I’ve lived on the border of Notting Hill and Bayswater for about eight months now, and I must say I am truly enjoying it. As you might remember I decided on the place just one day after arriving. I made a good choice. The area is just lovely. Close to everything, yet not as busy as living in the center of the city.  A lot of little shops, restaurants, bookstores, cafes, cinemas, the famous market and much more.

Here are some of my favourite spots:

Portobello Road Market

Every Saturday thousands of tourists and locals head to the famous Portobello Road market for fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, African cuisine, crapes, fried shrimp, German sausages, etc. As you can tell I focus mostly on the food section of the market, but there is also a lot antiques and junk of all sorts mostly for tourists to enjoy. I try to go at least twice a month. If you go early (before 11 am), you’ll avoid the crowds. Also one tip: don’t start at the beginning, use one of the side streets to enter the market in the middle where all the good food starts skipping the old telephones and stands with all sorts of silver, paintings and gas masks.

Electric Cinema

One of the independent cinemas in Notting Hill and at the moment my favourite. This is how you can enjoy the movie Vojta style: book your tickets in advance, go to the restaurant near the cinema at least one hour before the film, order some wine and food if you wish. Then take the remaining wine with you inside the cinema. Yes! You can take it with you and if you run out there is another bar inside. Enjoy leather chairs with little tables for your glasses and snacks, very comfortable chairs and put your feet up to relax. Tip: book your tickets early, this place gets sold out quickly. Also, there are two sofas in the back if you really want to get cozy. (Note: at that point I don’t think you came to the theather to enjoy the movie ;) They also serve delicious full English breakfast.

Tavola Delicatessen

Want to taste the best parma ham in Notting Hill or buy hand made pasta, various olive oils and all sorts of delicious food, then join me for my shopping trip to Tavola. A very little place with some of the best stuff around. Unfortunately, it is also costly.

Kensington Gardens

Just a short walk from Notting Hill are Kensington Gardens, where I sometimes go running, or just snap a few photos of the birds, the lake and the peaceful atmosphere of this busy city. Right next to Hyde Park, you can walk through these two parks for hours and hours, visit Princess Diana’s Memorial or watch a crazy lady feed pigeons.

Alounak

In Bayswater is one of the best restaurants in London and definitely the best Iranian one (confirmed by a real Iranian). I can eat there any day, especially on Saturday. Their Saturday lamb dish is irresistible. And their prices are low too. Tip: Go for dinner before 8 pm or expect a wait. Bring a bottle of wine with you, the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol.

Kensington Wine Room

Don’t want to always buy a full glass? Maybe you want to taste a $300 bottle of wine? That’s exactly what I did in Kensington Wine Room. You pre-pay a card and then you can buy a full glass, half a glass or just a taster of wine (25ml). And how was the $300 bottle? The 25ml I had tasted good and had the long finish as advertised. I’ll be definitely coming back here.

Le Pain Quotidien

Very nice place to have a coffee, cake or breakfast in the morning. I recommend going upstairs where you have a view of all the chaos around Notting Hill Gate station out of the peaceful area of the Le Pain Quotidien.

I love this area and all the time I find new places and new things to do. Come visit. I’ll show you around.

Today I will share with you some of the things that people told me about London, and I will also tell you if I think they are just myths or there is some truth to them.

I was told that:

