i made a new friend. my old cincinnati boss was kind enough to hook me up with one of her pals who lives in london (so many people have said they would "refer" me along - so few actually have!). so even though i'm exhausted from a stupid crazy week, i was really excited to meet mindy for drinks at an exclusive bar in the soho/oxford st. area.
milk and honey did not have a sign out front and in fact, you had to be buzzed in! interesante... i got to the bar a few minutes early and immediately wished i hadn't decided to stop into Boots for a flatiron, cotton balls, and q-tips on the way. no one else in the bar was carrying a bag of toiletries. oh well!
wonder of wonders, i discovered that it was actually cheaper to drink woodford reserve (mmmm) than to order a cocktail, so i enjoyed a lovely bourbon on the rocks while i waited for my new friend to arrive. a gentleman (or not) approached me and began pontificating about the rules of engagement. blah, blah...wait. the bar really did have rules about boys approaching girls - in fact, boys were supposed to leave us girls alone and if they didn't, and we wanted said boys to go away, all we had to do is raise our chin towards the bartender and the "offenders" would be dealt with. ha!
luckily, i was seated right about this time and mindy joined me. we chatted away over tasty olives, chips, grilled cheese (cheese that was physically grilled - not the sandwich) and oysters! what a great end to a long week. i've been to a private club once in my life (the university club, NYC, which only recently began allowing women) and it's definitely a change from the beaten path. don't get me wrong - i still love my £3 sangres at cafe kick. but i also like to get out and pretend that i'm cultured on thursday nights. although, i guess cultured people probably don't rock the 55 bus back to their house with four roommates after oyster shooters but whatevs. i can wear all sorts of hats and have fun with it. :-)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
geneve
or geneva as we call it. i had my first business trip to switzerland this week! i worked tuesday night until after 1 am, and the car came to take me to heathrow at 615 am, which meant i had to be showered and client ready by then. oy.
going on shear adrenaline, i piled into a leather-interiored mercedes (NOT typical for my car service) and enjoyed a 40-minute ride to the airport. at some point during the ride i realized that:
a) i don't really know what language they speak in switzerland
b) i didn't really have directions to the office, only loose instructions to "find the free train into geneva"
ah, whatever. after a two-hour plane ride, i arrived in...another country. i have to admit, the view out the british airways window was amazing - little chalets, the alps, lake geneva...breathtaking. geneva itself? eh. passport control was silly (where do you live? london? ok, go on.) - i had an apple in my bag! most countries don't like you bringing in foreign produce but it mattered not! the city was not really what i pictured, but maybe it's because i wandered through the red light district (who knew geneva had one)??
the free train was easy enough to find and really, everyone in geneva speaks english although i think their native language is french? don't quote me on that. they definitely have their own currency - the swiss franc. my wallet is confused by all the different crap in it - dollars, euros, sterling, francs. good lord.
the office itself was cool and i was excited to see three cincinnati expats who transferred to our little office in the alps! we were rushed getting ready for the big client presentation, which went really well, and which ended much sooner than expected. my creative director and i couldn't get an earlier flight back to london town, so he suggested we hit the bar. my kind of guy.
a bottle of white wine, some grappa, and a carafe of roset later, i was a bit drunk. in fact, when we boarded our flight i remember thinking "i have to wait until we hit 10,000 feet to lean my seat back and go to sleep. damn.". the next thing i knew, i woke up disoriented and 10 minutes flying time from heathrow. i slept through takeoff and most of a two-hour flight! i guess that's what happens after four hours of sleep and a lot of adrenaline + alchohol!
at any rate, it was well worth it to see my internal and external (read: client) teams happy. this is why i'm here. :-)
going on shear adrenaline, i piled into a leather-interiored mercedes (NOT typical for my car service) and enjoyed a 40-minute ride to the airport. at some point during the ride i realized that:
a) i don't really know what language they speak in switzerland
b) i didn't really have directions to the office, only loose instructions to "find the free train into geneva"
ah, whatever. after a two-hour plane ride, i arrived in...another country. i have to admit, the view out the british airways window was amazing - little chalets, the alps, lake geneva...breathtaking. geneva itself? eh. passport control was silly (where do you live? london? ok, go on.) - i had an apple in my bag! most countries don't like you bringing in foreign produce but it mattered not! the city was not really what i pictured, but maybe it's because i wandered through the red light district (who knew geneva had one)??
