spanish deli with a really nice seating area inside.

I made my way back home after this, however I did pass a couple of interesting buildings on my way back and also managed to stumble across a little deli next to a grocers, florist, butchers and fishmonger - I will certainly be going back to these at some point. The fishmonger even had Sashimi Tuna - perfect for the next time I make sushi :)

I've got a pretty full week coming up, so I'm not sure where I'll be able to squeeze in any exploring, but hopefully I will as I'm really enjoying it!

Impromptu walk

So due to circumstances, I had to be at Westfield mall in Shepherds Bush first thing this morning. I should have known the day wasn't going to go to script when the train I was on got held for 5 minutes, at Westminster, while it tried to buff up to the correct stopping mark. I eventually got to the mall, however the person I was meeting told me (after I got there) that they weren't going to be able to make it...!! I decided to make the most of it and mooched around the mall for a bit. I didn't take many pictures as everytime I got my phone out to take some, I kept getting looks like I wasn't meant to be doing it. I did get one from when I first walked in of the lights hanging - doesn't sound exciting, but it was pretty!!

My boyfriend is a self confessed mall rat, and in all honesty I'm pretty much the same, so it certainly wasn't a bad thing to be there. What I like most about the mall is that you can walk around for a good 2 hours or more and still not get bored - even if you're not buying anything. However, I had other things to do, so I left after about an hour and went on my way to Covent Garden to meet Josh (the boyfriend) for lunch. As soon as I got on the train we were told that, due to incident near near the end of the line, we would be stopping at Holland Park indefinitely - did I mention that I knew it was going to be one of those days?! Thankfully, I have an awesome app on my phone, appropriately named "TubeMap". Honestly, I don't know how I would survive without this thing - you can plan out your route by putting in your starting point and destination and it will tell you what lines to get and how long it will take. It really is a life saver at times as the regular tube map confuses me. Anyway, I checked the app and judging by the time distance, Notting Hill was really close to Holland Park. So I decided Iwould get off there and walk to Notting Hill to catch a different line from there. I'm really glad I did!

One of the things I love about London is the variety of different architecture there is. I know you get it everywhere obviously, but there just seems to be such an eclectic mix of it all here. Lots of different types of houses and buildings - especially when you get in the more residential areas. They aren't all high rises which I think is often a misconception that some have of London. Here are just a few of the houses I saw on my way. They stood out as being really pretty to me - I especially liked the different colored ones:

I carried on past more houses of the same style and came across a shop I just had to go in...

I have found that a lot of these little corner stores do have a random selection of American food products, and having an American boyfriend who has a penchant for Goldfish, I always check them out to see if I can pick him up anything familiar. This store did in-fact have Goldfish!They were really friendly in there and offered to try and get in a anything we wanted!!

So anyway, on I trekked with my Goldfish and I arrived in Notting Hill a few minutes later. Despite loving the area. I didn't have a lot of time to spend there, however I did notice 3 buildings together that I thought were quite interesting:

What I loved about them was, that they were all made with different brick and in a way totally clashed with each other yet seemed to go together really well (if that makes sense?!) I also found the building above the Sushi joint really interesting - especially the way the windows were positioned.

Anyway, I made my way to Covent Garden with about 20 minutes to spare before Josh was on lunch. perfect photo opportunity!! I never get bored of Covent Garden. There is always something going on and it always seems so lively with a really nice atmosphere. There is usually a performer over in the piazza (the other week there was a guy jumping through someones arms!), and in the lower level of the market place, there is usually a performer or 2. Today, there was an opera singer and it just added to the atmosphere even more.

The lady in red is the opera singer!

Another thing that is great about the market, is the selection of food you can get there. They even have 2 enormous dishes with fresh paella being cooked in them! I have yet to try it, but it always smells amazing!!

And if you fancied something sweet, there is yuforia (frozen yogurt), Creme de la crepe (crepe's) and Candy cakes (amazing cupcakes) to chose from...

Something I really love about the stores in the lower level market, is that they are in, what I can only assume are old cellars or tunnels due to the curved brick ceilings. They make them really unique and just add to the charm of the area. ( I hope this lady never finds out I caught her butt in this!!)

