I confess I've been back from Europe for a little while. It was fantastic!!! I wish you all could've gone with me ;) I met many new and wonderful people, faces and places over the month-long trip.
Before going on this trip people kept telling me how much i was going to enjoy it and how much it would change me. I was looking forward to that kind of revelation. Not because I am discontented with my life or my self but because I believe, like Daddy always said, "When you stop growing you're dying" so invite personal growth.
One week passed, then two and I didn't feel different. There were amazing sites, sights, and events but no revelation; no change in perception or identity. Week 3 and week 4 pass and still nothing. Finally, I boarded the aeroplane home somewhat thrilled at the adventures and a quarter wondering where my revelation had hid! I landed, I took the usual bus from the airport to Port Authority (I began to feel strange), then the subway home (where I flashed back to all the subways I'd been in: London's Underground, Brussels, Paris, Munich, Milan. Strange, again), and then finally my apartment (super strange).
Every subway stop I'd been taking for years felt different--like out of a picture book. Every corridor in my apartment seemed like a mock-up. I felt like Alice in Wonderland! As though everything was morphing size in vision and hand. Having tread familiar haunts my way home, they simultaneously felt smaller and bigger than I'd remembered. It was dreamlike. I flung myself onto my crisp bed with wonderment at the fact that it had been "here" the whole time, waiting for me, and I felt the great big world calling me back out to play! ...explore and adventure!
...after a nap.
West End Lane, London
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(is there any more perfect-sounding British street name?) |
Above is the neighbourhood where I stayed (not far from Abbey Road) thanks to my amazingly talented, generous, and gorgeous cousin <3 Thank you, Annie! KISSES!!! :*
The London Underground:
Green Park, walking to Buckingham Palace....
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| At this point I'd only just started my travels but I found myself asking, "What country are we in, again?" This would happen again later in Milan. |
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| Walking through the park to get to the Palace by 7am. I was one of the first people to step foot in that day :) I ROCK! |
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| Tin Soldier ;) |
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| Asking directions |
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| Watching. Guard. |
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| The thickness of the walls surrounding Buckingham Palace and the Mews |
...hahaha. Yes, but that cup of English Breakfast and the scones with fresh strawberries and clotted cream was enough to make my little heart happy :)
Besides, I was still on the uplift of having seen that amazing Nash architecture, and the gold leafing, and the Faberge eggs, and the color-themed rooms, and the oil paint and sculptural masterpieces, and Kate Middleton's Wedding Gown and shoes *breath*.
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| See the little golden crown? |
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| I stopped and talked with the attendant. She said, in her delightful British accent, "I feel like Harry Potter in this cape!" after i complimented her on her carriage of the ensemble. We had a good chat and she said that students come from all over the world, not just England, to be attendants for the tour when the Palace opens in August. So if you're a student and want to work in THE QUEEN'S PALACE for a month, get on it! ;) |
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| Some of the trees in Her Majesty's backyard |
J was here...
