The Royal Ascot

This week marks the start of the Royal Ascot. The Royal Ascot is an annual horse race that lasts for 5 days and takes place in Ascot, Berkshire (1.5 hours outside of London). Always attended by the Royal family, this is one of the major social events of the year in the UK. The tradition dates back to 1711!

One of these five days is called Ladies Day. Dedicated to, you guessed it, the Ladies. This is a social event just for the Ladies to get all dressed up and wear those fabulous hats. But its not that simple...there is a dress code. Your dress must be a certain length, and no sleeveless allowed! Hats are required and there are restrictions on the diameter and overall size of your hat! I'm guessing they don't want anyone upstaging the Royal family:)

Who wouldn't want to spend a day all dressed up smoozing and boozing (sparkling for me:p) with London socialites and the Royal family?! I was dying to attend Ladies Day when I found out about it but sadly it wasn't in the cards for me this year. Ram is traveling for work. Boo.

Next year I'm going to make it happen!

So in honor of Ladies Day, I leave you with these pictures from previous years:

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A Royal procession each day before the race begins

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The 6 Month Mark

Saturday officially marks 6 months here in London. Where did the time go? Dubai is still quite fresh in our memories, though we are definitely not missing the 120 degree heat wave they are experiencing now.

This is our 4th year abroad so by now I know it takes 6 months to a year to completely adjust to a new city/country. I'm kinda having a love/hate relationship with our new home right now but that's mainly because we still haven't managed to expand our circle of friends. But I know that takes more than 6 months to accomplish. It's funny how in Dubai, I had zero friends the first year because I didn't have a kid. And it seems like the opposite here. There is a booming social scene here for singles/married no kids or moms with school-aged kids.

Sometimes it seems very discouraging, but I've felt that way before and things always change for the better. So I'm hanging in there!

6 months in London means I haven't driven in that long. I definitely miss having my own car. Especially when the 1 of 2 buses I use frequently, are always late. Riya does not like to wait people!
Apart from that, there isn't really anything else I miss right now. The food here is great and there's plenty of culture to go around.

Well its bright and sunny and dare I say approaching HOT, so time to go outside and play!

It's the simple things in life...

Sorry I have been MIA for so long! Didn't realize its been almost a month now since my last post.

We are finally settled and alas the routine of life has finally crept in and taken over.

Life in London has made me realize (as most new cities do) how sometimes its the simple things that matter. I miss simple gimmes. You know, things us Americans take for granted. Like joining a gym and getting free daycare along with your membership. All the big gyms here have creches (daycare) but they operate separately, charge their own fees, require advance booking, and non-gym members are allowed to use them. So you know what that means? I'll never get in. I'm still waiting to hear back though...it's only been a week.

I've also come to the realization that I am not equipped to entertain Riya for 10 hours a day on a regular basis. She knows it and I know it. So I've been looking into part-time nursery schools nearby in the hopes that 2-3 mornings a week will help us both out. Sadly, London doesn't agree with me. They give priority to full timers (7:30am-5pm or later) and don't even advertise the possibility of part-time. After some digging, I was able to find a place that would be willing to do part-time in the sense of 2 full days (not just mornings) but they quickly told me, I would be at the end of a very long wait list since part-timers are not given any priority. Even IF I considered full-time, it costs as much as rent, so that's not an option. Sigh...

Apart from that, we have dealing with another issue closer to home. I'm not sure I blogged about it before, mainly because I'm in denial, but our Luca baby has had a heart murmur for a year now and recently started showing symptoms. So far he is responding well to medication and apart from a hacking cough, he is still our loving, sleepy, toddler-fearing, floppy eared fellow. I can't bear the thought that London will be his last home.

Alright, enough about that. I promise to be more upbeat in my next entry:)

Starting over...yet again.

After moving to 3 different cities in the last 3 years, I've realized that making friends is very much like dating.

You go to a popular spot, scan the room, and make eye contact. Then you wait for the right time to approach and strike up a conversation. And you wonder if this person, this stranger, could be your new best friend.

Sound familiar?

As a mom, it goes beyond that. Does she have kids Riya's age? Is she a stay at home mom?? Is she willing to invest in a friendship that will cross borders at some point???

I'm in need of mom friends bad. Having that connection with someone that is going through the exact same thing you are is so therapeutic and keeps me sane.

I'm a shy person which makes this task even more difficult. And I've heard over and over again that its really hard to get into a social group here. I posted on several Facebook Mum pages that I'm willing to host a playdate at ours, but no response. Of course I'm also limited to the areas that are close to me as no one is going to travel 45 minutes to meet us. I get that. But its been frustrating.

I kept running into this girl from my building who has a 6 month old baby (non-walkers are always welcome at my place, ha) so I finally got up the courage to introduce myself and invite her over for tea. She happily agreed. Originally from Australia, she's been living in London for 10 years, the last 5 in Putney. I was hoping she would be a great resource to tap into despite the age difference in our babies. She gave me a few helpful tips, but I soon realized that our kids age difference would pose a problem in the near future. She kept telling me how she loves to go shopping, sip on her coffee, and run errands while her baby naps in the stroller. She asked me if I wanted to go shopping around lunchtime.

