I see London...

What do:

• 5 Days,
• 4 Airports,
• 3 Countries (& languages & modes of transport),
• 2 Novels, and
• 1 Curry experience

equal?  Last week.

From February 12th - 17th, I had the good fortune of getting to travel to London & Pori, Finland with my awesome boss.  Have I mentioned lately that I adore my job?  We were only in London for a little over 24 hours, but upon reviewing my photo stock, that is more than enough to devote an entire post to.

We left H-town mid afternoon on Sunday which put us into London bright and early somewhere in the ballpark of 6 am.  There is obviously no rest for the weary... or for the Finance Department because we collected our belongings and headed straight to the office with only a minor detour to drop off our bags at the hotel.  (I'd like to take a brief moment to point out that the last time I went to London I was in 11th grade, and we were in this same sleep-less situation.  Back then, rather than doing anything productive, I chose to sleep on top of my luggage no so discreetly in the middle of a hotel lobby.  So see Mom, maybe I am growing up after all!)

We spent the day putting faces to email addressses, straightening out some reporting issues and getting the grand tour of the office.  Those things are no fun to read about though, are they?  So we'll skip ahead to the evening.

Simon and Steve, 2 wonderful Genesis Finance folks, were kind enough to devote their evening to showing us a good time in the city.  This was particularly sweet of them because Simon has a 2 HOUR commute home each day.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Steve lives in Liverpool and gets a hotel in the city during the week.  Next time you find yourself with traffic, keep these gentlemen in mind... it could clearly be much worse.  I also recommend the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in such cases - it's a feel good time.

So, back to our evening...first our tour guides took us over to Covent Gardens to grab a beer.  Per Simon & Steve, Covent Gardens used to be a fruit market in the days of yore.  We got to walk rather than having to take any public transportation, which I thought was such a treat.  One thing I love about Europe as opposed to the US is the amount of walking that you can do.  More walking = more expendable calories for the impotant things in life... like frappuchinos.

We grabbed a beer at Punch & Judy's, a cute little pub overlooking the center strip of Covent Gardens.  The pictures I took of the inside don't really do it justice.  We found ourselves in the basement, which was exactly how I envision a true British pub to be- low ceilings, brick walls and a huge bar.  Our hosts made sure that our experience was authentic by ordering us real English beer.  It was served slightly below room temperature, which was perfect for a chilly winter day.  Over our brews we discussed the Queens Jubilee and the Olympics.  London is definitely the place to be this summer!

After we downed our beer, we set off in search of dinner.  Simon told us that we absolutely could not get a more English experience than by going to "have a curry," and who are we to spoil legitimacy?  I have to admit that I was a little weary of this choice because I've only had Indian food on 2 occasions in my life and I wasn't a huge fan.  The place completely won me over.  The food was delicious and the company was second to none.  We discussed gun laws, fishing and racing.  If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought I was back in Texas... with more sophisticated accents.

Post dinner, our kind guides dropped us off at our hotel and we finally called it a day- which was a good thing because I think that the energy pills Marina supplied me with wore off about 30 minutes before that.  Overall it was an amazing experience and I can't say enough about the company or our tour guides.  A heartfelt thank you to all of them!

Stay tuned for the Finland leg of our trip...

This was not our taxi, but that did not stop Marina from taking a picture of it.

Chancery Court Hotel- so pretty.  It was built sometime between when America was born and when I was born.  I've never been good at guessing these kinds of things but I believe our friend Peter, the bellhop, told us sometime in the early 1900s.

My awesome room.

Marina, Ilhan & I in the lobby.  Those flowers are real.  I touched them.

The 3 of us in the courtyard headed to work: from angle 1.

The 3 of us in the courtyard headed to work: angle 3.  I have skipped angle 2 and about 3 alternate shots.  We had a real photo shoot going.

Were you wondering who was taking all these?  Our wonderful bellhop, Peter, obviously.

Marina's creative director skills parallel Jen's.  Did you think the photoshoot might end just because we reached the lobby of the office?

We are supposed to be demonstrating how small the room is.  I don't think we accomplished that mission.  Yes, we are definitely taking pictures during work.

Simon & I before we headed to Covent Gardens.

First stop on the tour o'fun: Covent Gardens.  This used to be the fruit market back in the day, but has since become a cool outdoor-ish mall type place with pubs and shops.  Clothing & Beer > fruit.

Punch & Judy's.  Charming folks, aren't they?

Vanna White has nothing on Marina.  Working that sign.

Simon insisted that we get authentic English beer.  I can't recall the name of it because he ordered, but I actually liked it.

The next stop on the tour o'fun was a curry place.  Simon informed us that to be a true English Curry experience we should have been out at the bars until 2 am and wandered in here afterwards.  From that I took away that Taco C is to Americans as Curry is to Brits.  I think they win.

Cheers.  Please pardon my appearance.  I believe at this point I'd more or less been awake for more than 30 hours.  Not as easy as it was in college.

Woohoo for Team Offshore!