Quick trip to London...

Hello! As you can see I am about a week behind posting on blogging about our trips....I will get better....really! Last Weds/Thurs Kent and I took a quick trip in to London. The inspiration for our trip was a panel discussion set up by the business school on Weds night. They organised a charter bus (i.e. free transport) which was returning to Oxford that same evening. Kent used the opportunity to set up three meeting with Oxford alumni on Thurs during the day and also to attend a joint Oxford/Cambridge alum happy hour Thurs evening. So...I tagged along for a trip to London and we stayed the night.

Using Hotwire to find a good deal, we were spoiled by staying the Mayfair neighbood very close to the US Embassy. I passed on watching the financial panel on Weds evening (I know, what was I thinking!?) to window shop in Mayfair and Oxford Street....literally any and every shop you could think of! I met up with Kent and we searched for this tiny hotel famous for it's martini's - The Duke's Hotel. It was very close to our hotel, in the Picadilly area, and it was a nice evening for a walk (i.e. not raining). The attraction of the hotel cocktail bar -- besides it's posh show of making a martini tableside -- is due to James Bond author Ian Fleming coming up with the famous line "shaken, not stirred" here. I have to say, I am not a huge martini fan, but the Vesper that I had was really excellent, and Kent loved his martini as well.

The next day, I continued to explore London and window shop, including a fancy department store (similar, but smaller than Harrods) called Fortnum & Mason's. Two floors of gourmet food/drink and several more floors of home goods that I couldn't afford. Fun to look around though! Kent and I met up for an afternoon walk through Green Park to sneak a quick peek at Buckingham Palace (I had never seen it!) before he was off to another meeting. We met up later in the evening for his happy hour, a pub dinner, then home on the train. We were both exhausted - I think I walked about 10 miles around the city that day! We hopped the Tube to Paddington station and took a late train back to Oxford........