Going to London from our place is about an hour and a half. It's like going to Sherbrooke from Montreal, but just a little bit more exotic... (joke pour les québécois) It was really great to spend a day in London with the feeling that we were coming back to hour house on the very same night. There is no words to describe London. It is such a huge city with the most interesting people! It's fashion week everyday of the year! If you go to London, you kind of need to have a specific plan ahead of you like visiting a neighbourhood or spending a day in a museum. Our goal for the day was just to feel the vibe of the city and I really wanted to go to the Columbia flower market. Here is a little sneak peak of our shenanigans in London. 10:00 first ride to London by train!11:30 arriving to london liverpool street train stationThe train station was clearly designed for the WOW factor that tourists can feel in a new city. It was great to see all the the typical things you would have imagined London would be like with it's old taxis, double decker red buses, red phone booths, extravagant buildings... 11:30 boris (or barckley) ride around east londonOnly 2 pounds for 24hours! Great way to get around the city! In some parts of course... don't try to bike on the thames or take the sidewalks. 12:00 Columbia road (East end)First tourist mistake in London... the Columbia flower market is only open on Sundays... It was great to visit the neighbourhood anyways. There is all these vintage and eclectic shops on Columbia road (Etienne calls them 'the no use for anything shops'). Very Milendish! It is worth the detour! I will definitely be back on a Sunday! 2:00 pm meeting a friend in chinatown for lunch and best gelato ever!!!4:00 playing tourists4:00 walking along the thameSeeing Piccadilly circus, Big Ben, London eye, London tower, London bridge, Tower bridge, the Parliament, the Chard, the Gherkin, Tate modern........... for the first time 6:00 pm stopping for a pint of beer and cider7:00 stopping by the tower of london to see the popies before heading back home
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So the fun thing about being a new expat is that when you are going out, it's always an adventure! We decided to go berry picking in the streets of our neighborhood on a beautiful Saturday morning. We came across a super cute mill just behind our house and they were hosting a craft exhibition. All the knitters and jewellery makers of the area were there. Afterwards we continued our walk next to the river. We seriously felt in the jungle. The forest was so lush and it was so quiet. We were a little disappointed to see that we were a couple of days too late for good blackberries, but we managed to find a couple. Enough to make 4 jars of peach and blackberry jam. While Etienne was risking his life (it can be pretty dangerous to pick berries..), I started to make a bouquet with the wild flowers I could find. On our way back, we discovered a communal garden with fruits, vegetables and herbs next to our house. Their motto is take what you want as long as you give back in any way! Better embrace the english countryside living since we will be living here for a couple of years! :)
Bon, j'ai rédigé des lettres de présentation en anglais toute la journée, alors là, en ce vendredi après-midi, je feel plus french! Je voulais vous partager notre petite expédition d'hier soir. Mission: trouver le meilleur pub de notre quartier! Je vous jure, il y en a 5 à l'intérieur de 100 pas de marche de notre maison! Sans compter qu'on est à 5 minutes du centre-ville où il y en a 15 000 autres. Nous ne manquerons pas de places où prendre un verre mes amis, ça c'est clair! Alors je vous avoue que c'était un peu décevant pour un jeudi soir. C'était un peu vide, il n'y avait pas de foyer qui crépitait et pas de lumières tamisées comme Etienne et moi aurions souhaité. Nous nous sommes donc décidés d'aller prendre un verre à celui à 54 pas de chez nous. Le barman ne pouvait pas être plus sympathique! Il doit nous avoir poser 15 questions en 1 minute! I don't know why, but I would loooove to go to Canada one day nous a-t-il dit! À part la table de billard éclairé avec des gros néons et les rideaux de mauvais goût (blanc avec des grosses fleurs rouges et vertes bien trop modernes pour l'endroit qui doit avoir 500 ans) , le pub était pas mal sympathique! On se sentait quasiment dans une game de Clou où tu peux choisir the beer in the library or the half pint of cider in the conservatory. Ils ont aussi tous des petits beer gardens (terrasses chauffées). Etienne et moi avons encore eu un plaisir fou à observer les locaux. Ils peuvent être pas mal direct les anglais: Your cider taste like shiiiittt! Au retour, j'avais comme mission secrète de couper les roses de mes voisins pour me faire un beau bouquet (j'étais prête avec mes gants et mes ciseaux), mais il fait tellement noir à Colchester le soir que la mission a échouée! :( En plus, les maisons sont tellement proches des trottoirs que les chances de se faire pogner sont un peu plus grandes :). Un nouveau meeting club et une première invitation chez des Anglais nous attendent en fin de semaine. Nous verrons bien ce que ça donne! xxx
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Don't worry fellow Canadians! Je vais tenter de vous tenir au courant des hauts et bas de la 2e grossesse de la Duchesse de Cambridge!
You will be glad to know that Etienne and I have been very proactive at our friends hunt! We registered for a walking club! :) We also though it was a little funny at first... but it was a great day and we met some really nice people! John Constable, a famous painter, featured Dedham's landscapes in his paintings and you can understand why! It was a beautiful 8 miles path with some never ending fields, cows, goats, swans and berries. Lot's of berries! We ended the day by hireling some rowing boats on the Stour river. Get ready family and friends visiting, the rowing on a river with cheese and champagne will be a must!
Wivenhoe is a very cute town 30 minutes away by bike. Since the place is near Essex University, where Etienne works, I went to pick him up and we left for some Friday night shenanigans! Etienne promised to write a blog post on his University. The University is a freaking city in itself, it's a little crazy. It has a convenient store, restaurants, bars,... Anyways, our 1st stop was at the Wivenhoe house (http://www.wivenhoehouse.co.uk) witch is a beautiful 18th century hotel that was renovated. We will definitely go back and have an afternoon tea one of these days... After that, we headed back to the woods, as you can see in the picture, on the hunt for a little pub. We went along the Colne river that meets the ocean. The fisherman's boats and houses on the boardwalk were so cute! We found the best spot along the river! Etienne and I did a no-drinking-week, which is hard to do in England, so the beer and cider were muuuuch appreciated! ...and since they have nachos and cheese in England, I think we can stay here a little longer and survive! We met some really nice friendly people, as all english people are. The ride back was a little less strait, but we managed to get back home :)
So... since we don't have a car, we have to order everything online. I mean... everything! We just received our vacuum cleaner, our drying rack and my new biking helmet. Good thing the UK are the champions of online delivery! It's funny because you can't go grocery shopping at the actual store and ask them to deliver at your house. You have to do the whole thing online so you can receive it the day after. What do the old fogies do? :)
So the experience was very pleasant. I could choose the exact time it would arrive at my house. Then, I could search the products by price, healthiest items, most popular... I am telling you, I think it took me 3 hours, but to my defence, it was my first time and I had a lot of things to buy! I would have comment on each items, but I think you would have been bored... Here are a couple of funny things... |
About meHello!
I am a 30 year old woman full of life and addicted to any new experiences life can bring. I moved to the UK in 2014 with my husband for his work and I will try my best to describe my journey in my new home as an expat!
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