Long holiday

I have basically been on holiday the past two weeks. After going back to Washington, D.C. to spend Easter with friends, I was only back at work for three days before taking an entire week off to spend with Brea during her visit to London.

In D.C., I visited with friends from high school, university and previous jobs – all of who have relocated or already lived in the D.C. area. Primarily I was there to see Liz, Brian and their new baby and my friend Eleeza who is studying at Georgetown for her masters degree. The weekend was fun and productive, but not as relaxing as I had hoped – my own fault really. I had planned out each lunch/dinner with friends, Easter day church services and activities, and shopping in between for ‘cheap’ US products. I came back with full suitcases and lots of memories, but no time to blog since I am still without Internet at home.

Back in London, I was only at work for three days before taking an entire week off to visit with Brea. The weekend started out with entertaining American colleagues visiting London on Saturday night, and then with Brea arriving on one of the most beautiful days of the year so far. We went out to lunch, walked around Regent’s Park, enjoying a bottle of Prosecco in the sunshine with my friend Dylan in Sloane Square, and then all headed back to mine for an impromptu dinner party of Thai beef salad and freshly made cream of asparagus soup with a few bottles of chilled white Burgundy in the warm weather, with the windows wide open all evening. It was a great start to a fabulous week.

On Monday, Brea and I took the sight-to-sight double-decker bus tour, meaning that our ticket was valid all day for various routes, and we could disembark and see the sights when we wanted, catching the next bus every 15 minutes or so. It was a beautiful day and a great way to see the city, since I usually am tunnelled from point to point by the underground, only popping up for air in given neighbourhoods. We stopped to see Buckingham Palace and later to have lunch and see St. Paul’s, but otherwise we worked on our tans and laughed graciously at the cheesy tour guide’s jokes.

Tuesday weather was cool and foggy, but we still took a brief Thames boat tour from Westminster to Tower Bridge and back, had lunch, and went to the dinosaur and human development exhibits at the Natural History Museum. We headed home relatively early to get ready for a night out at French restaurant L’Escargot and the musical Avenue Q, basically a rude version of Sesame Street with upbeat songs such as ‘It Sucks to be Me’ and ‘Everybody’s a Little Bit Racist’. It’s actually hilarious, but perhaps not for everyone. We then had a few glasses of champagne and port at the Cork & Bottle, a great little wine bar near Leicester Square.

Wednesday we had a slow start, feeling the effects of all the walking around and the night out before…but we still made it to Bath by 12 noon, in time for a 2 hour historic walking tour and about an hour enjoying the sunshine in front of the Bath Abbey. At Waitrose, I discovered two wines that most other Waitroses are out of (a reliable Prosecco and the aforementioned White Burdgundies), so after a bit of shopping, we had dinner at a Riverside Café (actually, it was called Riverside Café) and took the train back to London arriving home past 11pm. Phew!

Thursday was a personal admin and prep day. I spent the morning getting my hair done, and then afternoon preparing for my first official wine tasting event! It was a great success, and I am looking forward to the next one on 11 May – the Rhone Reds! The last guest didn’t leave until 2:30am (hey, I’m on holiday, so I don’t mind) and the next day I was up by 10, and at work by 12 noon to do the introductions and facilitate the all afternoon-long work event. A final night of drinks and dinner, and Brea was off to Boston the next morning – back to reality for both of us.

I spent Saturday doing errands, laundry, going for a run, and having a quiet night in, and on Sunday I had lunch with a friend at a Lebanese restaurant and walked around Regent’s Park. Overall a great few weeks, and now I’m back to reality, meetings, and worrying about promotion. Sigh.