Big Ben, of course
A week-long trip to England brought me to three cities — London, Leeds and Manchester. London was great, as always — I stayed in a cool boutique hotel (Hotel Indigo — look it up) near Paddington Station, surrounded by great pubs and restaurants, and only a few blocks’ walk from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace. Next up was Leeds, a nondescript town about 4 hours north of London, and then on to Manchester (home of Man U), a gritty urban city if there ever was one, before heading home. The English are a great people; they are kind and generous, and quite helpful in recommending just the right beers to try. Unusually for me, my colleague and I DROVE the entire trip, forsaking the Tube, trains and taxis due to the large distances between our appointments, and it was lucky for me that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel trying to stay on the “wrong” side of the road. Ah, well, nobody was hurt in the making of this trip, and therefore — except for the excruciating 5-hour delay flying home due to the tremendous storms in NJ, and the embarrassment of shopping for “Will and Kate” souvenirs for my girls – it was another fantastic visit across the pond.
