First Post And Catching Up On The Past Few Days

Friday, March 28, 2014

NOTE: This blog post originally published on piccadillylinetocockfosters.wordpress.com and recently moved here.

In this blog I plan on documenting my adventures (or lack there of at times) and keeping in touch with friends and family.

I departed for London on March 24th at 6:50pm Chicago time and I landed on Tuesday, March 25th at 8am London time. The flight was only about 7 and a half hours and I had the opportunity to fly business class so it went by very quickly. I’m writing this from my apartment in London which is in the neighborhood of White Chapel and/or Aldgate. I was supposed to be in a different area but there were some plumbing issues so I was upgraded to a two bed, two bath suite. All the space is a little overkill but it has been nice to have. Our office is not too far from The Gerkin (30 St. Mary’s Axe) and a picture from across the way is below. My commute to work is about a 10 minute walk right now which suits me well. I have roughly 40 days to find my own place before I move out of the corporate housing.

When I landed I was very excited to be moving to a completely new city (Side note as I write: holy shit white chocolate and orange cookies are good). However, fatigue set in quickly and I became a bit too tired to really appreciate everything around me. But now, my sea legs are under me and I’m trying to take it all in.

One event of note was last night when I went to “Duck and Waffle” with some co-workers to send off one of our IT guys. He has been instrumental in setting up the office but is heading back to The States. Duck and Waffle came recommended from another colleague who was in London before us and had a chance to explore the area. Only a few steps from our office on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, Duck and Waffle was a great experience for my first legit London restaurant. The view was phenomenal, the atmosphere was London chic, and the food was great. I make a conscious effort not to hype things up too much to avoid getting expectations too high but I will be taking visitors back here; both so they can experience it but also so I can eat the Duck and Waffle again 😉

Other than all that, things have been very busy with work as we get up to speed. This is the first down time I’ve had since I’ve landed and I look forward to relaxing this weekend. However, I have a lot of catching up to do for the CFA so this blog will likely be pretty boring for 2-3 months. Without further adieu, some pictures are below.

View outside our office building (99 Bishopsgate):

Office building:

View from Duck and Waffle Entrance:

View from corner of seating area at Duck and Waffle:

Looking out at the view from the restaurant was beautiful but also pretty daunting. It made me realize how little I know about the city of London and how (relatively) little time I have to explore it. I was in Chicago for 5 years and as my departure date came closer I started crossing things off of my “Chicago bucket list” that I hadn’t done in my time there. This was a blast but I ran out of time. I realize now that I should have had more of that mindset all the while. I will do my best not to leave London saying the same.

I suppose the best part of adventures is sharing them with others. I’ll make an effort to do that with you.