Warwick Castle

Took a day trip to Warwick castle today. It's about 80 miles from our place and took 1.5 - 2hrs. The castle itself was awesome with lots to do. Much better than Windsor castle imo although each are unique in their own way. Warwick just felt a little more "castle" like. Jasmyn got to meet her first princess and we climbed up the steep stair cases to the top of the towers. We even got to see a trebuchet launch a fire ball a couple hundred years. Pretty cool! will post pics later.

London

This is just the start of random thoughts and adventures while we are in London for another 1.5 years.



Moving to London UK has been quite a transition from our "easy" life in Kirkland WA. To put it in perspective, the population of central London is 7.3 million compared to that of 3.2 million in the Seattle metro area (Seattle itself is approx 593,000) in a MUCH smaller space. Mind you, I am originally from a town of only about 14,000 in the summer!

London is a state of mind. You have to "get into it" and just go with the flow. Even though we speak the same language (for the most part), there is still some serious culture shock. Even doing the simplist task (like going to Costco) can turn out to be an all day outing.

We currently live (for the most part) in central London (right in the middle of it all) in a neighborhood called Parsons Green. It takes me 15min to ride my bike from our house to Big Ben clock tower. (riding a bike in London is a whole other story I'll cover later!) I think the biggest adjustment has been getting used to living so close to so many other people. You have to learn to accept things as they are. And that includes the close dryer that no matter how long or how hot you set the temperature, it won't get your clothes dry!





We have now been living here a full year! And you know something? I'm still not used to it! The way things get done (or not done) are amazing. Currently there is a postal strike going one which means, well, no mail. Nothing.