• It always rains in London and I will get lucky to get one sunny day in a week. My experience: FALSE. I have had a few rainy days here so far, but overall the weather has been very nice. I was truly enjoying sipping my morning capuccino outside at a Greek cafe nearby and reading the Sunday paper. And when it did rain, it didn’t last for too long. I am sure this will get worse as winter approaches but so far so good!
• It is a dirty city and the Tube is especially nasty. My experience: FALSE. Where I live (Notting Hill/Bayswater) and work (Liverpool Street Station) it is as clean as a busy city can get. I see somebody cleaning the streets every day. And the Tube is clean as well. Sure, there are times when one train might be dirty, or one seat is stained, but nothing to complain about.
• The food is just awful. My experience: FALSE. I didn’t have any bad experience so far, just the opposite. I liked the full English breakfast (eggs, sausages, tomato, beans, ham) I had the other day, I enjoy the variety of cuisines all around and the fish & chips was good too.
• The Tube is always busy. My experience: ALMOST ALWAYS. Yes, the Tube is busy, especially in the morning and late afternoon. I had a horrible experience taking the Victoria line one morning. I couldn’t board twice and to even get in I had to really push myself into the train. I think five people were within 25cm/10in proximity of me while on the train. I was just praying it doesn’t stop in the middle of the tunnel. That said, not lines are that busy. I live on the Central line and that one is fine most of the time. It also runs about every 2 minutes during peak hours. The Tube is busy but very efficient. I must say, an A/C would be nice!
• It is very expensive. My experience: TRUE, but… Yes, London is expensive, especially rents, but as anywhere there are ways to save money. There is the National Rail Card that gives you discounts when you buy train tickets (I recently took a speed train operated by Virgin Trains to Manchester for £22, first class with breakfast), the same card offers you discounts in restaurants and for other services, if you subscribe to a newspaper you also get offers for other discounts (for example I joined local independent cinema and got three free tickets for joining and will get a discount for each ticket I purchase there for the entire year), last-minute show tickets are also available, Taste London card offers 50% off at 800 London restaurants… There are ways to save, but it is expensive here.
• British people are not very nice. My experience: FALSE. Everyone I met has been very nice to me, helpful, very friendly. Not sure where these people my friends were talking about are hiding.
• There is always something to do. My experience: TRUE. Yes, indeed. There is so much going on in London it is absolutely amazing. So many nationalities, so many cultures, so many activities. You can live here years or your entire life and never get bored. While San Francisco, Los Angeles and Prague (all cities I’ve lived in) have many things going on as well, I don’t think it compares to the eclectic variety of events that happen in London.

That’s all for today. More soon. Any myths you heard about London? What do you think of the city?

• Almost everything in the supermarkets is organic, fair trade, cage free. People in London seem to be really into eating healthy and fair trade.
• The tube is very efficient, except on the weekends when repairs can easily double the travel time
• When it’s called outside and you need to get warm, just walk to the tube. It’s always hot there! A little too hot when it is 30 degrees outside. There is no airconditioning
• It takes a while to get used to cars driving on the wrong side of the road
• Tipping is not as big here as it is in the U.S.
• People love to stand just outside of the pub. Sometimes there is nobody inside, everyone is standing just outside the doors
• It is the most international city I have lived in (I lived in SF, LA and Prague)
• There are a lot of free newspapers. People usually pick them up before getting on a tube or bus and then leave it there for other riders to enjoy
• A lot of retailers require UK debit cards with a chip and don’t accept foreign cards without a chip
• People are friendly (at least to me :)
• There are so many different accents I hear every day
• The British are crazy about Michael Jackson
• London has a lot of tabloid papers
• International folks live in center of London, British people live outside of the center and commute more

Feel free to share your impressions of London.

FYI…I am going to Italy tomorrow. I will be back in London next weekend. More posts then.

London Scoop from Vojtech Horna on Vimeo.

I hear you! Why didn’t he accomplish all of that in 24 hours? Well…the last hour was having a beer with my new flatmate near our place in Notting Hill. So, if you want to be technical, I got it all done in 24 hours :)

The weather in London is amazing these days (at least for someone who can run around in shorts and a t-shirt). I was told the Queen wanted to prepare a warm welcome for me. And yes, she did: the last two days it is 92F/33C and the BBC Breakfast (the morning show here) is all about how to deal with the heatwave. I feel bad for all the business people who have to wear suits and ties in this heat.

When I arrived for the first time in London, it felt like I arrived in a miniature city. The train from the airport took me to Paddington and around here, the houses don’t have more than three floors, compared to the U.S. the streets are narrow, cars smaller, but busses are huge. For me, it was interesting to see these small houses and then this big red bus driving buy. It looked like you can look from the top of the bus to the living room of the people on the second floor.

