Azores - Up Coming Trip

Hiking and Volcanoes
The last time I was in the Azores it was unplanned.  I was flying TAP from Lisbon to NY and we made an emergency landing there.  This time, it's on purpose.  We're flying direct from Boston on July 11th.  If you want to fly from NY, you have to go to Lisbon first then fly back....

Brooklyn - New Neighbor

He Adds Class to the Place
We sat down to breakfast this morning and turned our attention to the backyard as we usually do.  No birds, no squirrels, no action at all.  Unusually quiet.  Then Jean yelled out "look - there's an owl up there!"  I jumped out of my seat and pressed my face into the window, squinting up into the sky.  Quite a surprise.  An owl in Brooklyn?  He's hard to see.  Can you see him?

London - Best of the Isles

No, Not Beer - Cheese
Luckily, my colleagues love cheese.  We went to a cheese shop last night and stocked up on three interesting varieties from the British Isles.  On the left is a Stichelton - an unpasteurized blue that uses the original Stilton starter.  On the right, something called "Stinking Bishop" from Gloucestershire, which is washed with fermented pear juice of the same name.  Not shown is a Welsh variety called Gorwydd Caerphilly.

London - Catching Up

With Old Friends
I worked with this dude for three horrible years in Paris.  Wayne, my counterpart from London, made the weekly trip to Paris and without him I might not have made it.  He always had a way to make me laugh and lighten up.  He retired a few months back and we caught up in a pub near Covent Gardens. It was great to see him.

London - The Agency Lifestyle

It's a Step Up from Cubicle Hell
The UK office of our department shares space with some of our ad agencies.  What a difference that makes.  Both Saatchi and Leo Burnett share the building.  After a hard day, you can take the elevator to the pub for a drink.  Matter of fact, this is London so you can drink any time of day.

Paris Getaway - Part 2

Gorging and Walking

Joseph, Ileana and Jose wanted to take a bus tour and see all the main sights.  I walked them to Notre Dame, which was about fifteen minutes from where we were staying.  They caught a bus from there.  I had other plans - the usual Paris plans: walk around and eat.  Repeat.  One thing you could rely on in Paris is the same old spots would be there waiting for you with the same old good food.

Paris Getaway - Part 1

Twin Birthday Celebration
I found out that Joseph, one of my Costa Rica colleagues, had a birthday a few days after mine so I suggested we all go to Paris to celebrate for the weekend.  I didn't expect them to accept, I figured I would be going alone.  Joseph had been to Paris a few times and he talked the others into checking it out for the first time.

London - The National Pasttime

Arsenal vs Swansea City
When our London colleague asked if there was anything we were interested in doing while in London we asked for the impossible.  His eyes widened when we asked for tickets to an Arsenal game.  "You lot are quite cheeky, aren't you?" he asked, laughing.  Some how, some way, he came through.

London - Fifty in Style

French Rules
I guess I should have celebrated my birthday with a typical English Sunday roast, but nope, not me.  French all the way.  The Frenchies are paying for it, so it seemed only right.

London - Back in the Fancy

Marylebone
On the other side of the scale, away from those neighborhoods that an English colleague said were for the "common" people (yes he actually said that out loud),is Marylebone.  It's pronounced MAR-LEE-BONE, which I tried to explain to the Costa Ricans without success.  "Just stop looking at the letters and listen to what I'm saying Mar-Lee-Bone."

London Bus Rides - Part 2

East End - Shoreditch

I asked my Engliish colleagues which neighborhoods I should avoid and then made sure I visited each and every one of them.  Brixton was to be avoided at all costs and close behind was the East End - which is said to be rough around the edges.  I took a bus from Brixton to Shoreditch and found it to be in the middle of the classic gentrification.  

London - Bus Rides Part 1

Brixton
We are staying in the posh neighborhood of Kensington.  If you only walked around here you could be fooled into thinking all of London is dripping with money.  I sought out some regular neighborhoods by bus, the first one the epicenter of rioting in the early 80's.  Much of the music I listened to at that time was coming out of London and it referenced those riots in Brixton.

London - The Sun

It Actually Exists!
Today, for the first time in five days, the sun peeked out for an hour.  I ran outside to get a shot for posterity, I may not see it again any time soon.  I've taken many walks around Kensington and I must admit, it is a beautiful, if impossibly expensive, place.

London - Stealing

Meet My Fellow Thieves

Joseph, Jose and Ileana - my colleagues from Costa Rica.  We're here in SW London, smiling, pretending, hand-shaking and lunch-sharing.  Meanwhile, we are secretly figuring out how to steal jobs from London and put them in Costa Rica without upsetting the British unions.  It's a crap job.  I am not particularly proud to be involved in it.