I feel that my post on the wedding in Greece didn’t completely do justice to how incredible the experience was. Being able to experience a culture, in that fashion is a once in a lifetime deal (well twice, with going back there in a month for Mano’s reception). The point being that it’s not like you can just go into a travel agency and pay a set amount of money to be able to experience a culture like that, to be the only non-Greeks at a Greek wedding, to have everyone there go out of their way to make sure you’re having a great time. I’m definitely very fortunate to have been invited.

I did book the majority of my August trip. It’s going to follow pretty closely to the itinerary I posted before. So I leave London on the 2nd of August 2 hour train to Paris (3 days) 4 hour train to Zurich (2 days) overnight train to Budapest (2 days) car ride to Vienna (1 day) 3 hour train to Prague (1 day) 7 hour train to Berlin (1 day) overnight train to Venice, and then I have 48 hours to get to Milan, haven’t decided exactly where I’ll stay 3 hour flight to Athens (5 hours) overnight boat to Chania (10 days) 4 hour flight to London (1.5 days) 8 hour flight to Chicago.

In my last 2 and a half weeks here, among other things, I need to hit the touristy things that I haven’t made it to since I thought I might catch them with guests. Once there’s a completely clear night, I’m going to do the London Eye. Saturday I went to Westminster Abbey, which was an incredible experience. WA is just to the north of Parliament and is where you’ll find the tombs of almost all of the former kings and queens of England. It is where Princess Di’s funeral was held and is where the coronation of kings and queens is held. You’ll also find the tombs of Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Laurence Olivier, and countless other famous people in England’s past. A couple of notable exceptions are Henry VIII (buried in Windsor Castle), William Shakespeare (buried at Stratford-upon-Avon, but Commemorated at WA), Sir Winston Churchill (buried in Oxfordshire). I’m a little bummed that I didn’t push all my guests to check out Westminster Abbey, because it’s an incredible place to see.

July definitely has been the heaviest month for tourists around the city. While it’s incredible to be living and working in a place that many visit as a big vacation, it can get a little frustrating at times. Tourists tend to wander and abruptly stop to take photos, which can be a bit rough for the walk to and from work. I’m regularly stopped for directions, since I’m in work clothes and look like a local. I’m always overly happy to help someone find their way, but will admit getting a little frustrated from time to time when the lines to get a train ticket are super long and the people in the front can’t figure out the ticket machine. It was a big reason for me missing my flight to Crete the other weekend.

I’m heading to Barcelona this weekend, which I’m incredibly excited about. I think if you did a poll of Europeans, they’d say Barcelona is the best place on the continent. By complete chance, I met a Barcelonian at a pub on Saturday night and they were so excited I was going to visit that they helped me dust off my Spanish. I don’t really intend to pretend like I have a good handle on the language, but I was feeling ok with speaking it and hope that will help me with getting around the city. I’ll be staying in a hostel, which will actually be a first time experience for me. A friend recommended me a place that he said was great, so I hope to have a good report on the experience.

Finally, this past Saturday night was an interesting experience. A friend and I were out in Leicester Square when the pubs were closing down, which is pretty early, about midnight. We decided we didn’t feel like hitting up a club, so we wandered towards Convent Garden trying to find a non-clubby place that was still open. We ended up in an O’Neils, which is a chain out here. We were talking to one of the bartenders there, really funny guy. When the bell rang and the lights were turned up to signify last orders, he said “just hang on for about 15 minutes and I’ll get you guys a drink”. I was a little confused by it, but we just stayed there. About half the pub took off, and then one of the bartenders locked the door, turned the lights back down, the music and tv’s back on, and they started serving again. We could definitely tell that everyone knew each other and I’ve heard that pubs can serve 24/7, but they just have closing times to clear out the drunks. So we ended up staying out a couple more hours, which was unnecessary, but fun just because we were allowed to stay.