Thu June 20 - 10:42 (Departing for America: Epilogue)

I got to Heathrow Airport via the tube and checked my baggage. I then went from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 to try and eat at Plane Food, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, but you had to go through security first so I wasn't able to eat there. I came back to Terminal I and went through the security check-point. I found a place that sells a Full English Breakfast (aka the Full Monty) so I just got seated and will wait for my food. I ordered an apple juice and breakfast tea. I proceeded to devour the English breakfast. I was very hungry and it tasted great.

I take a moment now to reflect on my 33 day voyage. Firstly, I realize how privileged I am to have an amazing aunt who financed this trip for Ricky and me. Aunt Carroll is the best! Many people who I met in other countries seemed envious of the fact that I could spend a month traveling across Europe. The trip came at a perfect time in my life when I didn't have school or a full-time job to get in my way. Honestly, I have Ricky to thank because without his study abroad in Scotland, we would have never planned this trip.

It is now 12:45 and I have boarded the plane. Each city we went to had its own unique culture and was just as interesting as the last city. It's difficult to say which city or place I like the most. Each area had its own qualities that made it special.
Poland was a great example of Eastern Europe, as it was my first time in an Eastern European country. The salt mines were amazing and Krakow was lovely. Warsaw was very modern and it was interesting to see how Polish people lived. The food there was good and fresh too. Things were cheap there since the American dollar to Polish zloty is 3:1.
Berlin was a very cool city because the public transit was phenomenal. It was so quick and easy to get around. There were many sites to see there and the city was very modern. The beer and food was great.
Before we knew it we were in Amsterdam. I felt like it was the Las Vegas of Europe. I was very impressed with the open-mindedness of their culture. There were great museums there and I could get use to drinking Heinekens every day.
Brussels was a brief stop, but I loved it. I could see why Carroll liked working there. They had great food, beer, and most important, great chocolate. What's not to love about Belgium?
Scotland was the country I was most excited to visit (partially due to my heritage) and I was not disappointed. It was a truly beautiful country with many outdoor activities and tons of culture. It doesn't hurt that they have 650 golf courses too! I wouldn't mind living in Scotland. Though I have to admit, I lucked out on the weather tremendously while I was there and on the whole trip really.
London was the best city to end my journey in. There was so much to do and see there. I was there for 8 nights and I barely fit in all the things I wanted to do there. It is the heart of England and I loved that most of the museums were free like in Washington, D.C.

Around Europe in 33 Days was the greatest adventure I have ever had. It was an amazing feeling to be able to plan a huge trip and accomplish every you had planned. Being in a foreign country just with Ricky or even alone was extremely gratifying because it boosted my confidence in my own independence. After you do something like that, you feel like you have the aptitude to travel the entire globe if you needed to. I share many more characteristics with Phileas Fogg now. Though my time running around Europe is over, I'm sure many more adventures have yet too come.

Wed June 19 - 17:00 (Stonehenge & Bath)

Stonehenge was very fascinating, especially because much of the history was still surrounded in mystery since it was built before written documents. The construction started before 3000 BC and finished until around 1700 BC (roughly). I couldn't get too close to it since half of the original stones were taken by people in the last few hundred years. It was incredible to think how the stones came from Wales on boats and then travelled over 200 miles on land to where they were. I got a bunch of pictures.

Carroll had told me to keep an eye out for scones with clotted cream while I was in England. Stonehenge had a food stand by the gift shop that served scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. It was very tasty.

We spent an hour there and then decamped for the City of Bath. On our way to Bath, we drove through the countryside and through Salsbury Plains, which is where many British military barracks are. Salsbury Plains is the location for the military tank training.

The tour guide told us a story of how he went to some of the local towns (that the tour buses drove passed) to find out about the local culture. He asked them what the people and children would do for fun. They said that the military informs them of when they are having tank trainings so they would go and watch tanks blow things up.

