European Swan Song

It turns out that England really is as jolley, olde, and liberal with their vouwels as people say.  We spent five relaxing days in London, taking in the sights and inserting "bloody" into as many sentences a possible for no good reason.  London's tube (aka subway) system is incredibly efficient and we spent the days cruising the bowels of the city and popping up for a look from time to time.

Interspersed amongst the rows of classy buildings, one of London's highlights is its incredible park system.  Most of the large parks are the remnants of royal estates and still owned by the monarchy.  We took a peaceful run one morning through Hyde Park, which was once the preferred deer hunting ground of Henry VIII.  We didn't see any deer stands, but there were some empty beer cans on the ground, so it was easy to visualize.

Besides running, we also found that we could get our heart rates up simply by crossing the street.  With the cars driving on the opposite side of the road from the States, there was always a good shot of adreniline to be had as we swiveled to and fro before taking the plunge in any crossing.  We both came away intact, but not with out some close calls.  Taking the wheel in Australia should be quite a treat...

Another of London's most endearing qualities is the fact that most of its amazing museums are free of charge.  We spent a few marvelous days exploring the British Museum and the Natural History Museum.  The British Museum was especially poignant for us, as it gave us the chance to see many of the items the Brits have looted.....errr, "protected", over the years.  Many of these antiquities are Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, and filled in the gaps witnessed on our visits to the sites themselves.

We felt like we should see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.  So we did it and took the requisite photo.  Sweeeeeet.     

On top of the adventures that London offers everyone, it had two treats specifically for us.  First, we got to reconnect with Carolyn's high school friend, Amy, who just moved to the city.  She was a welcome friendly face and kind enough to introduce us to the renowned pub scene.  Second, with the help of many parties (thanks all!) and despite a postal strike, we successfully imported an American computer.  This will be invaluable in staying on top of our blog, backing up pics, planning ahead (from time to time), and generally staying in touch.

When we landed in Istanbul on September 12th, we knew that we had seven weeks to get to London, but little idea of the path we would take to get there.  It's amazing to look back at all the adventures we've had in that span and a reminder that with some time and the right attitude (not to mention some cash), you can figure out just about anything.

Leaving London, we took the first flight on the around-the-world ticket that we bought this spring.  Our first leg was a short one to the Netherlands, where we spent three days exploring Amsterdam.  We rented a great apartment that quickly became home, especially since most of our exploration the first day consisted of what we could see through our rain-streaked windows.  Things cleared up considerably the second day and we enjoyed walking down the bicycle-choked streets of this laid back city.  Plus, Amsterdam has more canals than Venice, giving pedestrians ample opportunity to get away from busy avenues.  Despite its seedy reputation for coffee houses (where you can smoke anything but tobacco) and the working girls of the Red Light District, we would be more apt to describe the city as charming.

We got a taste of the town's serious side too, visiting the house where Anne Frank and seven other Jews hid during the Nazi occupation in WWII.  To get a more complete picture of the era, we also spent an afternoon in the Dutch Resistance Museum, which chronicles the trials of the Dutch people during the war.

Finally, we realize we just set a new record for the timeliness of this blog post, but would like to warn everyone not to get used to it as we are leaving for Nepal in a couple of days.  We are both excited to leave the city scape for mountain vistas, but are not overly confident that wi-fi will be prevalent throughout the country.  If that is the case, our next post will be to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!