London and Edinburgh

I finally have a minute to write about the rest of the UK Study Mission. What a trip! The group of delegates were so fun and nice, the sites were awesome and the meetings went really well! With the health care debate and legislation going on in the US, it was interesting to learn about the UK system and what our Health Care executives in Nashville thought about it and the upcoming changes in our system. I must say, if I were to get sick in the UK - I would definitely go to one of HCA's private hospitals! As messed up as our system is, we are blessed with outstanding health care options! I could go on and on with what we saw and heard....but I won't bore whoever may read this.

So I left off Sunday night. Monday morning we had meetings in London at the Ritz, then lunch and a tour of the Barts Hospital, the oldest in the UK, founded in 1123. Skanska, which has a large presence in Nashville is responsible for the renovations of which they just completed phase 1 and would be moving in the week after we visited. Very interesting tour. Most of the rooms were wards of 4 people...which is better than other NHS hospitals which have wards up to 24 people! No thanks!

Afterwards a few of us who had never been to the UK walked to the London Bridge, visited the Tower of London (the jewels were AMAZING!!), and took some pictures of Tower Bridge. We also saw the cathedral where Princess Di was married.

We made it back to the hotel in time for our dinner departure. We had dinner at Richmond House which is part of their government buildings. Dinner was with government and industry officials. It was a great discussion between our group and theirs - very interesting the common themes and problems that both of our countries share in health and wellness.

Tuesday we had more meetings - this time at Kingsgate House, another government office. Afterwards we had a tour of parliament which was fantastic - then had lunch with a member of the Labour party at Parliament. The group was free for the afternoon. I decided to walk over and tour Westminster Abby.....fascinating! Then back to the hotel to get ready for our reception that night.

The Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Embassy (#2 guy behind the US Ambassador) hosted us at his home for a reception with other guests as well. One of the guests happened to be the Chief Medical Officer for the London Olympics...really neat guy! There are pictures of our delegation from the reception below.

After the reception, a few of us went to dinner at Asia de Cuba....fantastic restaurant with a delicious Mojito! The best I've ever had!! Also pictured below. Great food and conversation!

Back to the Ritz after dinner and to bed. Below is a picture of my room at the Ritz...I fabulous place to return after long days! And the service was outstanding!

Wednesday morning we had more meetings - then took the train to Edinburgh that afternoon. It was just under a 5 hour train ride. Beautiful countryside. I was a bit concerned about everyone luggage making it on the train, the Ritz had everything taken care of for us....definitely a HUGE help!

I haven't mentioned that the weather was fantastic the entire trip. Of my 11 days in the UK, all were sunny except for 2! It was a bit cold, but I can deal with that as long as the sun is out.

After arriving at the Balmoral in Edinburgh, several of us went out for Dinner to a local eatery. I believe the name was Ricks or something like that. Great atmosphere.

Thursday morning we had more meetings, then a city bus tour that afternoon. Our guide of course was in his kilt. The views that day were amazing!

Thursday night the US Consul General Dana Linnet hosted us for a reception at the consulate. I can not say enough about how helpful Dana and her staff were to us! They were just fantastic and so friendly!

After the reception, our mission leader Jack Bovender and his sweet wife Barbara treated Caroline and I to dinner. They are fabulous too - we couldn't ask for a better leader than Jack!

Around 10 we joined the rest of the group for a pub tour....quite fun too. I had a Glenkinchie scotch drink....quite tasty! It was my new drink for the remainder of the trip. We went to the Dome first then to another pub. By midnight it was time to call it a night.

Friday morning we had the last of the meetings. I spent the afternoon touring the royal palace - Edinburgh Castle where the royal family stays for a few weeks in the summer. I also did a little shopping and walking around.

That night we had our farewell dinner at Prestonfield House. It was wonderful! The bagpiper played and we had the whole Haggis ceremony with the bagpiper and the chef parading in with the Haggis then reciting a Burns poem. It was fantastic! And the haggis, neeps and tatties were actually pretty tasty.

After dinner at the beautiful Prestonfield House, we returned to the Balmoral for a night cap with our leader Jack.

Again, what a great trip and what a great group of delegates! I had the best time - My work was fun!

Hopefully our trip to South America this fall will be just a productive, interesting and fun!