All of the old buildings in Bath were made from a local limestone which they called "Bathstone". It has a honeycomb color and the color contrasts beautifully with the lush green valley. The area of Bath has been a very posh area since the Georgian Kings (George I, George II, George III, George IV) built it up as a vacation city from nearby London.

It is now a world heritage sight due to the Greek & Roman influenced architecture. It looks much more like Continental Europe than England because of the architecture. The Roman Baths were important too, but they weren't the main reason for the city becoming a world heritage site. The Royal Crescent and the Circus are some of the best examples of the architecture as well as the Pulteney Bridge.
The Circus

Royal Crescent

Pulteney Bridge

I walked around the city after our funny and informative tour guide pointed out the main attractions like the Royal Crescent. Our tour guide said that one of the (townhouse like) units in the Royal Crescent sold for £3,000,000 a few years ago. Most of the units are separated by flats on each floor. Another interesting story was that of the Yellow Door.

He told us about how one of the houses in the Royal Crescent had a yellow door and he never knew why. Every other door in the Royal Crescent and in the Circus was painted white. On one of his tours, a lady on the tour told him she knew the reason for this. He couldn't validate her story as truth but it makes for a good story nonetheless. She stated that a decade ago, the city board was tired of the tour buses driving through the Royal Crescent and was annoyed that many people who were tourists would park along it. They said that they were banning the buses from being able to drive through. They also said that they were going to painted a yellow double-line on the side of the road lining the Royal Crescent. One of the Royal Crescent residents was outraged and complained that the Royal Crescent road was built in the 1600s and still had the original stones. She told them if they painted yellow double-lines on the road then she would paint her door yellow. The city board told her she was not allowed to because her house was registered as an official landmark and it had to be uniform with the other houses. The city board went through with painting the yellow double-lines and consequently, the lady painted her door yellow. The city board never brought up any charges since they had defiled a landmark as well.

I went into Highgrove, a shop owned by Prince Charles. Apparently, Jamie Olivier has a restaurant in Bath somwhere.

I ate lunch and then met back up to go to the Roman Baths.

They had an interesting museum and the Baths were very neat. The main pool (above) was inside the original building. They reconstructed the columns for this pool but left it without a roof. The water is green because of the algae that grows from the bath being outside. They do not allow you to touch the water in this bath.
I got to taste some of the fresh spring water, which is filled with minerals and is very healthy for you. It just tasted like warm, mineral water. Not bad, but not good either. It was amazing that the water system the Romans built almost 2000 years ago still work today. The audio guide talked about how advanced they were as a civilization and juxtaposed it with the fact that they would slaughter animals for sacrifices to the gods. They were technologically advanced and yet so primitive. Many artifacts have been found at the sight, including coins, statues, and ruins of the buildings. These clues gave architects and historians a good idea of what the Roman Baths would have looked like when they were finished almost 2000 years ago. The Roman Baths were the largest buildings in England at the time they were built. It was funny to learn that Romans hated being stationed in England due to the wet and cold weather. The naturally hot springs in Bath drew the Romands to that area. It is the only hot springs in all of England.

On our drive back to London we passed through part of Cotswold and saw the beautiful countryside. We saw many sheep from Cotswold, which are known to produce some of the finest wool in the world.

Wed June 19 - 7:50 (London: Tue June 18)

I just hopped on the bus that is taking me to Stonehenge and Bath today. Yesterday, I ran around a ton. First I went to the Churchill War Rooms, which was very fascinating.

I learned a great deal about his life and what he went through during WWII. It was interesting to learn how he was one of the only people who wanted to stand up to Hitler rather than appease him during the 1930s. Also, he was put in charge of the Navy in the First World War, but after a failed naval maneuver, which he was not solely to blame, he had to resign from that position. Then in WWII, when Prime Minister Chamberlain failed to stop the Nazi invasion of Norway, he was forced to resign. His successor didn't want the position. Churchill, who had opposed Hitler from the start and gained the people's admiration with his public speeches, was given the position of Prime Minister.

