Back to London: The End

And so I have returned to London.

I arrived after traveling all day from Belgium, and got some Chinese food before I celebrated my "last" night in Europe with some people I met out on the roof picnic area.

The next morning I awoke quite late and made my way down to the Globe Theatre to see when the next show was. The Globe Theatre is an outdoor theatre just like the ones used when Shakespeare was writing his plays. There is no amplification and only a little light for when the sun goes down, so it might as well have been four hundred years ago. I got there and they told me to come back around five to wait in line for no-shows, so I went off exploring until then.

My original plan was to see a play at the Globe that day and then see a show on the West End later that night, but after walking all the way to Leichester Square (where they sell half-price tickets) I found out that unlike New York, there are no shows on Sunday. I was a little dissapointed, but I figured I would just go to see Othello at the Globe that night at 6:30.

Before I went to go wait, I wandered around some more and realized how many interesting places I had missed my first time in London. Looking back, I really had no idea what I was doing my first week, so I can forgive myself. But that doesn't mean I wasn't dissapointed when I found the Tate Modern, National Film Museum, Prison Museum and the Theatre Museum all closed on a Sunday.

I eventually got back in line and while I was waiting a woman came out of nowhere and asked if anyone needed a £5 standing ticket. She was asking somenoe else, but I just shouted "I'll take it" and she gave it to me.

The show was awesome. I have never been so entertained by Shakespeare. The acting was brilliant. These people were definately some of the best theatre actors in the world, and it was really a great experience seeing it up close in such an intimate setting. At time during the performance, actors would run through the crowd (the theatre is primarily standing-only) and push you out of the way to get on stage. Sometimes they would be carrying lit torches or have their swords drawn, and it just added to the excitement. It was a little tough standing for 3 and a half hours, though. The girl next to me almost fainted and she had to sit down for about ten minutes. I think the only bad part of the show was when I got a hotdog at intermission. I bought it and piled a bunch of yellow mustard on it, thinking it was just normal mustard. When I got back to where I was standing and took a bite though I almost puked. The mustard was really, really spicy. And not like pepper-spicy, I mean wasabi-spicy. The kind that burns your sinuses instead of your tongue, and I had piled it on. I ended up wiping it off with a napkin and making a huge mess because there was no way I was throwing away a £5 hotdog.

After the show, I walked down the River Thames back to my hostel and got Chinese food again. I picked a bad place to splurge, though. It's more expensive in London than anywhere else in the world. Minimum wage here is £5.25. In America it's $5.35. One pound equals two dollars. See the problem?

I woke up this morning and went to get on the bus, and I met two girls that were waiting in the lobby. I told them as I left that if they needed a place to sleep, my key opened up room 11. They said that they needed to get to Heathrow instead, so we ended up splitting a cab to get to Paddington Station where a train took us directly to Heathrow. It's a long story that's not worth telling, but they helped me avoid a lot of stress and headache in the long run.

And so now I am here, sitting in a deserted room in Heathrow Airport, paying a copius sum for a few minutes of internet. As I look back on my trip and think about everything I have done, seen and experience it almost seems like it is too much. Like I'll never really be able to comprehend my entire trips. The memories I've made, places I've seen, people I've met - it all seems overwhelming. Kind of like when your life flashes before your eyes, and all you see it countless good and bad memories, all flowing at once without any order or pattern. I may be saying too much to get a simple point across, so what I really am trying to say is that this trip has been amazing. Just amazing. That's all I can really say.

So I guess I will leave everyone with a sort of "top ten". I've been thinking about this for a while, so here it goes...

10. Berlin in general
9. Drinking in the Delirium Cafe in Brussels and reuniting with Klara and Elli
8. Night out in Dusseldorf with Stefan and his friends
7. First night in Nice hanging out with the Italian girls
6. My day in Vondelpark
5. First night out with the Swiss guys in Stockholm
4. Watching the sunset over Paris on the Butte Montemarte
3. Italian dinner in Napoli when we were treated with wine and mussels
2. Watching the sun rise with a Swedish girl in Stockholm
1. Canyoning in Interlaken

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog over the last two months. It's been a great encouragement to read your comments and to know that people are interesting in what I am doing. There are so many other stories I haven't told; a lot of smaller stories that really made the trip unique that I just didn't have time to talk about, so make sure you talk to me about my trip when I get back! I'd love to tell you more about it.

Until next year... ;)