March 6, 2005

Returning from a trip to London for the weekend. The weather was appaling. Windy and cold yesterday during the day. In the evening it was even more windy and cold plus it was raining. Technically it might not have been rain but the ever popular winter mix.

Didn't do much, in large part due to the weather. Arrived on Saturday morning after an overnight flight and fortunately my hotel was ready. First thing I did after checking in was to go out in search of some bottled water. I had forgotten to get any at Heathrow or Paddington. Took me a while to find some, nearly an hour, due to walking in all of the wrong directions from the hotel. After I got the water I went back to my room and slept a bit longer than I had planned.

Spent some time coordinating with kctv who was coordinating with iluv2fly, both fellow Flyertalkers, on trying to meet for dinner. I then went to Selfridges for some oysters and champagne. I did some window shopping on Oxford Street after that then headed down to the Piccidilly area where I was going to meet kctv and iluv2fly at a pub called the St. James.

Spent some time at the pub, they had gotten a corner table so it was a good place to talk even after it started to get crowded. At about 7:00 we headed out to get a cab. Unlike New York, you can get a cab in the rain in London it seems, althought since it was more like sleet and snow maybe that doesn't count. We got to the restaurant were heading to, Wodka (on St. Albans in Kensington) early but they had just opened and not many people were there so we were seated immediately. I had been to Wodka before and it is one of my favorite restaurants in London. Polish food and very reasonably priced for London. Had the pierogi, which I love and then tried the Polish hunters stew which was excellent. Called it an evening pretty early and headed back to the hotel.

Had an uneventful morning, in large part due to the fact that I was up in time to take a shower before the water went out in the entire hotel. Made it by about 10 minutes in fact. Took a cab to Paddington then the Heathrow Express and got to Heathrow early for my flight. The very nice CS agent checked me in and after discussing my seat moved me to an aisle in the center section and the computer blocked the seat next to me,

Currently in the SAS London Lounge waiting for my flight. Hopefully on my next trip the weather will be nice enough to take that walking tour I had planned for this trip, This trip was very nice, had an extremely pleasant dinner with kctv and iluv2fly with lots of travel talk, FT gossip and general good conversation,

They were local travels today. Went into the city to look at the Gates in Central Park. I have never been a fan of Christoff but the Gates are nlce. What made them so nice was all of the people who came in and interacted with them and with each other.

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