England

I was lucky enough to go to England for the past 5 days. The best part was that most of my trip expenses were paid for. I was there for two days of meetings with BAE. We left JFK around 8pm Sunday and arrived at London Stansted Airport around 8am Monday morning. After getting check into our hotel in Maidstone we headed for Rochester to see the castle there and wonder around the pubs and shops that were close by. We were using the day to adjust to the time difference. The castle was something else, hard to believe I was standing in something that had been there since the 11th century. High Street in Rochester was pretty neat as well with all the shops and pubs. While waiting for our ride back we stopped in a pub and I came across a beer called Scrumpy Jack. With a name like that, I had to try it. There was something funny about the taste though, as a later found out, it wasn't beer, it was fermented cider. Dinner was at the Whitehorse near Maidstone, Pork chops with Bubbles & Squeak for me. The next day was spent meeting for work, with dinner at an Italian place, Prezzo, on Earl St. in Maidstone. Wednesday again was spent meeting for work. That night we met with some of the BAE folk at an Indian cuisine restaurant and I had some pretty good conversation with a few of the guys. From there we walked just a short ways up the street to a pub called The Who'd Ha Thought where I tried a brew called Tanglefoot.

The next day I went into London with three other guys. What a day! We saw a lot, and the book Fodor's London 2008 helped a lot. First was Westminster Abbey, then the Clock Tower and Big Ben. The houses of Parliament are connected to the clock tower and just across the river is the London Eye. Following lunch near the eye, we headed back towards Buckingham Palace, then down the mall to Trafalgar Square and into the National Gallery. Following that we caught the tube (underground) to Tower Hill. Here we saw the London Tower and the Tower bridge. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to go in the tower but it was still quite grand to see. This is when the rain was coming down the hardest so we ducked into a souvenir shop for a little while to dry out and warm up. Once we were ready, we headed back to the tube. It was now rush hour and quite packed. We headed for Covent Garden after getting of the tube and ate dinner there at Punch and Judy's. Feeling much better with food in our stomachs we wandered towards Leicester Square, then Piccadilly Circus. We stumble upon the London premiere of Sweeney Todd here, and apparently had just missed Johnny Depp on the red carpet. Next was Chinatown before catching the tube to Liverpool St. Station and a train ride to our hotel at the London Stansted Airport. Friday morning we caught our flight back to the U.S.

It was quite a jam packed and exciting week, I can't wait to go back when I have more time to spend sightseeing.

I took over 330 pictures, here is a link to a selection of them.