Both in the 1930s and in 1945 when he lost the election for Prime Minister to the labour party, he wrote about his military experiences. His books eased any financial difficulties he would have. He even won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his accounts of WWII. He continued to be a public speaker and talked against the threats of communism and nuclear war.
In his early life, he entered the military and passed the test for a cavalry regiment, which was an expensive position. On a military campaign, he was captured as a prisoner of war, but managed to escape and return to England. This made his famous throughout England and easily started his career off in politics. He had wanted to be a politician ever since he was a boy.
Moving back to WWII, he worked long hours in the War Rooms and was very respected and admired by his advisors, generals, and staff. He wanted to avoid the casualties of WWI so his strategy was in bold attacks rather than defense. His ideas would amaze or shock his board since they were so bold. Intelligence was a huge aspect of WWII especially because they had cracked the German's code without them knowing. The Japanese codes were virtually impossible to break.
England needed the U.S. and their colonies support if they were to win the war. Once Russia and the U.S. joined the fight for the Allies, Churchill was confident that they would win the war. They called Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin the Big 3. Churchill had taken his country from near defeat to total victory. He was awarded medals and honors all over England and the world.
He died in 1965 at the age of 90 and the world stopped to watch his funeral on television. 300,000 people went to his service and someone said that the age of giants in the 20th century had come to an end since he was the last of Roosevelt and Stalin to pass away. I got to see Churchill's living quarters and the meeting rooms, map rooms, and communication rooms that they used throughout the entire war.

I have a lot of admiration for him now. I would like to read his book of WWII accounts that won the Nobel Prize.


After CWR, I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and got a ticket to the "David Bowie Is" Exhibit that the museum has for a few months this year. It is very popular and has been selling out every day. My entry time was 14:45 so I had 2.5 hours to explore. I went to Monmouth Coffee shop to eat another delicious brownie. Then I went to Hyde Park Corner and walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe. I got to see the Vault which is a room with guitars and instruments from many famous musicians like Jimmy Page, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Joe Perry, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix and many more.

Leaving, I walked through the Rose Garden in Hyde Park, which was beautiful.

I continued until I reached Royal Albert Hall. It wasn't open, but I got to see the outside. I briefly stopped into the Science Museum before returning to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I entered the "David Bowie Is" Exhibit and it was awesome. It fully explained his whole career. It had the original letter that suggested he change his stage name from David Jones to David Bowie. Davy Jones was a member of the Monkees so his manager didn't want people to confuse the two. Bowie was chosen because of the double-edged bowie knife and because of a American Frontiersman character on T.V. who's surname was Bowie. He wrote Space Oddity very early in his career and it was his first big single. It was a word play from 2001: Space Oddessy, and it was aired on T.V. right before the Apollo 2 rocket launch for promotional purposes. It did very well in the charts.Bowie continued to absorb every influence of music, fashion, and theatre throughout his whole career, and he used it to inspire his own creativity.
They had an enormous amount of original lyrics, costumes, instruments, clothes, records, and other artifacts linked to David Bowie in some way. Bowie provided many of these items for the exhibit. Most of his hit songs- like Space Oddity, Fame, Rebel Rebel, The Man Who Sold The World, and others- had the lyrics Bowie wrote on display. The exhibit deeply followed his musical and fashion trends and growth. He had the ability and foresight to create shows of music and fashion that were ahead of their time but also in the moment. And when people thought they understood his direction, he could change paths and still have his fans love it.
I enjoyed seeing the synth David Bowie used in Germany for his albums "Low", "Heroes", and "Lodgers" that he made with the guidance of Brian Eno. This was his first big step into electronica. I remember reading something saying how Bowie's ambient pop blended great with Eno's electronic minimalism. Those albums were of Bowie's most groundbreaking albums, but the record companies didn't think they would sell well.
They had a section that commemorated his acting and showed clips from Labyrinth, The Prestige (where he played Nikola Tesla), Basquiat (where he played Andy Warhol), and other movies. He also performed The Elephant Man, the play, which had great reviews. He has collaborated with many famous people including Brian Eno, John Lennon, and Alexander McQueen. He was one of the first celebrities to work with McQueen. Bowie hired McQueen very soon after McQueen graduated with school and Bowie worked with him multiple times in his career. Early in Bowie's career when he was young, he opened for T-Rex. He has influenced generations of musicians, fashion designers, and artists for decades.

