When my parents told me about the apartment we were going to rent in London, they said the best part was the location and how quiet the neighborhood was. I was excited to be moving away from the large crowds of tourists and be immersed in a town and lifestyle of London. Sloane Square certainly isn’t touristy. It is filled with clothing stores, decorating stores, a Starbucks and local coffee shops I have never heard of. It is, however, not so quiet.
The Chelsea Flower Show is happening until Friday and the tube stop that is closest happens to be around the corner from us. Weaving our way through a crowd of people and ticket scalpers, yes, people were trying to scalp tickets for a flower show, was exhausting. Apparently I’ll get to see the quiet charm Sloane Square has to offer after the show ends once we are back from Oxford. The crowds aside, it really is a lovely neighborhood. All the buildings look the same, brick and uniform, the locals are very friendly and the light here is amazing.
What has been cool to see while we walked around today is how all the shops in the neighborhood are celebrating the flower show. There are different setups of flowers outside different stores and they each are unique in some way. It’s very cool and the arrangements are beautiful.
I really came to appreciate the quiet of Sloane Square once my mom, dad and I ventured into Westminster to go on the London Eye. I would say we were in a mob of tourists there whereas in Sloane Square a lot of the people who walk around seem to be locals. It was totally worth it though, the views were unreal and I think I might have conquered my fear of heights a little more after today. Seeing the city from that high up gave me a new sense of how large London is.
I have to say though – life in London is not all that different than it is in New York or Boston. At the Japanese restaurant we ate at three of the tables around us had people on lunch breaks. The tube gets exceptionally crowded around 5 PM, rush hour. The Whole Foods is large with a lot of choices and located on a street with stores like H&M and Gap. I see why my parents said I wouldn’t have such a big desire to shop here, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what cool things I find on the other parts of our trip.
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