'Real Housewives of New York' Recap: 5 Highlights from London Vs. New York

Michael Rosenthal/Bravo

The Real Housewives of New York Season 5 Cast

This week's treat was a bi-continental episode of The Real Housewives of New York as Luann, Carole and Sonya joined Heather in London, while Aviva's fear of flying and Ramona's lack of an invite from Heather kept them both in New York City.  Here are five highlights from the episode:

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1. Ramona and Aviva go shoe shopping and Ramona is transfixed on Aviva's prosthetic leg, asking countless questions about it.  Aviva matter-of-factly shares that talking to Ramona is like talking to a six year old, which reminds us yet again of why we like Aviva and wish she had been able to overcome her fear of flying so she could've gone to London with the rest of the gals.

2. Luann, Carole and Sonja arrive in London and are very pleased to find that Heather has booked them into the penthouse of a Hyde Park hotel in London.  The ladies settle in and then go for a quick shopping trip in Notting Hill.  Later in the episode, the penthouse suite is also the scene of a girls night in, complete with lots of room service food, sex talk and cute Polaroid photos of each other making goofy faces.  We like Heather's pricey Italian glasses, even though Sonja calls her "Mr. Potatohead" when she wears them.  

3. Heather invites the ladies to join her company dinner with all of Yummie Tummie's international representatives.  She also asks Carole to get up very early the next morning to go with her to a morning TV show appearance, which is a clear attempt to make sure there's built-in promotion for her brand in the episode.  

4. Meanwhile, in New York, Ramona and Aviva are out at dinner with their husbands, where Ramona makes fun of Heather's pageant smile and demeanor.  While we see Ramona's point, we have to admire Heather's innate salesmanship, even if she can't turn it off when she's being social. Sidenote about the Singer/Drescher dinner, Ramona kept choking on her food or wine and we had to wonder if her bad social karma was the cause.  Then Aviva's husband Reed asked if she had these problems with other women beside Heather, and Ramona's hubby Mario answered, "none of these women."    

5. Ramona makes an appearance at The Learning Annex, to educate the masses about how they too can "have it all."  Evidently, the first lesson is to make silly demands of The Learning Annex staff -- but Ramona insists she's not a control freak, she's simply "a successful businesswoman."  If the reaction shots of the audience are truthful, We're not sure the crowd got their money's worth from the talk. 

Next week, Sonja throws a party and says, "it has to go off without a hitch," and then we see Aviva slip and fall. Uh oh, do the toaster oven hors d'oeuvres burn too?  What did you think of tonight's adventure across the pond?  Hit the comments and tell us.  

Email: diane.gordon@thr.com; Twitter @thesurfreport