I came back to the Hotel and checked back in. I showered and walked to Caroline and Richard's house for supper at 19:00. I had a lovely time meeting them and talking with them. They are very warm and hospitable people. They served me a beer and prepared a delicious dinner. We had tomato and mozzarella with balsamic vinaigrette on a french baguette. For the main course, they served a lamb shank (lamb leg), roasted potatoes, cooked carrots, and a glass of French wine. Also, they had mint jelly for the lamb- which was traditional in England. We had 3 different cheeses and bread after the main course. Lastly, we ate fresh strawberries which were amazing. I could tell that they were in season. Every bite of food was fantastic.
Throughout the evening, we discussed family life and interests. They explained some British politics and how the British Royalty works to me. As it got dark out, I got a picture with them before leaving around 22:30 since we both had to get up early.

I was so glad to meet them both especially since Caroline's parents were such great friends with my grandparents. Caroline told me that her mother, Kate, brought us Beanie Babies from England and gave them to Namma. Then Namma would give them to us, and I didn't even know that.

I caught the tube to Leichester Square and walked up to Sports Cafe where i was going to meet Alex Canty, Paige Moore, and their friends. Luckily, I saw them outside of the bar. We all had gotten there at the same time. It was a special Tuesday Frat Night where only college kids could get in. It was packed with students and we ordered drinks and danced on the dance floor. It was funny to hear all the American club songs they played. After we left Sports Cafe, I said goodbye and walked back to my hotel.

Mon June 17 - 21:00 (London)

I walked all the way through Hyde's Park and took the tube north to St. John's where I headed towards Abbey Road. It was close to the underground stop. I took some pictures of the street, the Abbey Road sign, and the Abbey Road Recording Studio, where I saw a London Philharmonic Orchestra bus in the driveway.

There was a hippy-dreadlock guy offering to take people's picture at Abbey Road so he took a few of me. He said he was doing it for free but I gave him a pound out of thanks.

I went back to Victoria to drop off my purchases from Harrods. Then I walked over to the London Eye and got a ticket. It was a great view of the city. Definitely something everyone who is in London needs to do if they have the time.

On my way back, I tried to see if Parliament was open. A security woman told me that they do tours every Saturday but anyone can go in when the House of Commons was in session, which is was. I went through security and walked into Westminster Hall. The Westminster Hall and Big Ben were the only parts of Parliament that survived the 1666 fire (?-sometime around then).

I thought that was interesting. I sat in a glass incased upper section of the House of Commons and listened to some Members of Parliament (MPs) arguing about a new law they were trying to pass.

Mon June 17 - 15:32 (London)

I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum after I went to Harrods. Harrods was enormous!

I didn't realize how big of a department store it would be when Carroll told me about it. I ate some gelato there and got a pair of Levi pants because they were £20 from £80 and I really liked them. That will be my only clothing I will buy this trip so I'm ok with the purchase.

The Victoria & Albert Museum was cool and they had a bunch of world artifacts. The David Bowie exhibit is there right now and it was really busy.

If I have time tomorrow, I may go. I checked out the Natural History Museum for a little bit and got to see the vault where they have the most valuable rocks in the museum including gold, diamonds, moon and martian rocks, meteorites and rare gems.

It also had an impressive rock collection which categorized hundreds of types of rocks. For me, that was the coolest part of the museum since most of the rest was about biology from the past to the present, which I've seen more of. I decided to walk up to Hyde Park. The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain is in a beautiful part of the park.

 I found a comfy spot underneath a tree to sit. I figured this would be a good spot to sit down and write so I can rest my legs and take in the air.