The guidebook does not explain why there’s a statue of Abraham Lincoln Westminster.
Travel
Spent the Day at a CIA Listening Post, Well Sort Of
Today I am in London and I spent my entire day at a CIA listening post. Well that is partly true. It was depicted as a CIA listening post in a James Bond film but in reality it is just a Thomson Reuters Data Center in London. I am not sure of what movie but several people have confirmed it. I can talk about it only because when I pull the area up on a public map the building is labeled.
I was in a workshop all day, but the views from half the building are of the river overlooking the Millennium Dome. I would have loved to take some pictures but I am pretty sure they frown on that. The workshop was very interesting. I have two more days of it but the next two are a bit different than the first one so we shall see how they go. I was just thankful that we got to the office and back without too much drama. The trip was already planned before we found out about the Tube strike. Thankfully we left early enough this morning to get a cab directly to the office. We were able to take the DLR halfway back to the hotel and then got lucky finding a cab. The down side of the morning cab was I went to bed at 11:30 and got up at 5:30 to be out early. Tonight I am aiming to goto bed a bit earlier to get up tomorrow at the same time. Thankfully the strike is over tomorrow, but I have to deal with it next week if they keep to their plans to strike again
After work I got drinks and dinner with one of the trainers who is staying at my hotel. I was also able to get a pre-pay SIM card so i am a bit more connected for the long trip. WIFI at the hotel is great. Work is more limiting so having additional freedom is nice. Even after all the suggestions from MC, Cathy (thanks Cathy but I am not spending 50 pounds on a Doctor Who tour) and others I still don’t know what to do this weekend while in the city by myself. On that note I am off to bed. I will try to read some travel guides tomorrow night.
Off to London (Aka if this gets posted to my blog I am already there)
Today I am off to London for a bit for work. My boss is hosting a workshop and then I have a two day training. The trip is longer than originally planned because i am combining the two events.
On one hand I love London and both functions seem very interesting but on the other it is the first trip I have taken since having kids. I started missing T & A while at the airport going through my photostream. I am hoping to catch them and M on Facetime as much as possible but I am not holding out hope i can do that everyday.
The flight has given me the opportunity to at least get in some writing i have wanted to do. This post included.
Dinner on the Beach
Today Teagan took a power nap with me while I walked her in the stroller on the beach. She then took a two hour nap after lunch. We got lucky. The weather continues to be fantastic. For Lunch we walked to the Westin Hotel and grabbed food at their poolside cafe since MC & I did not think that much of the poolside cafe in our hotel.
For dinner we had reservations for a beachside meal right on the water in the sand at our hotel. It was one of the two splurge nights we decided to have on our stay. It was pretty amazing to sit and relax at a table right on the beach. They timed it so we started to sit down as the sun was going down.
The food was pretty good. it was the first time i had a lobster bisque soup. The service was a bit slow but we attribute that to the distance the servers had to travel to get to us! Teagan was very cooperative also. She generally is a fantastic baby and she fell asleep in MC’s arm’s after it got dark but not before she was up way past her bedtime. Overall a perfect day in Aruba.
My Alone Day in London
Since I headed to London early to get a weekend in seeing the city I had a full day to kill Sunday. I was originally going to possibly see Tony and hang out a bit but he had to cancel. I thought about my options and then opted to see the Tower of London. I slept in a little since i was tired from the flight over Friday night. I then got advise from the hotel on a place for lunch and found a row of pubs not too far from the hotel. I picked one and had some fish and chips. While eating i planned my day and route to the tower.
I headed over to the light rail station and took the DLR to goto the tower. I paid for the audio tour. After doing that with MC at Moma i am totally getting those when i can. so much easier to see historic sights and museums with the audio tour. The Tower was fun and interesting. I got some good photos. i wasn’t however that impressed with the crown jewels. Sorry England. I had heard i wouldn’t be by a few people and their expectations were spot on. Overall it was a good choice for my one day free.
First Day in London
I spent the morning getting from the airport to the hotel. And I unwound a little. I walked over to Canary wharf mall near where the office is. I need to get a SIM card for my Galaxy Nexus phone and iPad. I was impressed at how easy it was to get, and the price was not that bad either. I wasn’t happy I couldn’t use my AT&T iPhone 4S because it was locked to AT&T, but I was glad I had an unlocked Galaxy Nexus that i could use.
I tried to have some breakfast at Starbucks but ended up just having a Danish because he did not have the sandwich I wanted. After that i headed out to meet Colin by the London bridge station. Well first it was at another station and i didn’t see my text until i was already at the location i was originally going to. I then turned around and headed to the London bridge station. It was only a 15 minute detour. Once there Colin was running late. I walked around a bit, then just goofed off on the internet and read a bit in the sun until he arrived.
