the helen update: london calling

what a nice surprise when tom mentioned we ‘had to’ do a weekend in london to see the harry potter play, as he is working on the harry potter theater in nyc. after the evening flight over the pond where I mostly slept and tom mostly didn’t, I was refreshed and ready to take on the day at 6 m. we arrived at the st martin’s lane hotel which was modern and charming, and were pleased to find out we could get into our room first thing even though check-in was not until the afternoon. off to a good start with the brits!! tom caught some z’s while I caught up on some work.

following the recharge, we headed out into the 50-degree sunshine to find breakfast and decided on our first of several recommendations from some of my british colleagues - the convent garden hotel where ‘all the proper ladies take tea’. this was clearly the case as it was old and very queen-like in decor, but it was expensive and I would not label this one a must-do because there are plenty of other charming and must less expensive places to find the same.

as we made our way around the charming neighborhood, we stopped at the apple store so I could pick up the converter for my laptop and that is where we connected with the first of my work peeps. harry gave us a speedy walking tour around, pointing out his favorite things as the weather changed quickly to misty rain, which is how it continued for the rest of our trip. no complaints, as the tri-state area was in the midst of a little winter storm.

next up was a visit with my london clients to check in for a tour of the ‘legendary’ agency and edit suites, where all the work we shoot around the usa gets completed. the lovely marie took us to a local pub, touted as the oldest pub in london, where we stood drinking in typical london fashion. afterwards, we dined with another colleage and his wife at brown’s restaurant. turns out there are several restaurants in town with that name, but after a bit of confusion, we connected and had a nice night.

day 2 - breakfast with bill and carmen at balthazar which was yummy and my first official dining recommendation of this post :) scrambled eggs and crab may sound weird, but it was delicious and I must re-create it at home. we took a cab to see tower bridge - had to do it. then it was time to make our way to the theater for the show which started at 2 pm, and would have a 2.5 hour intermission between part one and part two. since I had neither read the books, nor seen the movies, I was happy to find the recap of each in the program so I could catch up with the storyline. I’m sure I missed more than a few references along the way, but for the most part, I had a good sense of the characters and I might just have to watch those movies now. (or not) the show itself was really well done! during the long intermission, the guys had to do a backstage walkthrough so we caught a peek behind the scenes and met a few of the lead actors. we went for a quick bite to eat during the break, a nice spot that was recommended by a colleague called shackfuyu….. and then we went to see the rest of the show. again, it was quite incredible, the special effects were so well done with disappearing acts and some nice magic-style stunts! I really loved it! apres show drinks were enjoyed at the dean street townhouse which was so cool and relaxed. we even enjoyed some drinks sitting in a lounge doing some london people watching.

day 3 - we took a stroll past buckingham palace because, hello, ya kinda have to do that when you go to england. and, as our luck would have it, we got there just to catch the changing of the guard which was not planned. then we met up with my sweetest assistant from 10 years ago who had moved to london after getting married. it was like no time had passed when she walked in to the patisserie valerie (the one near harrods) with that same bubbly infectious energy I remembered from the day I interviewed her! toward the end of lunch, her dashing british husband walked in (after playing a round of football, which in england means soccer) to super charge the love we were already enjoying. after the hugs goodbye, we hopped in a cab and I was suddenly bummed we never took a photo together so tom asked the cabbie to pull over and I scared the hell out of them when I ran up to them shouting ‘we need a photo’ which turned into several photos and combinations of us and them which was really funny (you had to be there).

from there we had the cab drop us in marylebone to walk around a typical non-tourist-ridden neighborhood which reminded me of an upscale suburban town in nj… then we walked from through soho which was really cool. the pubs and shops and sights were so pretty. we didn’t buy anything because there was really nothing to buy that we can’t get at home, but of course we took pix and ended up clocking in about 17K steps on the trusty iphone app. we connected with bill and carmen for dinner which was italian tapas style, however, not a place I would recommend - food ok, and service borderline rude. we walked to the only place in town it was possible to see the giants game afterward only to watch them lose with our new friend johnny from dallas.

timing is everything as the london underground went on strike that evening, so getting to the airport in the morning proved to be a challenge with taxi delays and maddening traffic, but we made it with time to spare. having not been to london since the mid 80’s for work, it was really nice to revisit and just play. jolly good…. yes… jolly good.