Cher and Jay in Belgium: London trip and Skiing in France

Only a few days after we had returned from our trip home for the holidays, we were off to London. I was scheduled to visit the London office that Thursday and Friday. Again the train was really easy - immigration into London was a little bit harder, they are much more strict at their border patrol, but all went well and we arrived in 2 hours via the train. One thing we've both learned is just how convenient it is to be in Brussels, the high speed trains make traveling a breeze!

We got in late Wednesday night and checked into our hotel by the office and in the Charing Cross neighborhood. We then went out for some Indian grub which Jay was dying for - I have to say it was pretty darn good. Thursday, I went into the office and was able to meet my London colleagues and spend some time talking to transferees. Jay had a little bit of time to seee some of the sights and he had one mission, to pick up tickets at the half-price ticket booth to Phantom of the Opera - and he succeeded. Later that night we were front row center at the show! I had always heard that that might be too close... you wouldn't be able to see everything. It found it to be just the opposite, absolutely awesome! We were right on top of the orchestra so we got to watch them play the amazing music, and we could see all of the actors up close and personal, it was one of my favorite experiences on this trip so far.

On Friday it was another day at the office for me with meetings scheduled back to back. That night we decided to try a London pub crawl on our own. Luckily my friend who was on transfer to the London office last year, gave us a great list to work with. We started out with fish and chips - for substinence of course and then worked our way through the pubs of London in the Soho/Covent Garden and surrounding neighborhoods. What amazed us each night was how early they all closed! Fine for me, since I was pretty wiped - but it made Boston look like NYC!

On Saturday we had booked a bus tour day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath... let's just say scheduling a pub crawl the night before an 8am bus wasn't very well planned out... but we made it!

We also got quite lucky with the weather, Saturday was dry and a little less cold than what we had been used to. Windsor Castle was pretty spectacular. We were able to tour some of the grounds and go inside and view the apartments. If I were the Queen, I wouldn't be too keen on people touring my house every day, but I'm glad she's cool with it :) The bus tour was pretty funny because at each location we only had a certain amount of time and then had to be back on the bus on time. They weren't joking, one minute before each deadline they were getting ready to pull out. So of course Jay and I were running back every single time ;)

The next stop was Stonehenge. I have to say it is a pretty spectacular site, but since it is such a mystery of what/why/when with the rocks, I was just as happy to take in the breathtaking scenery of being out in the country amongst the sheep. Worth a "quick" visit.

Then next was the trip to Bath which was quite beautiful. We passed through these tiny unique little towns and villages, I would have loved to have spent more time in the countryside. At Bath we checked out the ancient Roman bathhouse. It's really neat to see the history of this little town. Of course, I was ready a full spa day after touring the bath - but it was time to head back to London. It was a whirlwind daytrip but we both appreciated the fact that someone else schlepped us around rather than us trying to drive and see all of that in one day.

On Saturday night we decided to head down to the River Thames. It was still pretty warm out so we found a cute place to grab dinner on the water and then grabbed some drinks outside at a local bar. We then found another pub on the way back to the hotel to close out the night with.

On Sunday we bought a Tube pass and headed to the Chelsea neighborhood to walk around. We grabbed a quick bite and worked our way through Chelsea and Kensington and then took the Tube to Knotting Hill Gate and headed to the Kensington Gardens/Hyde park. We were thrilled when we got there to see there were bikes to rent. We biked through the Gardens and Hyde Park over to the other side.

From there we stopped at Selfridges, this amazing department store and food store. The food store was pretty incredible, it had anything and everything you could imagine to purchase for food and drinks. I ended up getting a couple of really cool gifts for people and we hit up the oyster bar and the wine bar. Boston DEFINITELY needs one of these!

We then had to hurry back to the hotel and grab our luggage so we could make the train home. London was one of our most fun weekends we have had so far. I have to say the language non-barrier probably helped out a little bit, we were quite comfortable in London and were able to navigate it very easily. Which means, of course, we will return!

The following weekend, we joined our friends Melissa and Taylor and their daughter Maddie and a couple that they work with, to ski in Gerardmar, France.

The weekend was a blast! We started it off with a roadtrip to town of Reims in the Champagne region in France. We took a cellar tour of Lanson, which was quite neat! We got to sample the champagne of course and walk around the town a little.

We then spent the next few days in Gerardmar, and went skiing on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was quite cold but the snow was great and the apres-ski was really fun as well!