LONDON IN NOVEMBER

i had the opportunity to travel to london for work in early november. it came 1 week after hurricane sandy & joe had just left for savannah. this was my first time crossing the pond. looking forward to traveling independently, psyched/nervous to work a week in london, see the studio & put faces to names. i flew overnight, landed, took a power nap and went straight to work! afterward i took a walk to the pub for a pint. having a brief conversation with the bartender, i ended up with a beer & sat myself at a little table in the window. i wrote quite a bit, ordered another pint and then hit the pavement.

i had a map so i just started walking in the opposite direction, thinking i had a sense of that direction (wrong) and ended up getting sort of lost. it was fun to find my way back and i got to weave in and out of a neighborhood i wouldn’t have seen otherwise. it was a crisp evening, i was runnin on close to no sleep but full of energy. i took some pictures, found my way back to the hotel and skyped with joe :)

luckily not all of my work was kept inside and i got to sight see quite a nice chunk of the city. once, during the day and then once at night. i caught tim walker’s storyteller exhibition at the somerset house (inspiring, beyond.) i’ll put some pictures below of the actual exhibit (the photography displayed is a must see, if you like imagination, fashion and brilliant photographic vision & execution, that is.) we ate at mishkins which describes itself as ‘a kind of jewish deli’ and it impressed. if you are into menus, i’d check theirs out and don’t miss the cocktails. my favorite (due to soph) was the diamond fizz (beefeater, prosecco and lemon. served in a bar tumblers which was a nice touch (i had the lamb for supper.)

afterward, bella gave me a walking tour of the big spots to hit (see below, big ben, parliament, the london eye and buckingham palace) (i did not get to see anne boleyn at the tower of london; next time!) when we arrived to buckingham palace we were the only ones there. i truly couldn’t believe how enormous it is. i just realized while typing the world palace, that i should have realized. yet it was humbling to be near such historic architecture (parliament was breathtaking. big ben struck eleven when we walked past) after buckingham, bella headed home and i grabbed a cab back to the hotel. the cab driver asked me if i just came from inside, and i acted as if i had for a second – seeing now that it’s not that unusual to go inside i feel less special, but at the moment i was diggin it! obama had won the election the day before (it was also strange to miss election day and be in a foreign country) – so the cabbie had quite a bit to ask me about that. we zoomed through the city and i managed to grab a picture of harrods all lit up.

it was a great experience. my last night was a friday and the studio gathered downstairs for drinks and then we headed to a local spot. got to have some lovely one on one convos with coworkers and there were lots of laughs had :) i flew home the next morning. made it to the airport nice and early, had breakfast and wrote out my postcards. on the flight home i watched the movie “liberal arts” and absolutely loved it, so id like to recommend it if you see it listed somewhere. i tracked where we were and was feeling antsy to jump out of the plane as we rode alongside of irelands coast for a bit. seaside cottages with not a single house near. yes. please?