First Day in the City

Wow. What an experience! Just getting to the city was a journey. We started at the Marlow train station. Took the the Marlow Donkey to Maidenhead. Switched trains at Maidenhead and arrived at Paddington. The Paddington train station was huge! I definitely stopped and took it all in. It was bustling with all kinds of people. It was very much like an airport. We caught the tube to Notting Hill Gate then got on another tube line to Oxford Circus. The tube was a bit stuffy and warm. I was totally nervous and uncomfortable the whole trip into the city. I didn’t know what to expect. But as soon as we emerged from the Oxford Circus underground, I immediately spotted Topshop, then H&M, then Urban Outfitters...then I thought “Oooooh, this might be kind of awesome!”

There were tons of people on the streets. Reminded me so much of New York City. At this point we didn’t have a map, so we bought a London A-Z book straight away (Everyone says “straight away” here, everyone). We navigated the streets to my new job and met with the HR woman I had been corresponding with for the past 7 weeks. She gave me a reference letter to go open a bank account. We then went to the bank and attempted to open a UK bank account. It is not the easiest process in the world, but our account should be open by Monday. Once we receive our bank cards we can get a mobile phone contract. Yesterday I picked up a pay-as-you-go phone but I want a Droid again, or maybe an iPhone. Those are only available by contract.

We stopped by a really pleasant park and took a break for a bit to figure out what else we wanted to do that day. I love all the parks around. Lots of people were just hanging out on the grass. We were going to go to Buckingham Palace but I was pretty exhausted, perhaps it was the jet lag. So, off we went back to Marlow...during rush hour! Yikes! Don’t like the crowded, stuffy tubes!

Map from Marlow to my work:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=10+Berwick+Close,+Marlow,+Buckinghamshire+SL7+3,+UK&daddr=St+Margarets+House,+19-23+Wells+St,+London+W1T+3PQ,+UK+(framestore)&hl=en&geocode=FYX8EgMdtxX0_yk5ZXiY6ol2SDFWPBX1vm6M7Q%3BFVQXEgMdPOb9_ylrqrIGKxt2SDHqVk8Fi2xOBQ&mra=ls&sll=51.575941,-0.780873&sspn=0.011495,0.038581&ie=UTF8&ll=51.564266,-0.458679&spn=0.367936,1.234589&z=10


Marlow Train Station

From First Day in London

From First Day in London

From First Day in London

From First Day in London

From First Day in London

From First Day in London