Changing of the Guards, London Eye, and a show

Nathan — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:35:10 +0000

Pageantry. Pure and simple. Interesting to watch? Not really. Reason to watch? None except to say you did it while in London. If you happen to see it while glancing around Buckingham Palace, great. Although I would not go out of my way to see the pageantry of some people coming in and some people going out.

Buckingham Palace

Since members of the Royal family do live there, you can only tour specific parts of the palace. And since this is the off season of London travel, even those limited location are off limits. That being said our visit to Buckingham was more or less to see the changing of the guards and to get some pictures of the exterior. Pretty uneventful.

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a shopping area filled with everything from street vendors selling cheap souvenirs and chicken sandwiches to high end brand stores. All throughout our travel in London we were looking for some local art and were coming up empty. At Covent Garden we came across a stand of watercolor arts by John Pester- he was selling his own art. He had some pretty fantastic stuff and we walked away with a few prints

London Eye

This is one of those really touristy, overpriced things to do in London- and honestly, if we hadn’t had a 2for1 coupon for this I don’t think we would have done at. At more than $30/person it’s expensive!!! But it was $30 for both of us because of the coupon so we went for it! It was a beautiful, clear day (God always blesses our weather so abundantly when we travel!) and the views were amazing from the Eye. I really enjoyed being able to see London’s skyline and especially St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance, it was great to see it from another point of view.

Phantom of the Opera

After dinner we headed over to Her Majesty’s Theatre to see the Phantom of the Opera. New York and London are considered the best of the best in the theatre world, but based off my recollection of the first time I saw the Phantom at the Orpheum theater I did not perceive to large of a difference in the quality of the production. Amy disagreed stating that since we saw it so long ago at the Orpheum (roughly 7 years) that to compare it to the London production was not even relevant. That aside it was a very well done production with the leads roles playing by very talented vocalists. I would definitely recommend taking in a showing of the Phantom of the Opera should you find yourself in London.

Business Trip to India

Nathan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:01:00 +0000

So this past week I received confirmation that I would indeed be going to Bangalore, India on business. The team I am a lead of at work is getting a supporting team built in Bangalore. Since one of my direct(someone who reports to me) will be going over there to start training the new team, I will be joining for safety reasons. Plus since I am there I will assist the managers their in talent acquisition for other senior members of the secondary team that is being assembled. I will be in Bangalore for about a week. Our flight, direct’s and mine not Amy, on Air France will leave Minneapolis/St. Paul and fly to Paris, France. In Paris we will have a one and a half hour lay over and then from Paris to Bangalore.

In previous domestic traveling with the company cost has been king when it comes to flights and accommodations. Apparently when it comes to international, or at least India, cost is not a big concern. In fact higher cost is directly associated with more “safety” and necessary “comfort”. I will be getting to flight Business class, first time, and staying in what I am told is one of the most luxurious hotels in Bangalore, the Leela Palace. Honestly it looks way to rich for my blood, the kind of place where I am at a discomfort with the feeling of I do not belong.