- Dealing with about 15 hours from depature at JFK to arrival at Edinburgh (including both an emergency stop in St. John's Newfoundland for medical reasons and a transfer through the "good in concept, but rather a mess in practice" Flight Connections Centre at Heathrow) in the same clothes? Not fun. Even less fun? Not recieving your clothes (or anything besides your minimal carry-on luggage) for approximately 48 hours after departure from JFK due to a variety of circumstances, including (I kid you not) the luggage being locked in the back of the delivery truck and the delivery company being unable to open the truck.
- Edinburgh is a charming and gorgeous city, though friggin' cold, especially when all one has to wear is the long-sleeve button-down shirt one already wore through a 15-hour flight the previous day. Also nice is that it is a city that is almost completely walkable, even if it features a Parliament building that appears to have been furnished from the 2004 Ikea Catalogue. (Seriously, tell me this picture doesn't look like something you'd see at Ikea.)
- There seemed to be a station available in our hotel in Edinburgh which aired nothing but quickly cancelled Fox programming, including both Vanished and Killer Instinct. Sadly, no evidence of Firefly, though the cool British version of Serenity was on special at numerous retailers.
- It's somewhat disturbing just how easy it is to find a Starbucks both in London and in Edinburgh. I certainly understand the desire for familiarity (and yes, we ate at KFC one day for lunch), but in a country that at least used to be known for its coffee and tea houses, it's kind of sad to see such standardization. At least the ubiquitous Pizza Express is a British chain.
- Hampton Court Palace (Henry VIII's summer place), about half an hour outside of London, is the best Palace of the options (though I've not been to Windsor). Plenty of stuff to see and do, including hedge maze. Well worth the half hour trip from Waterloo (though somewhat disturbing that we never once were asked for a ticket on the journey).
- There's a fascinating contrast between the US and the UK media. While the "alert level" was raised while we were in London, there was remarkably little sensationalism and panic in the media. Such sensationalism and panic was reserved for truly important news, like the upcoming Spice Girls reunion, the question of the romantic status (or lack thereof) between Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the fact that Kylie Minogue will be in an upcoming episode of Doctor Who. Even the Brown-Blair handover (which happened on our first day in Lodnon) was remarkably even-keeled. (Also, very little U.S. news made its was onto UK television--only the Libby commutation and the Obama/Hillary fundraising stuff made anything of note.)
- Saw Mary Poppins in London. Astounding production values throughout (especially on "Step In Time" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"), and the old songs are as great as they ever were, but even though the show hired a new and well-respected bookwriter, the narrative thread is kind of weak. (Avenue Q, which I saw before leaving NYC, had a similar problem, though less pronounced, in part because the songs which kind of detract from the Princeton/Kate narrative throughline are some of the best in the show, like "The Internet Is For..," "Schadenfreude," and the like).
- The most brilliant staging in London, though, must go to the exhibition of the Crown Jewels, which first has a queue that wends past video screens of the jewels close up and in use so you don't just feel like you're queueing, and then, conveyor belts moving just fast enough past the jewels so people don't attempt to park themselves in front of them and block everyone's view but still giving everyone a good look.
- The Bourne Supremacy was one of the features on today's flight back, and, even with some awkward dubbing ("son of a witch?"), that's just a remarkably well-made movie, which makes the smart decision to not paint any of its characters in black and white. Makes me look forward to Bourne Ultimatium all the more.
Good to be back to rejoin the fun in these parts, and looking forward to (work permitting) seeing many of you in Philly on the 13th (spooky though that sounds).
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