Back out of the market, the Royal Opera House is also in Covent Garden:

And of course, no trip to Covent Garden would be complete without mentioning the Apple Store! The largest one in the world and it is truly amazing. No picture of inside as I think they get a little funny about it, but here's one of the outside, as well as one of underneath the cool arches :

After lunch at Samurai Sushi (pretty good!) I made my way home, not before getting a couple of pictures of St. Paul's church that resides in the piazza of Covent Garden. It's actually very simple and minimalist  in design, but there's something really beautiful about it due to this:

Considering my day started off pretty iffy, it actually turned out to be a pretty cool day with a little bit of exploring thrown in for good measure :D

Until the next one...

My favorite place so far...

So to kick start this baby, I figured I should do so with a post about my favorite place in London so far (although hit's honestly going to be hard to beat it!!)
Greenwich Park (sigh). I stumbled upon the park not long after we had moved. I know, you're probably wondering how I "stumbled" upon it - it's not like it was hidden out the way. Well, I was taking the puppy out for a long walk. We didn't know the area and I had heard of Cutty Sark, so I decided to find my way there. With the help of my trusty phone, I got directions and we were off. Within 10 mins of walking, we came to the top of the road that is directly across from the park. I still didn't really know what was awaiting us, but I was immediately blown away by the view at the top of the road looking right - you could see the city from up there. We crossed over, through the iron gate and made our way in to the park. Well, if I thought the view was good before, I had no idea how good it was about to get. You can literally see the whole of London from the top of the park, and it is AMAZING! From one view, you look out over towards the O2 arena and Canary Wharf, then a little further on you can see the rest of the city. It truly is amazing. But if the views weren't enough, the park itself is gorgeous. It's 183 acres that just seem to go forever. It is also home to the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian Line. I have yet to go in the Observatory, however at 1pm every single day (and on the dot too), there is a red ball on top of it that is raised 2 minutes before 1pm, and drops at exactly 1pm. This was so that back when people couldn't afford watches, they could see the ball drop from any point in the city and know what the time was.
There is a part of the park that has deer - although I have yet to see these. And if you look up at any given time, you can see green parrots flying around or resting in the branches (if you can't see them you can certainly hear them!!)
Apart from the birds, deer and the many squirrels that roam around the park, it is also an awesome place to take your dog as everyone who has one seems to go there.
We try to go at least 2 times a week and of course, the puppy comes with us as it's a great walk and a great way for him to socialize - you'd be amazed at how many butts he can sniff in the space of an hour!
Due it's size, I'm sure we have only explored a small part of it, but I use the word small loosely.
However many times I go to the park, I am continuously blown away by it's sheer beauty and I  never get tired of it. I took my dad there the first time he came to visit, and as a self confessed hater of cities (especially London) even he was in awe of it and confessed the fact too.
Here are a few pictures of my favorite place in London...

And for all you one tree hill fans out there, the picture second to last, is the real deal and is officially called "one tree hill"!!

my first post

As some of you may know,  I recently moved to London from Norwich, and I tell you, it was a fantastic decision! It was no secret that my boyfriend (a Californian native) and I had a severe dislike for the place - mostly because it was in the middle of nowhere!!! Seriously, it takes an extra hour to get anywhere from there. And whilst it hasn't been as smooth sailing as we had wished (problems with apartment etc), it still was a great decision to come here.
Neither of us have lived here before, and quite honestly, until I brought him here for the first time 3 years ago, I would never have pictured it being a place I was going to live. My impression of London was that it was this big dirty, busy place that was ok for a visit, but not somewhere you would would want to stay. However, when you go somewhere familiar with someone who has never been before, you start seeing that place in a completely different light - that's what happened to  me anyway. It stopped being this unliveable place full of busy people with no time to stop, and started being this amazingly historical hub with a million and one different things to see and do. Since moving here, this has become even more apparent, and whilst I don't want to live here forever (cue my dream house by the Pacific Ocean), I certainly intend to make the most of it while I am here.
Which leads me to the blog. I love to go to new places and explore and I also love to share my adventures with others, so I decided to start this, not only to involve others in my mini adventures (I use that term loosely) but also to inspire me to go out an explore more. So hopefully, I can inspire at least one of you and maybe show you some sights of london that you may not have realised where around :)