We choose to go to the moon...

My vacation in London was fabulous. Aside from the HBP book release, which was a perfect way to cap the week, I hit all of the major tourist spots - The Tower of London, The Houses of Parliament & Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, a boat ride on the River Thames, the London Eye, Picadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Hyde Park, Notting Hill, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Buckingham Palace...we also took a day trip to Bath and saw two shows, Joseph (one of my all time favorites) and Billy Elliot (Oh, my god. See this show. See. This. Show.) And, of course, I shopped. I didn't plan on leaving with quite as much but I bought a bracelet, a ring, two house gifts, a pair of D&G sunglasses and, natually, HBP. Thanks to all of the hospitable Londoners on Friday night! The trip was the perfect length and I'm (almost) ready to go back to work tomorrow.



( A few more photos... )

It feels like a lifetime since I last posted. I'm in a haze of meetings and eating and meetings and eating and more meetings and more eating. Somehow, sleep never really factored into our schedule for this trip. The great tragedy of today is that I woke up from a nightmare at 5:30am, thought it was 6:30am, and didn't realize I sacrificed a full hour of sleep until just a few minutes ago. But I suppose there's more to talk about than my abysmal sleep patterns.

On Monday, we went out to the village of Ripley for all day meetings and, afterward, I was able to ditch my clients and have dinner with my UK colleagues at a country pub. We had to drive the clients back into London and, due to an accident on a road called A40, it took us two hours to get out to the pub but, thanks to our detour off the main road, I did manage to see a number of areas I'd never have visited on my own and I learned all about football (Wet Ham United is back in the premier league. Whoo!) and cricket (England won a recent victory over Australia!).

Yesterday our meetings were actually in London which was fortunate because they ran from 9am- 6:30pm. We had dinner at the Soho Hotel and it was fabulous. There's a lot to be said for eating on the client's dime.

Today's schedule is the longest of the trip. After a full day of meetings, we have theater tickets to see a new show about Ray Charles and there are plans for supper afterward. At 11pm. I know it's common practice here and we're excited to go but we're also curious about how we're expected to make it through our Thursday meetings. This feels a bit like sorority rush all over again just with less singing and fewer coordinated outfits.



( More photos of rural England and the village of Ripley )

I can't wait to come back on a proper holiday!