Tea and crumpets

---

Europe is something else! I see why thousands of people come here every year. Best of the best seems to be made/consumed/or brought here.
So I left the smoking hot middle east and arrived in rainy, 13 degree weather London. I felt like an alien, because I arrived on a Friday night and the buses were full of people on their way out to the night clubs. So here i was, silently shocked seeing groups of drunk young people and thinking to myself "Geeze, this girls will catch a nasty cold in this weather...and wow that is a short skirt". Yes, I have officially become a practical grandma. Watch out Velcro sandals!

Seems like I would be use to switching cultures but it took me a few days to adjust to all the white, English speaking people! When I say white, I mean most Londoners couldn't get much of a tan even if they tried due to the weather.I now understand why the Brits are known for their drinking and pale skin...nothing else to do when it's miserable weather for weeks at a time.


Now, I have been in many large cities and I'd say London is in the top 5. It's massive, but so easy to get around and a person would never get bored in that city! Also, the most extensive metro system I've ever seen. And so polite, the public announcer saying to please "mind the gap" between the train and the platform. I suppose after a few weeks of living there the novelty of the 'tube' would wear off but it's some thing of a wonder with almost 300 station stops.
Next wonder of London is the burrough market. I love food and this is any foodi's paradise. Hundred types of cheeses, olive oils, sausages, and cuisines from all over the world. I get giddy just remembering how amazing it was!

I was so lucky to meet my good friend Megan in London and we spent 2 weeks traveling together. Lucky for me, she is pretty organized, while lazy me just let her navigate the city the whole time. Somedays I just get a bit tired of reading maps and trying to figure out north and south etc. I have become pretty good at just asking for directions rather than getting lost for a hour and figuring it out on my own. Sometimes this strategy doesn't work out so well when people point me in the wrong direction, but hey, at least I don't have to carry a map (because a piece of paper is SO heavy)! I've come to the conclusion I would be the worst tour guide.

While we were in London, we saw a jaw dropping theatre performance of 'Wicked', visited Stonehenge, saw the changing of the guards, happened to find a wine festival where we spend the better part of the day at (we had paid for a city tour but this turned out to be a better place to spend our time), and went to Windsor castle just to name a few. Windsor castle has one of the most wealthiest collections of treasures I've seen. Guess that is what happens when you invade half the world, kill and rob the kings & queens of that country and take the spoils back to Britain. Gotta love the colonization of the world and how England went about this. Ah but I'll still wave to the queen. Speaking of, I did just that! She happened to be having a luncheon (don't know the difference between a lunch or luncheon is, but it sounds classier I suppose) at the palace when we were there. So we saw her posse of cars leaving and a gloved hand wave from her car window. Almost fainted with delight... A touch of sarcasm but it was kinda cool.



A person could spend months in London seeing something new everyday. It was a nice change to stay in a place longer than a few nights and actually get a taste of the city. One interesting place is called the "Speakers Corner". It is an area beside a park where people get on their stool or chair and start voicing their opinions. So cool to walk through and hear severely opinionated men yelling at the crowd as to why things are so terrible or conspiracy theories. I think the people in the crowd just come there to debate and get the guy on the box riled up. Loved seeing this!

Then Megan and I decided to go see Belgium. Why not? Beautiful thing about Europe is everything is so close to each other. I will say, Belgium has the best chocolate and beer ever!! Highly recommend anyone to go there! And now I'm educated on what makes certain chocolate so delicious and why some chocolate taste like wax. It is a whole art and people in Belgium must go to school for 2-3 years to be allowed to make chocolate. No wonder it's world famous!

---