Pausing for breath -- two trips down, two to go in this five-week odyssey. Last two weeks were abroad, for work; next up is a vacation week, thankfully!

Started with a few days shuttling between our two London offices. It was chilly but we didn't let the weather stop us from going out in the evenings.

Covent Garden is touristy, but the White Lion had surprisingly good food. I didn't care for their sticky toffee pudding, though -- I've had better elsewhere.





On Saturday went off to visit our friends in Buckinghamshire. They treated us to a cozy pub lunch at the Red Lion in Little Missenden (nearby Great Missenden is known for being the home of the late great Roald Dahl).



The Red Lion offered loads of rustic atmosphere, complete with a fireplace, low ceilings and antiques. I had my standby ploughman's -- bread, cheese, chutney, pickle, salad.

We worked off our lunch by hiking through muddy fields in the Chiltern countryside for what seemed like miles. My shoes for done for by the time we reached our "goal": Pednor House, a timber-framed building with a dovecote, once used as a maternity hospital. So I perched on a little stepping stone near a fence and sketched the sheep and an old barn while waiting to be collected by car.





The idea behind all the walking was to tire ourselves out for the red-eye flight to Delhi. It worked.

After landing in India we went straight to Khan Market to meet my cousin. On the Metro coming back to our hotel in Gurgaon, I amused myself by sketching fellow passengers.



The days were packed with meeting after meeting but I did manage to get a sketch in, of the musicians at Diya, the Indian restaurant at the Leela Hotel.



On our way back to New York, we stopped in London again for the weekend and stayed in Maida Vale. We walked along the Regent's Canal, stopping to gawk at the colorful houseboats (I don't think I could live in one, though M. thinks he could). :)