London

If it wasn't for the crap exchange rate, this city's prices would be on par with the US. Unfortunately, such is not the case.

As most readers know, my roommate at Darden is British (not to be confused with my Chinese roommate from Chicago GSB in Stockholm). This was my first trip to the UK, nonetheless London, which is likely sad as I think I'm 25% English. I emailed my roommate for the must-do list as I know a weekend is a short time to visit a city this large. Between her recommendations and my good friend from college who recently moved here with her husband, the itinerary was packed.

We saw a number of sites including St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Tower of London and plenty of shops! We even took a trip to Windsor to see Windsor Castle (very cool!).

One thing I was overly impressed with was the selection of food. Friday night we ate at a local Lebanese restaurant which was delicious. We followed dinner by picking up dessert at a local bakery - also yummy! Saturday morning kicked off with breakfast at My Old Dutch Pancake House where I had a crepe thin pancake with apples, bananas, and nuts. I'd like to export the restaurant to the US, though in the meantime, I'm looking for a good Dutch pancake/ crepe recipe. Dinner on Saturday night was at Wagamama, a noodle bar that seems to have Thai inspiration. It is a cross between a sit down restaurant and fast food. It is also another restaurant that would be well received in the states. And speaking of sending food across the pond, sounds like Chipotle is opening in London around May.

What trip to London is complete without purchasing discounted show tickets? None, so we saw Wicked on Saturday night. Great show as well as a good way to keep me out of the pubs because I know next week is going to be full of wine in Paris!

I was shocked at how many stores I saw that aren't mass marketed in the US. I broke down and purchased skinny jeans at Uni Qlo, a Japanese store that has plenty of staples at "reasonable" prices. Spending a total of two months in Europe, it only seemed fitting to purchase skinny jeans. My friend in London even converted to leggings - still not sure about those.

Overall, a fantastic trip to a very cool city. I'd definitely return, though might wait until I'm working again!

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