I didn’t see much of London yet, but so far, I am liking it! It’s a lot of charming neighbourhoods, little shops, caffees, restaurants. And despite what I’ve been told before my trip, the people have been very friendly (except the waiter in the Chinese restaurant yesterday…I don’t think he knew how to smile). The people at the mobile store helped me pick the right service while telling me what neighbourhoods they like, where I should go, etc. The lady at one of the tube stations told me what I need to do to get the Oyster card and explained in detail how to get the best deals on transportation with the card. The guys at HSBC made opening an account very simple (read other blogs to find out how difficult it usually is for someone with no UK address). Overall, my experience so far has been very good.

As most of you know, I was mostly nervous about finding a flat with good flatmates in a nice location. I had scheduled viewings of about 10 places over three days. I saw one place the day I arrived. It was in Hammersmith. Not a bad area, not a great one either. That wasn’t the problem though. The people living there were very nice, but the room was so tiny, the wall was touching the bed from both sides and when you got out of the bed you pretty much walked out of the room.

The second place I saw was in Maida Vale, which is a nice area. It was a nice room, but there was no living room and that’s something I definitely needed. I don’t want to be in my room all the time. The third place I saw was the one I took. It is in Notting Hill on the border with Bayswater. Really, really nice area, two bedroom place, good size living room, nice flatmate James and private park right outside. Close to all the transportation including the tube and 24 hour bus service. It was a little more expensive, but the location!! I am moving in on Saturday.

I was so happy to find the place. I could finally relax. Soon I will be posting pictures. Now I have to go pay the deposit for the flat. Looking forward to hearing from you! Cheers! It’s all brilliant in London at the moment :)

I’m ready.

Once I arrive in Heathrow later this afternoon, I am taking the Heathrow Express 15-minute train to Paddington where my hotel is located. I will be staying at the Hilton London Metropole which I found at a very good rate on Hotwire.com. I booked it for a week. Hopefully, I can find a flat in one week with some friendly flat mates, in a good location and not terribly expensive (i.e. below 800 GBP per month incl. fees).

My flat search begins today. I have searched gumtree.com for two weeks, responded to dozens of ads and set up viewings of nine different flats. Most of them are in zone 2, with easy access to my office location in zone 1. My first viewing is at 8:30 p.m. near Hammersmith. It is a 5-bedroom place with four current residents who are looking for one additional guy. These multi-bedroom flats are huge, sometimes on two different levels. My friend told me that these were built specifically for people to share. If you think of it, that’s the only way someone in their 20s can afford it. For example, the total cost of the apartment I am looking at today is 4000 GBP ($ 6,400). Crazy!

Aside from looking at flats, I also have to accomplish a few other things. Open a bank account and get a mobile phone. Based on reading a few blogs this can be a bit challenging, especially for someone with no address in the UK and at the moment no credit history. I have pre-applied for a HSBC bank account from Prague. They have an account that is designed for people moving to the UK. It’s called HSBC Passport. It should make things a little easier for newcomers.

I will also go to the O2 store to get the Apple iPhone 3GS. I am not sure they will give it to me before I have a bank account and address, but I will give it a try. If that doesn’t work, I will buy some Pay As You Go SIM card and put it in my old Nokia phone. Once all set up, I will let you know my new number and will look forward to your calls.

OK. It’s time to get moving. Another update probably later tonight or tomorrow after I see the first apartment. This should be fun!

Cheers!

Besides all those Aussies (who I hear are very friendly and also love to party), I see a lot of flats with French people, Italians and many other nationalities. But no Brits! Where did all the Brits go?

It’s also a way for me to stay in touch with everyone. As you probably know I don’t stay in one place for too long. I was born and raised in Prague, moved to Los Angeles to study one year of high school there, then went back to Prague again for 10 months, before going back to LA for college, then moving to San Francisco for another year, then Prague again and now London. That’s also why I called this Next Stop London.