Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?

Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat, Pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair!

Or, in the bitchin' life, you get a variation on that old English nursery rhyme that is altogether twisted.

With my mom here visiting for two weeks, 007 and I had been plotting our weekend away together for months. Friday finally arrived; we kissed everyone goodbye, worried over the last details, and then hopped a train to London, leaving all our thoughts of responsibilities and worries floating in our wake.

We giddily checked into our hotel by 5:30 on Friday, thrilled to be in the city and on our own for the first time in over six months.

We may've been lying in bed (what?) drinking champagne and thinking we were living large all nestled up, as we were, in the fluffy feather bed and deliciously soft sheets of the Marriott hotel on the Thames, but believe me: vermin are the great equalizer of men and hotels.

Daddy-007 leaped out of bed with a roar when a mouse came out from under our bed and climbed up the leg of a nearby chair and into his clothes! He shook his clothes out and no mouse came tumbling, so we waited; crouched and tense, watching the chair.

And then the mouse ran out from behind a (lovely) embroidered pillow, took a flying leap off and ran back under the bed. Some shrieking may have occurred, but before he was done scurrying, I was up and repacking our things as I made arrangements for a new room with the front desk.

In exchange for our disturbing discovery, the hotel moved us to a new room that wasn't a half mile from the lift, had a great view of Big Ben and included the use of the "Executive Lounge" (a room with nibbles, a latté machine, and computer/printer/fax). Which was nice, but I was really hoping they would comp the bottle of champagne and jar of nuts that we opened, and the movie we watched (The Hangover, heheheh),

Oh, well. We accidentally left them a sleazy surprise in the bedside table drawer, too. (Sorry about that, housekeeping!) So, I guess we're even.

(Side note: We received a letter from the Marriott County Hall today apologizing for the incident and offering us a free room upgrade with Executive lounge access the next time we come to London, should be choose their hotel.)

After finishing the movie in our new room, we got all gussied up and headed out to a French bistro in south Kensington, La Bouchée. Way back, when we were but the Bitchin' couple, our favorite restaurant was a little bistro called Chez Nous (in Austin, Texas). Madison never had a comparable place, so it was a delight to find this place. It was a fantastic atmosphere, all snug and cozy and delicious smelling and exactly the right timing with the service.

After dinner we cabbed it back to the hotel, jumped back in bed and watched Zombieland. If you haven't yet seen this movie: Watch it. Now. Even if you ARE a zombie, I expect you to lurch and drag yourself to the video store and get it as soon as possible. (It will be released on DVD February 2, 2010, according to Imdb.com.) It is worth the price of purchase just for the scenes with Bill Murray and the opening credits. Pure gold.

The next day my husband went off to the London Boat Show and I went to the Natural History Museum to get some inspiration at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit. Truly spectacular photos from all over the world. I've got a lot of work to do to get in this league, but it doesn't seem impossible. A lot of nature photography seems to be in the patience and timing. Sometimes it is years of planning that make it possible to get the perfect shot, but other times it is just luck and the fact that you have put yourself into a particular location and are watching is all that is necessary. Most shots seem to fall somewhere in between. :)


We ended the day by going to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theatre. I have since downloaded the soundtrack and am making myself impossible to be around in the house, randomly singing out: "I am pop-ye-ew-lar!!" or "I feel like defying gravity!"

You have no idea....

Okay, I have to wrap this up as it has snowed AGAIN and I must get out with my tripod and camera to see if I can find those animal tracks in the snow that I have been plotting to shoot since before Christmas.






Before I sign off, though, I'd like the ladies of Cupcake '10 to know I was thinking of them this weekend:


I made a special trip to The Hummingbird Bakery to enjoy a cupcake and latté in their honor. Yum!