My stay in London is entering its final hour. I’m just waiting for the key warden to come by to get my keys, then I’m off to St Pancras International to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Unfortunately it’s a rainy day here and supposedly the same conditions exist in Paris. I’m really hoping it clears up a bit so the scenery is good during the 187 mph journey to the French capital. My plan was to get up to the Eiffel Tower tonight and get a birds eye view of the lights of Paris. The good thing is that I have three nights there, so if it isn’t clear enough tonight, I’ll have two more chances. Tomorrow all the museums in Paris are free (as it is the first Sunday of the month), so I will likely spend a bit of time doing that. I’ve tried to resist the super touristy stuff while in Europe, but in Barcelona I caved and did the double decker tourist bus. It seems most European cities have that tour and I’ve accepted that I’ll probably do it in some of the cities as it’s a good way to see all the sites.
The adventures I have ahead are incredibly exciting. I have everything in a backpack and ready to go. In the next two weeks alone, I will be visiting 10 cities in 8 different countries. It might be a little bit too much, but since I have 10 days to relax in Crete at the end of the trip, it’s easy to go all out for 14 days. I also find train rides very relaxing and an incredible way to see a country, so I’m not too worried about getting worn out by the trip. There’s a lot of excitement in the atmosphere of being submersed in a culture that’s very different than the one that’s familiar to me. When I was sitting at the dinner table the night before the wedding in Crete, with two families all speaking in a language I didn’t understand, that was a defining moment of why I’ve enjoyed my time so much. The next 4 weeks are going to be full of similar settings and across many different cultures. I can’t wait.
Yesterday was a bit of an emotional day. My colleagues planned a going away lunch for me, so 30 of us went down to Strada, a fancy pizza place with one of the best views in London. It’s an airy restaurant and the northern and eastern walls are all glass, giving an incredible view of Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and the Thames. Later that afternoon was my going away speech, given by Liam who is one of my closest friends here. Conveniently he’s quite the comedian too. So the office surrounded my desk, about 60 or so people and Liam gave about a 10 minute recap of my stay. The speech was perfect. The highlight that got the most laughs was probably my “own goal” in Eindhoven, when I was running towards the goal, the ball was passed to me, got a little shove from the guy defending me and I, not the ball, ended up in the goal. People love teasing me about that one.
The group presented me with some outstanding going away gifts, a card signed by everyone, a really nice leather man bag (I often joke about how I need a purse for all the coins here). In the bag were an assortment of cool gifts, including a nice set of darts to commemorate our evenings of darts at the Ship and a poster of the Queen on her 80th birthday. The leather bag was perfect, I had actually been looking to get one, and it’s the right size for my laptop. So it’ll work nicely for bringing that along this month. After the speech, I hosted the traditional “leaving drinks” at the Woolpack. There was a great turnout and it was perfect to say goodbye to everyone individually. And fittingly, we ended my last night at Belushi’s, a cheesey dance club that’s dedicated to John Belushi’s character in Blues Brothers, a film set in Chicago as I’m sure you all know.
I’m definitely really sad to leave behind the amazing friendships I’ve made here. It’s hard to believe the six months are already up, but I really have no regrets and feel that I’ve made the most of my time here. I’m very happy that many of you took advantage of my opportunity by visiting London. I also appreciate everyone who’s followed the blog. It motivated me to keep it updated and will be nice for me personally when I want to reflect on my time here. I intend to keep it going through the end of my holiday, and will try to post my pictures to flickr and videos to youtube as much as I can. I’ll have lots of long train rides, so I hope to document much of my trip and then push it onto here whenever I can get an internet connection. Getting the nice leather bag made my decision easy as to whether or not I should bring my laptop.
Anyway, the key warden just called and he’s on his way.
Take care,
Phil
