London ... Finding your Local

With summer turning into fall and the market doldrums of August coming to a close, it was time for Lisa to head off to London for a round of marketing her company to investors across the pond. The trip involved in a weekend in London so we decided to (once more) make it a working holiday and Christos accompanied Lisa to the foggy city. We flew overnight on Thursday, arriving late in the morning on Friday, and both Lisa and Christos had meetings until the late afternoon. After meeting up back at the hotel around 5pm we walked up Mount Street to our favourite pub, The Audley. The evening was spent quaffing cold Guinness; we were joined by a Scotia trader (Kal) and our plan for a "couple" pints quickly turned into an evening of many pints! We were also informed that the Audley is our "Local" in London (a fact I think we already knew although had not crystallized into such a simple phrase).

The next morning we awoke to a wet and rainy London and we didn't really get up to too much. We had lunch at "The PunchBowl", a pub that Guy Ritchie and Madonna bought together (he got it in the divorce) and wandered a bit before settling in to our room for a night of movies (we liked "The Internship" but not "Str Trek: Into Darkness") and room service.

Sunday was another rainy day in London and other than a trip to Fortnum & Mason in the afternoon was pretty low key. for dinner we hopped in a taxi and went off to "The Albion" in Islington for an excellent traditional Roast Beef dinner with all the fixings before returning to our hood for a pint at the Audley and then a good night's rest.

Monday was a work day for Lisa so Christos headed off to Leighton House in the early afternoon via a walk through Hyde Park. It was a bit of a hike (just over an hour each way) but well worth it as Leighton House was a nice small museum in the home of the Victorian painter, Frederic Leighton (his most famous piece being "Flaming June"), who was a bit eccentric having done much of the house in an Arab/Middle Eastern style. Definitely worth the visit and Christos purchased a small pottery bowl while there (we seem to be addicted to pottery).

Tuesday was a work free day for both so we headed over to the Victoria and Albert museum for a visit which was thoroughly enjoyed. The Ardabil Carpet was a highlight but the rest of the museum was also worthy of a visit (although Lisa did claim that the statuary paled beside the works of Bernini) including the option of dressing up in a replica tunic from the Middle Ages! We were done at the V&A after about two hours and hopped in a cab back to the hotel as it was once again raining.

Our plans to leave on Tuesday were dashed by mechanical problems which resulted in an extra night in London and a quick meeting for Christos on Wednesday morning. We finally managed to get back to Toronto on Wednesday evening and were happy to sleep in our own bed after our wonderful London escape.