US East Coast Round One

Our two week US East Coast August tour went by very quickly.

In Washington, Joe and I got to dine with our friends Janine and Martha, which is always a blast. We ate at Komi. Martha, Janine and I had eaten there on my last trip to DC and I was really glad Joe got a chance to experience this amazing restaurant. It didn't disappoint on the return visit. This remains one of the most amazing places I have ever eaten. If you love food, you have to go, but book early. It's become a hot spot in DC and they are now taking reservations only 30 days in advance and those reservations all go the day they open up.

From DC we headed to New Jersey for a quick visit with the rents before going to the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island for Joe's nephew's wedding. A couple of nights before the wedding Joe's brother and sister-in-law, went out to dinner with my family, which was nice as the two sides hadn't had a real opportunity to meet before. As we had expected, everyone had a great time.

The wedding was really nice and it was great to see so much family at the same time. After the wedding we spent a night at my parents before flying back to London.

It was a serious whirlwind tour.

Reality Show

Yesterday I finished reading Howard Kurtz' Reality Show. While I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, if you are either a public relations person or an American baby boomer you'll probably enjoy this book.

Non-fiction the book looks at the issues and influences behind the changing of the guard at the network evening news anchor chairs that has transpired over the last few years leaving us with Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams and Katie Couric. Kurtz does a good job giving it all a perspective against the backdrop of the 24-hour news cycle, cable news and the Internet.

The moments that given insight into decisions about what does and doesn't make the news were the most interesting to me. But I also thought that if I'd been even five or ten years older, the challenges of the guard changes itself might have been more of a focus for me.

Catherine Visits - Part Two

Last weekend we went to Oxford to see Catherine on her turf and tour the town. It's another place I haven't been since my first trip to the UK in 1988. We took the train and took advantage of First Great Western's Weekend First offer that let's you upgrade to first class on the train for practically nothing, £5 to Oxford, which given how crowded the train was in both directions was so worth it.

We stayed at the Royal Oxford Hotel which is right next to the train station. It didn't look so great on its web site, but was actually a great room at a great price when we got there. Fresh fruit in the room, how often does that happen?

The three of us strolled around Oxford, taking in the sites. Because Catherine is attending Christ Church College we were able to take see the Harry Potter sites without having to queue, though we did have to deal with the crush of tourists, mostly teenagers.

We headed over to a place called 4500 Miles from Dehli on Parkend Street for a great Indian lunch. Catherine said it's considered the best curry in Oxford and while I can't vouch for its standing in Oxford, it was excellent. We had a great meal and then set off to take in some architectural highlights before grabbing some pre-dinner beers.

For dinner I had scoped out a place called Restaurant 66a at the Cotswold Lodge Hotel. Great service and an excellent local cheese platter - the stinking bishop was mind blowing. When we asked for coffee afterwards they invited us into the lounge, where we sat in big club chairs in a bay window while they served a pot of french press. All of it was extremely reasonable in terms of price, I definitely recommend it as a must eat in Oxford.

The next day we took the bus to Blenheim Palace, where the Duke of Marlborough lives and where Sir Winston Churchill was born. This was my first visit to what I'd call a manor home. The Duke and his family still live at the Palace and charge £17 per person to visit to help pay for upkeep of the building and the 2,100 acres that make up the World Heritage Site. It was really a beautiful place to spend the day. We talked about how if we lived nearby we'd get the annual pass and picnic often. It was a great way to spend the day and cap our time with Catherine before she heads back to the States.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Two weekends ago I read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mosin Hamid. It was a quick easy read from the reading perspective. I literally started on Saturday and finished it on Sunday and had a whole weekend in between.

It's definitely the kind of book that makes you think. While it is framed around current issues in the world, it is more of an everyman, every instance story that applies to so much of how people have approached otherness through the history of mankind. It did make me look at things from multiple sides, something I think we, as in the human race, fail to do all too often.

If you just want to keep thinking they way you do about people and races and ideas that make you uncomfortable so you can just continue to ignore them, don't read it.

Catherine Visits - Part One

My niece Catherine is here this summer for a six week post graduate course at Christ Church College in Oxford. She took a weekend and came to London to hang out and do a little touring.

Her number one thing to do was visit Westminster Abbey, so I finally returned after more than 20 years. I had avoided the Abbey because of the crowds and the cost, £15 per person to walk around a church. It was incredibly crowded. It made my time there, on a weekday in February in 1988, very special. My biggest memory was just how vast and empty the space seemed to be since there were so few people there. I made a brass rubbing in the cloister in the back where I sat by myself for almost an hour. The brass plates don't seem to be there anymore.

That said, it's not like you could opt out of seeing Westminster Abbey if you're coming to London as a first-time tourist, but it does serve to remind that off season travel has plenty of benefits besides lower prices.

After the Abbey we did something else I had done on my first trip in 1988, but hadn't done since - we toured Tower Bridge and took the pedestrian crossing at the top. It was as much fun as I remembered and touring the steam engines that used to drive the bridge lifts with an engineer added a special twist.

We finished the visit with an amazing dinner at our favorite place, Skylon. They have just introduced a tasting menu and I had been anxious to try it out. They offer both a vegetarian and meat/fish version. It was great, but I have to say that for a tasting menu the portions were way too large. So if you decide to go and take this option, I recommend eating about half of every course they put in front you so you'll be sure to have room for dessert!

Love in the Time of Cholera

Last week I finisehd Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Maquez. It was exactly what you would expect from a love story that won the Nobel Prize. Engrossing, moving and of course a great read. The most telling thing I can say about it is that I kept putting the book down because I didn't want it to end. Instead I wanted to wallow in the images and feelings Marquez had painted for me at that moment. It was all so vivid.

I haven't seen the movie, but heard it did not do the book justice, so if you have seen the movie and you're thinking no way, you might want to reconsider.