London

The day after Sara's wedding, we drove back home from Knoxville, unpacked one suitcase and packed another. That evening, I took the red-eye flight to London - Lauren and I were going for another work trip, and this time my mom and Aunt Tina came, too!  Tina's boyfriend, Paul, is from the UK so she's been to London several times, but this was my mom's first visit to London - it was pretty much a dream trip for her, and she was so very excited.  And even though I had to work, I was excited too!

We didn't get to do as much during the week as we did last time. Mainly because we flew in a day later, and with crazy customs in the UK we got a late start on Monday. So we made the most of the little time we had. We found a street market (Whitecross Market) just a few blocks from the office, and it was amazing! There are so many different vendors with foods from various cultures. You could pretty much find anything you wanted (and it was all incredible) for about £5. It's a pretty similar concept as the food trucks that are popular here in the US. We went there for lunch almost every day that week - throughout the week I had pasta, a venison sandwich, paella, and a panini. I really wish there was something like this near our office in Atlanta!

Wednesday night Lauren and I had dinner with our director. It was exactly one month from the start of the Olympics, so we went to see the lighting of the rings on Tower Bridge. We had dinner at Butlers Wharf Chop House, where we had a terrific view.  The light show was just okay - I think our expectations were too high - but the bridge looked beautiful all lit up at night. It's been a lot of fun watching the Olympics this week and seeing all the places I just visited.

Thursday night we met up with Leslie's best friend, Jenn, and her family for dinner and drinks. They were in town for Wimbledon, which had started earlier that week. (Side note: I was the only one in our group who didn't get to go to Wimbledon, which obviously means I am already majorly campaigning for our work trip next year to be at the same time!) We went to the Red Lion pub and watched the Euro Cup Italy vs Germany soccer game. Jenn and her fiance, Bryan, live in Munich right now so of course they were cheering for Germany, and my co-worker Lauren is Italian and a big soccer fan so she was cheering for Italy. I did not care either way :) but Italy won, which apparently was a pretty big deal.

Mom, me, Jenn & Kathy

Me, Jenn & Bryan

me & Lauren

While Lauren and I were in and out of meetings for five days, Mom and Tina toured all over the city and had a blast. Tina and I both seem to have good luck with the weather in London, because whenever we are there it's sunny with no rain! Everyone in my office was complaining about how "hot" it was, at a mere 83 degrees. (No joke, the HR director went out and got ice cream for everyone as an afternoon snack...)  Meanwhile Atlanta had a record-breaking heat wave of 105 degrees. I sure didn't miss being here for that!

Aunt Tina & Mom

 
I will say, traveling for work and staying with vacationers made it that much more difficult to go in to the office every day! But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The best part of this trip for me was yet to come - our weekend in Dublin :) Stay tuned!