the free train was easy enough to find and really, everyone in geneva speaks english although i think their native language is french? don't quote me on that. they definitely have their own currency - the swiss franc. my wallet is confused by all the different crap in it - dollars, euros, sterling, francs. good lord.
the office itself was cool and i was excited to see three cincinnati expats who transferred to our little office in the alps! we were rushed getting ready for the big client presentation, which went really well, and which ended much sooner than expected. my creative director and i couldn't get an earlier flight back to london town, so he suggested we hit the bar. my kind of guy.
a bottle of white wine, some grappa, and a carafe of roset later, i was a bit drunk. in fact, when we boarded our flight i remember thinking "i have to wait until we hit 10,000 feet to lean my seat back and go to sleep. damn.". the next thing i knew, i woke up disoriented and 10 minutes flying time from heathrow. i slept through takeoff and most of a two-hour flight! i guess that's what happens after four hours of sleep and a lot of adrenaline + alchohol!
at any rate, it was well worth it to see my internal and external (read: client) teams happy. this is why i'm here. :-)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
deliverance
it's 12:40 am and i'm still at work but i wanted to point out that in london you can place a carryout order from ONE location for any type of food ranging from sushi to cheeseburgers and they will deliver it via motorbike in 45 minutes. vroom vroom.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
the joys of international correspondence
even though i have a cell phone, i have a really bad pay-as-you-go plan and it costs an arm and a leg to call the states. luckily, there's skype - free online phone service. seems like a dream come true, yes? not so much...because...
- half my friends don't even have internet at home, so online phone service = useless
- i'm five hours ahead and it's a crapshoot as to when anyone's going to be online
- the 'rents and i are having...technical difficulties...which results in me sounding like a "monster" after 1 minute of conversing. we have to keep hanging up and calling each other back, except when they won't hang up and instead want me to keep talking to entertain my 2.5 year old nephew.
while i love hearing the little guy giggle (might be my favorite sound in the world) do i really want to be remembered as "aunt monster"????
sigh. i gotta get a calling card. :-)
run forrest, run
i used to call myself a runner. there was a time in my life when i ran 35-50 miles per week. however, with the move, the flat hunting, the blisters on the bottoms of my feet from walking 4 miles in high-heeled boots, etc., i hadn't run in about a month. until today!
let's back up, shall we? last night was another hard night of drinking...the other kids and i put in 7 hours or so (they went longer than that actually, i have no stamina). i woke up around 11:30 today and realized that:
a) the sun was shining merrily
b) i ate a lot of sausage and fried things yesterday
good reasons to go for a run. i was a bit too lazy to go to a nice park, so i mapped out a few miles around the 'hood, put the oyster card, tube map, and bank card in my spy belt, and off i went. i told Christine to call the police if i wasn't back in six hours.
the first mile went off without a hitch. the legs were feeling good, the sidewalks were relatively clear, i was finding my way. then about a 1/4 mile down high holburn (new street! new street!) i realized i might've gone the wrong way coming off gray's inn (another new street). no worries, i turned around and decided to just do an out and back.
about 1/4 mile up gray's inn road, i realized i was seeing new stuff. damn. i didn't have my A-Z street guide with me (that would just be silly, it's huge), but i was pretty sure gray's inn spit out around king's cross station. instead of turning around, i could find my way from pentonville road.
why do i always have to learn the hard way? :-)
i indeed wound up at king's cross; however, pentonville was nowhere in sight and i recognized nothing. you win, universe. i was officially lost. again.
luckily king's cross is a mega-huge station and i could get pretty much anywhere in the city from there. farringdon (home!) was one stop away on three different tube lines. word.
i hopped the train, hopped off again in clerkenwell (home!), and trotted off towards the flat. God bless the Underground.
let's back up, shall we? last night was another hard night of drinking...the other kids and i put in 7 hours or so (they went longer than that actually, i have no stamina). i woke up around 11:30 today and realized that:
a) the sun was shining merrily
b) i ate a lot of sausage and fried things yesterday
good reasons to go for a run. i was a bit too lazy to go to a nice park, so i mapped out a few miles around the 'hood, put the oyster card, tube map, and bank card in my spy belt, and off i went. i told Christine to call the police if i wasn't back in six hours.
the first mile went off without a hitch. the legs were feeling good, the sidewalks were relatively clear, i was finding my way. then about a 1/4 mile down high holburn (new street! new street!) i realized i might've gone the wrong way coming off gray's inn (another new street). no worries, i turned around and decided to just do an out and back.
