Its been about 2 weeks now since we landed, and things are starting to feel normal. The first week was very hectic (and hot!) while we were walking around trying to find a place to live. We looked at about 15 different properties, and finally settled on a nice 2 bed/2 bath flat. We love it because it is right in the heart of our new community and very close to the tube(subway) station. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that being across the street from a church would mean that we would be woken up every day to the sound of church bells! On Sundays, they start at about 8 or 9am and go for about an hour at a time. We thought this would be the extent of it, but so far every day this week (at random times) the bells go off for at least a half hour without stopping. This is in addition to the chimes on the hour. Ugh. For my part at least, I have started learning how to tune it out so it’s not quite as annoying as it used to be.
We haven’t had much time to look around London, but we did get the chance to see part of the British Museum. This place was incredible! The architechure was stunning, and the building housed one of the most complete collections of Egyptian and Greco-Roman artifacts in the world. We saw the Rosetta Stone, as well as many statues from antiquity. Apparently there is a really cool European exhibit, but we didn’t get that far. Did I mention admission is free?? I am going to guess that we will be going back several more times.
Other than that, the only notable thing to mention is that a good part of Europe is experiencing a big heat wave. Last week, the 100-year old record for a high temperature in July was broken. It got up to about 98 degrees F. All this in a city that has not embraced air conditioning! Apparently people are starting to take notice however, because we have tried buying poratble air conditioers and/or fans from stores, but they are sold out everywhere. That’s it for now. Miss everyone!