Most of the last two weeks have been taken up by London and getting to and from London, but before I left on my trip I did another bike tour with my Scandinavian friends Guro & Karl and Guro's cousin Jenny who is here visiting. This was a special tour focusing on graffiti / street art - I'm not sure of the exact legalities, but it's definitely not as forbidden here as it is in the states and is often financially supported by the political parties, since much of it is politics related. And because the artists don't get in trouble they have more time to create cool works rather than just tagging. Here is a cool photo that Guro took and posted on their blog.
And then it was off to London!
I was very lucky to have a direct flight there on British Airways, which was excellent. It was totally empty, so I had three seats to myself. Unfortunately, since the flight left at 2.30pm, I couldn't make myself sleep much, even after taking a Tylenol PM. So I entertained myself watching Bridesmaids, 30 Rock and reading the entirety of Mindy Kaling's new book which I highly recommend for an easy airplane read.
When I got to Hannah's, Katie had dropped off a few long dresses that she had for me to try on and one of them fit perfectly and I ended up wearing it for the wedding. The dress was actually Katie's mom's dress from 1987 - black velvet Laura Ashley - the first time I've worn Laura Ashley since 8th grade! We decided to call it "vintage".
The wedding was really lovely, even though I was extremely nervous during my reading and felt like I couldn't catch my breath (not one of my best performances!). The church is very historical and located right in the center of the city, which was very cool (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bride's_Church). They also had the church choir performing at the wedding, so the music was amazing. Unfortunately we left the wedding and walked right into a march for Occupy London (only a few blocks away at St Paul's), with everyone in black tie and long dresses the protesters all started shouting "You're the 1 %!! You're the 1%!!". We just scurried onto the buses to the reception because there probably were people there who are in the 1% and it was best not to argue! The reception was at a club in Mayfair - excellent food and great speeches (speeches are a big deal in the UK and much longer than we are used to in the US, so you hope for good ones!).
The rest of the time in London was really relaxing, although very grey (the sun only came out for about two hours on my last day, but I guess that's to be expected in November!). Hannah and I went to the British Museum and checked out the mummies, and I went to the Museum of London on my own. I window shopped on Oxford Street and thought longingly about the future when I will have a paycheck again. I had a coffee with my old PwC friend Susan and a glass of wine with one of my UBS co-workers so she could give me the scoop in case I want to go back (not sure!). We went to see The Help and afterwards to a BBQ place for pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans to continue the southern theme. I was in heaven with all the food choices - Chipotle, conveyor belt sushi, Pret, even Old El Paso taco mix! Also, it was great to be back in Fall, with the leaves all changing color, and to see all the Christmas decorations that are already up.
At the end of the trip I really didn't want to come back to BA (although now that I am here, the blue skies and 75 degree weather are alleviating the pain a bit!). I'd been going back and forth on whether I want to come back here after Christmas, but this trip made me realize that I am ready to leave. Of course I have no idea what I want to do when I return. Suggestions are welcome! (Hannah - ever the HR professional - has suggested that I need to write a Life Charter. Maybe something to do this week!)
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