London from Afar

This afternoon I made my way up to Parliament Hill, which is situated at the southern end of Hampstead Heath. Itself a park in the north of London, Hampstead Heath is comparable in acreage to New York City's Central Park. Parliament Hill is renowned for its expansive views of the London skyline, particularly the view afforded of St. Paul's Cathedral. That specific view is so revered, in fact, that it is legally protected. That is, urban planning guidelines for Greater London are written so as to maintain the view of St. Paul's from Parliament Hill.

St. Paul's Cathedral, located some four miles to the south, is centered in this photo

Looking up at the top of Parliament Hill and some anonymous guy

 

Entrance to the Hill

Now is perhaps a good time to address something made quite clear by the first picture in this post - London is huge. London proper covers approximately 660 square miles, twice the land of New York City (not just Manhattan but all five boroughs), and is home to 7.6 million people. The greater metropolitan area, roughly defined as the area within the M25 circular road, boasts a population of 13 million - more than one-fifth the population of the entire United Kingdom.

One thing I've always liked about London is that it never feels quite as big as the numbers suggest. The city is organized into a seemingly limitless number of neighborhoods, each with its own architectural and cultural personality. Each neighborhood has its own local high street full of shops and pubs and restaurants frequented by local residents. I'll have more on my own neighbrhood, Pimlico, in the future.

Settling In

Hello!

I'd trust I know all of you. In that case, you should all know that I've had a bit of a change of late. Specifically, I left my doctoral program at Cornell University and entered a master's program at University College London. It necessitated a move from Ithaca, New York to London by way of Kittery, Maine. Well, that's done now. I've started this blog to keep family and friends up-to-date through both picture and prose.

I arrived in London Tuesday morning on what was, without question, the smoothest transatlantic flight I've experienced to date. Following on a three-plus hour wait at passport control, made all the more intolerable by the two middle-aged American women behind me (repeat after me with your best Staten Island accent... "We nevah have to wait dis long when visiting da islands!"), I made my way into town via Heathrow Connect and a short cab ride. I'm living in the neighborhood of Pimlico, a short walk to the Victoria Line (the flat is equidistant from Victoria and Pimlico Stations, but I've found the walk to Victoria to be more entertaining) and a 25-minute commute to my new academic home, UCL. The flat itself is a two-bedroom at garden level on the right of the following picture.

The corner of Sussex and Alderney in Pimlico

The neighborhood is nestled along a leftward bend in the River Thames and is located due south of popular tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster. With school not formally convening until next week, I've taken the opportunity to explore both my immediate surroundings and the city at large. While I've been to London on a number of occasions in the past, it's never been with a view towards living here. I'm settling in nicely and will be in touch again soon. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures I've taken over the past few days.

Vauxhall Cross, home to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) of Bond Fame... 10 minutes from my flat

Buckingham Palace, a 20 minute walk from my flat

The Palace of Westminster

The London Eye