The sixth's time a charm in London

You know, I really like London. The first few times I went I felt it was too sprawling and disconnected. I was used to metropolises like New York where the city itself is small in square miles, but very tall. London is the exact opposite. I was also in super tourist mode the first three times I was there, which meant I saw a lot but didn't experience much. Despite my mild dislike, I kept going back for various reasons and something changed. My attitude shifted when I was there for work in March 2004 and London's been growing on me with every subsequent trip. My recent trip at the end of November was perfect...I didn't do anything touristy besides walk past some famous landmarks and spent most of my time with people and in quintessentially London places, like Covent Garden, on Portobello Road and on Oxford Street.

I was basically there for work, but I got to take a few days and visit my friends Lauren, Sarah and Alanna. Rosalie flew up from Basel to spend four days in the city with Lauren and me. It was really great to see all of them! The last time Rosalie and I had seen each other was when she dropped me off at the airport in Vienna after my second year in Austria. I hadn't seen Sarah since we left Salzburg in June 2005 and I hadn't seen Alanna since I visited her in Bristol in February 2006. Lauren spent a few days in New York last December, but it had still been nearly a year since we'd been in the same place.

Alanna and me

The lot of us went out together on Saturday night in Islington, which is an area I am familiar with because my friend Leah used to live there. I spent hours drinking tea in Lauren's kitchen and on Alanna's sofa. I spent hours in pubs drinking pints and talking to old and new friends alike. I met contacts from work that I had been emailing for a year and a half, which was actually really fun. I visited some of my favorite recruiters and saw their workspaces. I went to a ridiculously expensive private dance club on Picadilly. This is the stuff of London!

Me, Rosalie and Lauren on the Thames