We checked out an open air market. had some food. I got some fudge. We then walked and had a drink at a pub. After that we walked all the way down towards were we were going to eat dinner. it was right near the London Eye. We walked along the river. it was fun. We were early meeting his wife so we had a drink outside by the river. i tried Pims for the first time. Colin insisted. it was good. We then meet his wife and had dinner, and then they had to rush off to get a delivery. We parted ways at the tube station. I made my way back to the hotel.
It was a good finally meeting Colin. I considered him a friend for a quite some time since I start working at Reuters, however other than Skype video chat’s we have never met in person.
Cruise Day 8 – Going Home
Today was the last day of the cruise. That basically means we wake up, get to port, and then leave the ship. Because we flew out of Orlando, and we rented a car on the way in, we had to find other transportation back to the airport. We ended up spending the money and getting bus service back to Orlando. It turns out that was a fantastic idea. Our flight was not until later in the afternoon, because we rushed last year to get on an earlier flight. The boat wasn’t late like it was last year, so we got out and cleared customs relatively fast. The downside of that meant we had to spend several hours in the airport in Orlando. I would rather have done that anyway then be worried about rushing to catch a flight.
The flight home was generally uneventful. We caught a cab easy enough and were home in our new apartment. We came home to the same set of boxes waiting for us to be unpacked that we left. I secretly wished that helper elves had unpacked everything while we’re gone. They didn’t.
When checking my voice mail when I got off the plane I got a message from my new boss. Apparently while I was away there was a reorganization and I moved to a different manager. I knew it was coming, but wasn’t sure when. It was weird to know that I have to meet my new manager on the phone first thing the day I get back from my honeymoon!
I want to note that all of the blog posts about the honeymoon or written after-the-fact. Actually I finally got around to writing them sometime in August. I postdated everything since I like to know for me when things actually happened, and not just talk about them past tense. MC will talk about how she won’t go on a cruise for a while, and had a not so great time because of the weather and the rough sea conditions. That part wasn’t the greatest, but overall it was a vacation and I enjoyed it.
Cruise Day 7 – Sea Day
Today was our last full day of the cruise. It was also and other sea day. My parents and I think of one or two other people recommended for us to do breakfast in the room on our balcony. Up until now we have eaten in the Windjammer and had the buffet. We kept wanting to do it, and never really ended up remembering to schedule it the night before. When it came time to planning breakfast for the last day we had to decide between breakfast on the patio or the formal breakfast in the dining room that we also have wanted to try. Room service won out. It was nice to be able to sit and eat with the open at sea air and the view. We had some minor drama about actually getting the food on time, but the room service people sorted it out and were extremely friendly.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing, and reading by the pool.
For dinner we decided to splurge and go to the steakhouse for dinner. Man am I glad we did. The steak was fantastic, the drinks were really good, and the desert was out of this world. As luck would have it we ended up sitting next to the scene couple we met during the mystery dinner.
It was a great night to wrap up what was not always the most enjoyable cruise. MC had a few days of seasickness due to the choppy water, and I think a little bit of cabin fever being on the boat more than we planned. I see her point, and even though I enjoyed myself a lot more than she did I don’t think we will be doing a cruise in the foreseeable future.
Other things we did on the cruise that I forgot what days we did them on were two rounds of music trivia. one of which we were so close in winning, but we blew one answer and ended up in second place. We hung out at several different bars, and I tried to get them to make me a sidecar. One of the bars was very good at it, and other not so much. We saw a dancing panda, some other different trivia games. And decided to not take part in a cupcake making class.
After being on the love and marriage game show, it was funny and a little bit spooky to be constantly recognized where ever we went on the ship. I’m not sure if that is going to be my 15 minutes of fame where I realize what celebrities have to go through all the time. I am not kidding, we got recognized 3 to 5 times a day after that easily. if I had to do that again, I wouldn’t change anything. Well maybe one answer or two but you know what I mean!
Cruise Day 6 – Sea Day
Today was another sea day. I took this opportunity to schedule a hot stone massage in the morning. It was extremely relaxing. I typically only go for massages on vacation, so it was a real treat to go twice this week.
For lunch, we get another treat and went to Johnny Rockets again. After eating at that place I feel like I need to take a nap. Thank goodness we were on vacation.
We relax by the pool, red, and just generally enjoyed ourselves for the rest of the day.
We had dinner in the dining room again since tomorrow, our last night at sea we’re planning on doing something special.
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