Up bright and early and opened my door to an incredibly clear and bright morning. It was beautiful - the mountains were glowing and it was a perfect 65 degrees or so. Everything just seemed to stand out in the sun. I started my day at the Ollantaytambo ruins just up the cobbled street (with a stream of mountain water running down the middle of it) near my hotel. This was the place the Inca made their great stand against the Spanish. They stood on the terraces and basically never gave the Spanish an inch. While this history is interesting, actually seeing and exploring the ruin requires basically walking right up the side of the mountain. You start at the bottom, climb past the terraces up over 200 stairs, until, at the very top, you have ... read more

Really a pretty easy first day. An easy flight to Newark, and then, leaving Newark, the plane took a massive circle around Manhattan, and straight South for like 7 hours. I landed in Lima, Peru around 9ish - which, as crazy as it sounds, is the exact same time as Milwaukee. I left and landed in the same time zone. That's never happened before. In Lima I stayed the night at the airport hotel, which was really just for a bed to rest on for like 3 hours. I got up at 2:30 AM, went back over to the airport and caught a 5 flight to Cusco. I did this for a reason, though. I was flying inland from the coast, right up the base of the Andes right when the sun was rising. It was ... read more

Listened in on a few more talks this morning before getting out of town to clear my mind. Headed a couple of hours North to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's home. What to say about this place? It is a place that feeds off the tourist dollar, sucking tourists dry. And the trouble with this is that I'm not sure if Stratford is actually historic or not. It's a place custom-made to please the unknowing, docile tourist. But is there any actual history to all those nice, rebuilt Medieval facades? I don't know. But Shakespeare was born here, and I walked through what I guess was his house. Whether or not he would recognize it is up for debate. The great sight in town, in my opinion, mainly because you just can't really alter it, is Shakespeare's grave in ... read more

These last couple of days have been eventful. Yesterday, I decided to take a boat on the Thames to Greenwich, which is really only like 20 minutes away. Greenwich is most famous for its connection to Britain's maritime and astronomical history. The Old Royal Naval College, right off the river, is a Neoclassical monument by Sir Christopher Wren (who designed St. Paul's), and on the hill behind this is the Royal Observatory, where the Prime Meridian was first decided on and marked down, setting time and easing navigation. Greenwich also is a nice little town, just away from London that you miss out on all the chaos there. A perfect place to linger. Today I did the unthinkable and actually took a bus tour. I didn't have a choice, though - time has run out, and ... read more

Not sure why my blog from yesterday just posted - I think something's been off with the website. But it seems to be fixed now. Today was really all about East London, mainly its one really great sight, the Tower of London. Well, I don't know if I'd call it great. Honestly, I was very bored by this sight, and it seemed more like a cheesy tourist attraction than anything else. I'll be hated all over England for saying that. But what I mean is that I do truly appreciate the history here, with the wonderful White Tower, and all the history involving the beheadings and such. And, okay, the Crown Jewels are worth looking at. They're very pretty. But... I'm going to be a true, unabashed American now. I found the perfect word for all ... read more