about 1/4 mile up gray's inn road, i realized i was seeing new stuff. damn. i didn't have my A-Z street guide with me (that would just be silly, it's huge), but i was pretty sure gray's inn spit out around king's cross station. instead of turning around, i could find my way from pentonville road.
why do i always have to learn the hard way? :-)
i indeed wound up at king's cross; however, pentonville was nowhere in sight and i recognized nothing. you win, universe. i was officially lost. again.
luckily king's cross is a mega-huge station and i could get pretty much anywhere in the city from there. farringdon (home!) was one stop away on three different tube lines. word.
i hopped the train, hopped off again in clerkenwell (home!), and trotted off towards the flat. God bless the Underground.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
city field trip!
with the stress of flat hunting behind me, i actually got to do...whatever i wanted this saturday morning. crazy. Beth had told us about a place near london bridge called burroughs market, which apparently has all sorts of fresh foods, etc. it is quite a popular place so we had to meet at the angel station at 9:30 (waaaay early for the weekend) in order to beat the crowd.
the weather this morning was a bit insane. we woke up to thunder and driving rain. by the time we got to the market, it was sunny and beautiful! whatevs. the market was HUGE and awesome, with every kind of food for sale:
mushrooms!
olive oil and assorted vinegars! (apricot, mmm)
quail! pheasant! i don't really know!
bangers on a bun! hahahahaha.
the bangers (sausage for y'all americans) smelled too good to pass up, so we stopped for a quick "brunch". i had wild boar sausage with onions, spicy ketchup and rocket (mixed greens). it was delicious! Christine mentioned that i am slowly eating the whole forest between my hare meatloaf and now wild boar. hee hee.
after brunch, we dropped some things back at Beth's then took the #38 bus down to piccadilly circus to do some shopping. it was POURING when we got off the bus and windy too. ah london, your fickle weather is somewhat amusing.
first we went to fortnum and mason, which smelled like constant comment tea (orangey cinnamon), featured wall-to-wall red carpet, and price tags i couldn't really afford. :-)
since it was so drippy out, we cabbed it over to john smith, which is another department store (think macy's). i needed some bedding for my new flat! not quite ready to commit to a color scheme, the girls helped me find some jersey cotton white sheets (flannelettes here), a mattress pad, and two pillows. i also got a set of towels and washcloths. the bill? £95! pretty decent, eh? Beth offered to loan me a quilt until i decide on colors.
i was too cheap to get in a cab, so we took the underground all the way back to angel. dragging around three shopping bags worth of fluffy bedding was interesting, but somehow we managed to make it home. yay for productive saturday!
the weather this morning was a bit insane. we woke up to thunder and driving rain. by the time we got to the market, it was sunny and beautiful! whatevs. the market was HUGE and awesome, with every kind of food for sale:
mushrooms!
olive oil and assorted vinegars! (apricot, mmm)
quail! pheasant! i don't really know!
bangers on a bun! hahahahaha.
the bangers (sausage for y'all americans) smelled too good to pass up, so we stopped for a quick "brunch". i had wild boar sausage with onions, spicy ketchup and rocket (mixed greens). it was delicious! Christine mentioned that i am slowly eating the whole forest between my hare meatloaf and now wild boar. hee hee.
after brunch, we dropped some things back at Beth's then took the #38 bus down to piccadilly circus to do some shopping. it was POURING when we got off the bus and windy too. ah london, your fickle weather is somewhat amusing.
first we went to fortnum and mason, which smelled like constant comment tea (orangey cinnamon), featured wall-to-wall red carpet, and price tags i couldn't really afford. :-)
since it was so drippy out, we cabbed it over to john smith, which is another department store (think macy's). i needed some bedding for my new flat! not quite ready to commit to a color scheme, the girls helped me find some jersey cotton white sheets (flannelettes here), a mattress pad, and two pillows. i also got a set of towels and washcloths. the bill? £95! pretty decent, eh? Beth offered to loan me a quilt until i decide on colors.
i was too cheap to get in a cab, so we took the underground all the way back to angel. dragging around three shopping bags worth of fluffy bedding was interesting, but somehow we managed to make it home. yay for productive saturday!
Friday, November 13, 2009
tengo una casa
finally, after looking at about 10 flats, i found a place to live! large bedroom, walking distance to work, two toilets, four roommates. pictures to come. Beth, Christine and I had a few celebratory drinks at our favorite local, the Sekforde Arms, which got a new toilet seat by the way. Christine and I then got thai takeout and i was asleep by 10:15. long. ass. week. but fruitful. :-)
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