I think Riya stopped napping on the go when she was 4 months old. I told her to enjoy this freedom and shop for me as those days are long gone. Ironically I haven't run into her since then, but I'm not putting too much thought into that.

I have finally discovered a playground closeby and plan to frequent that playground and scout for some new friends. That's right, I'm going to stalk people! Wish me luck! 

Oxford vs. Cambridge

There is a long standing rivalry between these two universities. Rowing is a competitive sport here, so it's no surprise that the rowing race between these two universities would be a major event. Lucky for me, the race was passing along my side of the river Thames :)

The course takes place on the 4.2 miles stretch between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames. This was the first year in history that they held all three races on the same day: women's, men's and the reserve race. Typically the women's boat race occurs on a different day at the Henley Royal Regatta, a day devoted to rowing races. Since those races won't be nearby, I'm so glad to have experienced this oh so very British tradition!

Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, however Cambridge has won the most races. As my friend Sejal and I walked along the River Thames we saw mobs and mobs of people just sitting out and picnicking with their sandwiches and booze. Pimms was overflowing that day. It was a windy but sunny day. It was all very British. It was all very fantastic.

 In the end, Oxford beat Cambridge in all 3 races. It was neck and neck at one point for the men's and all very intense and cool to see! 

Brussels

When we learned there was a 4 day holiday weekend for Easter, we decided we had to take advantage and go somewhere. We haven't had a proper family vacation since our disastrous one in the Maldives last April!

Having Europe and the UK at our fingertips is so nice. Flying or taking the train to go to another country in less than 3 hours is plain awesome. The short travel times are even better when you have a toddler in tow. But deciding on the first vacay spot was not easy at all. I labored over the decision for weeks and we were already into March when it was time to make a decision.

I was able to cross off a few on the list since Ram will be traveling to some of the cities for work. But we also needed a city that didn't have too much going on. We aren't really in a position to do sight seeing all day. My first thought was Brussels. Its only a 50 minute flight, Belgian beer is our favorite, and it didn't look like it would be an overwhelming city to visit. Who can say no to frites, waffles, chocolate, and beer?! Not us!

We found a hotel located in the city centre so everything we needed was less than a 10 minute walk. This proved useful when Ram unilaterally decided we were leaving the stroller in London. The streets are all cobblestone and it didn't make sense to have it for the airport. I was nervous but it worked out well for the most part. Being stroller free was liberating in some ways but challenging in another. And I was worried I would be doomed when we get back. Thankfully, that was not the case:)

Riya loved the freedom of walking whenever she wanted and she definitely gave us a lesson in patience on this trip! It rained the first two days on the trip which was a bummer. Nevertheless, we made it to the famous Delerium Cafe which holds over 2,000 Belgian beers. Ram and I decided on this trip we would never repeat beers and we would each order something different every time. I am proud to say neither of us had a beer we didn't like it:)

The waffles, frites and chocolates didn't disappoint either. I wish I had gone back for thirds, but alas, it was time to go. All in all the trip was a success and I'm so happy to cross Brussels off our list!

They sell a curry ketchup sauce which we tried and thought it was pretty good! 

Galleries Royales St. Hubert

Grand Palace 

View from our hotel

Mmm Mmm MMM

Riya agreed:) 

Mannequin Pis! 

The Royal Palace

Home Sweet Home

After a very long week, we are finally unpacked and settled in our apartment.  We have had 4 homes in 5 years and this was the most challenging move (well, maybe it's a tie with the 2 international moves in one year nonsense). It's not easy to unpack and organize your entire life with a toddler running around with complete disregard for my need to set up our home! In all fairness, the timing wasn't good for her either. Riya is finally cutting her second pair of bottom teeth and one just broke through the skin on my birthday.

As you can imagine, we haven't been able to explore the area much but I'm already loving what I see and I have a long list of places to check out! It would appear that we have moved to pram central! It's almost too busy on the streets when I am walking Luca in the evenings. We keep having to pull over and wait :p

So the borough we live in is called Putney. Depending on where/how you want to get to central London it can take 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Not bad for London.  I made it a priority to see as many attractions as possible while we lived centrally and the few that are left, I'm fine with saving for another time. I'm in no rush cause we are Londoners now:)

So here are some pics of our new home:

Street view:

Our building: 

The entry hallway. To the right is a common area and the first 2 bedrooms and left is the kitchen which leads into the sunken living room. Straight ahead is the stand alone bathroom and to the right of that is our master bedroom:

Room on far right is the guest/playroom with an ensuite bathroom. The room next to it is Riya's

Guestroom/Playroom. 

Guestroom ensuite 

Stand alone bathroom 

Riya's bedroom:

Master bedroom: 

Office and Ensuite bathroom is to the left 

View from bed

Kitchen/Living/Patio:

Kitchen is across the hall from the first bedrooms.