Sim of the Week

Our wanderings through Second Life bring us to London England UK, one of a group of sims with a Merry Ole' England theme.  London's sister sims are Mayfair, Kensington W8 London, Knightsbridge, and London Westminster WL.

London England UK is group owned by London Gateway, who welcomes everyone to Hyde Park in London.  They offer lots for new avatars to do including skating on Winter Wonderland.  They also offer Real Life crossover events.

London Gateway group provides the staffing for London Hyde Park Orientation Gateway.

Teleporting into London sim, you enter Hyde Park at almost the center point of the island.  Many people are gathered here wearing newbie shapes and newbie clothes.  London offers a nice low lag zone to test out your walking shoes and get a feel for the controls.

Heading east down a wide white pathway, you find a small brick building where photos of staff members adorn the wall.  These tell you which staff is currently on line in case you need help.  Billboards with notes and landmarks for various other sims and clubs line the other side of the walk while tables and chairs are set up along the canal to the right.

As you walk along the canal, you will come across a small café style restaurant where you can pick up a snack or light meal, free clothes, free hair, and a landmark or two.

One thing that is nice about the orientation sims is the free clothing to get you started in your Second Life.  They will also give you instructions on opening and unpacking your new treasures.  The only bad thing is finding somewhere to open your boxes.  Many new avatars forget to clean up after themselves and leave their empty boxes scattered all over the landscape.  This leads to land owners turning off build.  But a quick trip to a sand box will do the trick.

Continuing east, we wind our way through lovely, peaceful park land, past gazebos and a skating rink.  Old Victorian mansions appear in the distance with a gorgeous older model Bently gracing the street.  Those sights, however, are across the sim line in Mayfair.  So it is with a bit of reluctance that we turn north and head back into London England UK.

The walks are lined with lights housed in light poles that resemble gas lamps from Victorian times.

True to their orientation guidelines, London gateway has placed instructional materials on signs throughout the park area.  It is a great resource for the newcomer and good reference material for the older crowd.

Ah, and speaking of sandboxes, London does sport one on the Northern edge of the sim.  There you can practice your building skills and open your freebie boxes.  Free textures are also provided.  There is also a sign recruiting for builders for London Builders.  This group is the principle builders of the London street scenes here.  They take the time and effort to recreate as closely as possible the buildings and architecture of London England.  They also create the textures used in the builds using Photo Shop, Paint Shop Pro, and GIMP2.

There is a bit of rubber banding in London England UK.  I found myself bouncing when I was around the entry point where most of the newbies hang out.  This lessened as I went farther away from the center.

On the west side, I found a lovely glass and stone building, housing a shop with elegant gowns in it. Called Petal Meg, this shop is owned and operated by Fuscia Jewel who is a First Life jewelry maker.  There are links to her website on the front of the store.  Once inside, you find perfect recreations of her Real World "jewels" for you on line avatar.  The prices were not too bad either.  The gowns on the back wall were pricier.  The gowns and jewelry were boxed up at $1399L but for the right occasion it would be worth the price.

And so we bid good bye to London England UK and its sister sims.  Where will the winds of Second Life deposit us next week?  Only the petals drifting on the wind can tell us.