Where I live

As I sit here on our balcony enjoying cloudless blue skies (still a novelty here) and the trickling water of the solar powered budda which has recently joined our eclectic mix of plants, I was pondering what to write when I remembered that tomorrow morning I have a date with the Olympic flame in Kingston. Well not a real date but I plan to go check it out if the crowds will allow me to. 

So on the eve of the Olympic flame arriving in Kingston and the upcoming Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday, I thought I would write and tell you a bit more about this little spot called Kingston Upon Thames.

Kingston in the UK is nothing like the stinky seaweed town of Kingston in Oz (apologies if you like stinky seaweed). It sits in South West London on the edge of the Thames and borders some of the more famous areas such as Richmond, Wimbledon and Hampton Court Palace.

Hampton Court Palace gardens

It’s centre point is an ancient market square which still houses markets every day. I can get my fruit and veg down there during the week and on the weekend they tend to have a few extra stalls ranging from clothing, jewellery and other bric-a-brac.

Market Square

Near to the market square is the mall filled with a wide variety of shops. I’ll just add, particularly for the girls reading this, that yes it has a Zara, TopShop, Accessorize to name a few! If you get sick of shopping there are a number of bars and restaurants nearby and along the Thames. Of course if you want peace and quiet then just a hop skip and a jump over the bridge are the parks.

What I didn’t know until I did some research is that Kingston is an ancient market town where Saxon Kings were crowned. It was first mentioned in around 838 when it was called Cyninges tun. It had a few variations on the name until it became Kingston Upon Thames. I still find it bizarre when reading dates here because so many of them exist well before Australia was even a spot on the map.

The apartment where I’m living edges on the River Thames and so it’s walking distance to all the nice things that Kingston has to offer. 20 minutes from Waterloo on the train we can be in central london quite quickly. Below are some pics for you. Enjoy!

View from the roof of our apartment block

Kingston Bridge

 

Other roof view!

The red apartment block is where we are!

Front of apartments - Kingston Bridge in distance