Summer in Surbiton
31 Aug 2019
Summer is almost over! And so is our time living in Surbiton, so I thought it would be nice to recap some of the summer highlights Shin and I spent together in Surbiton and the nearby area, like Kingston.
For our last weekend in Surbiton, Shin and I took a long walk along the river Thames, all the way to Richmond. In a slow pace, with stops for ice cream, it takes about 3 hours. In the afternoon, we decided to hop on a river boat to go back to Kingston, something we have never done before. We are very happy we did as it was a very pleasant experience, sitting on the upper deck of the boat, admiring the view on both sides of the river.
Not my beer, just holding it so Shin could take the photo.
Most passengers got off at Kingston Town Centre, but Shin and I stayed on for one more stop so we got the boat all to ourselves!
It was so nice living nearby the river, I can't count the many days we have spent just walking along the river into Kingston, or sitting down for a drink or a picnic.
We really enjoyed spending time in Kingston Town Centre as well. It's a very small and compact town, with beautiful old buildings and churches, and a food market that is open every day. It even has a big shopping centre (the curved building in the last photo here above) a cinema, lots of shops and places to eat so there is really no need to go all the way into London. I have said it before but I would definitely recommend a visit to Kingston, especially around Christmas time as it is extra cute and pittoresque with its christmas market and decorations.
On days we didn't go to Kingston we sometimes went to one of the many nearby garden centres. Not always for the shopping experience, more often we just went there to have a cup of tea and a scone in their outdoor café.
Two years ago, in 2017, Shin's uncle, mother and sister visited us for one week. We had such a good time together, even though it was quite hectic. We spent 2 full days in London, 1 day visiting Windsor Castle, and 3 days in Paris.
Earlier that summer my dad and Pia and my aunt and her family also came to visit us in our new flat. We had "fika" on our door table and then pub lunch by the river.
Finally my mom also came to visit in September 2017. We certainly didn't have much furniture back then!
The bedroom during summer time.
Last year's summer was excruciatingly hot. We took the bus to Hampton outside pool but when we got there the queue was 3 hours long. We came back one week later at 9 am opening and got in within 10 minutes. In the background of this photo the heat is obvious since it has turned the grass all yellow and dead.
Last year in the beginning of August we took the bus to Sandown Racecourse in Esher and saw our first horse race in the UK. That wasn't really the main reason for ur visit though, no we where there to see George Ezra play live. What a great evening we had!
