Monday, May 29, 2017. London. I’m currently sitting here in the absolute stillness of a holiday morning in north London, sipping my take-away Americano and eyeing up the toasted baguette I brought back for the kids. It’s almost 10 am, and everyone else in our little flat (and neighborhood, it would seem!) is zonked out, trying to get over jet lag and a painfully short sleep the night before.

As many of you know, we have packed up (and rented) our house and moved to the UK for the summer for my (Lin’s) research. We flew out late Saturday evening (well, early Sunday morning after the cancellation and additional delay!) and arrived bleary-eyed around noon on Sunday, May 28th. I had pre-ordered a private 8 passenger van to take us from the airport to our flat because the thought of hauling 12 suitcases (6 large, 6 carry-on) and two violins/violas plus backpacks on the tube with four kids while half asleep seemed like an especially unpleasant start to our time here. Money well spent, to be sure.

We arrived mid-afternoon at our little 3-bedroom 2nd floor (1st floor by English definition) flat in north London — south Tottenham neighborhood, on the Seven Sisters tube stop of the Victoria line. The flat is on a dead end street in a cute little neighborhood — ever so slightly less well kept than other wealthier parts of London, but in a nicely international/immigrant area of the city (which begs the question if there are any non-immigrant/international parts of London, but this is even more so, I’m told). Little bodegas, cafes, shops, and other mom and pop places line one of the main streets at the end of our block. That street leads to the town center, which is 5-7 minutes away on foot and has many more shops and a large grocery store. As with most of London, parks of varying sizes are close by. Seems like it will be a good place to hang out for three months.

I’ll spend most of my time at the National Archives in Kew, which is an hour away on the overground rail. The British Library is much closer — 20 minutes.

We won’t be blogging daily (much to your relief, I’m sure), but we will post pictures from our various travels. You can also follow @thosecrazyfishers on Instagram for more frequent pics, etc.

Thanks for reading! Peace.