London, Amsterdam, Berlin... my my my

I think I can officially be deemed the “worst-blogger-ever”! It has been so hard to find/make the time to update my blog since I left France, even though I really do enjoy doing it. Here I guess is where I try to mentally go back in time to the 4 or so days I was in London, then Amsterdam and Berlin, and attempt to pretend that I’m not actually on the train from Berlin to Prague… even though I am.

London: July 30-August 4

*A lot of these pictures are from Sarah and Margaret's camera! I wish I had a way to distinguish them (because they're much better than mine), but thank you Sarah and Margaret for sharing!

I had a somewhat bumpy arrival into London late Thursday night (or rather, early Friday morning). I won’t bore you all with the series of events that led to my landing in London, but can sum it up with: a malfunctioned metro on the way to the airport; overweight baggage-rearrange; an escort past the security line; one hour flight delay, oh wait “we were just kidding, four hour flight delay!” (putting me leaving Marseille at 11:30pm); got on the wrong plane, yep that happened, then got off the wrong plane “Mademoiselle Urley, this is not your flight!”; train into London Central at 1:30am, taxi queue at 2:30; arrival at Graham’s dorm: 2:45am. Needless to say I was EXTREMELY happy to see Margaret and Sarah when I got there who had been so sweet to wait up for me even though they were extremely tired and jet-lagged themselves.

We kicked off our August adventure with a bang the next day, seeing the British Museum (even getting there before it opened!) and then afterwards I took the bus to Oxford to see my friend Morgan before she left the next day to go home! Oxford was SUCH a highlight of the London trip for me. It felt as though you could breathe in the academic air that seemed to be flowing through the spires, gardens, streets, and 39 colleges of Oxford University and somehow exhale as a scholar (if only it were that easy). Being with Morgan was a dream and she was the best tour guide I could have asked for!

Saturday was a morning at the National Gallery, highlight for me was the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Van Eyck that we studied pretty intensly in Art History 111. They had a great collection there that gave a good sense of how painting progressed over the years. We saw the afternoon matinee showing of Les Miserables, beautiful and more moving than I remember it from when I saw it at age 10! That night we happened upon a true gem, “Gordon’s Wines from the Woods” it was supposedly the “oldest” wine bar in England, but the basement setting with low arched, cave-like ceilings and candlelit atmosphere was truly remarkable.

Sunday we went to All Souls church, which we really enjoyed and met a lovely family from Chattanooga! We had a picnic lunch before going to the Tate Modern, which we all loved! Later we relocated from Graham’s dorm because they were back in town, we were so blessed because Will Parker’s host family in Notting Hill invited the three of us to stay in their classic Notting Hill 1800s house.

Our last day in London was a roller coaster of funny logistical mishaps—we keep referring to the street smarts learning curve that we are steadily climbing as we continually learn from (and pay for) our mistakes. The day was concluded with arriving to Wicked (which we were SO excited about) 45 minutes late! Never trust directions from just anyone—lesson learned. But for the majority of the production that we did see, it was phenomenal, really great acting, singing, dancing, etc. Just great.

I came into London with a bit of culture shock honestly. I didn’t realize how much I had settled into my comfortable routine in the South of France, and didn’t expect how much London would feel comparatively similar to the US. It was a great adjustment though: back into the Anglophone world and into friendships with Margaret and Sarah for which I am incredibly grateful. I hav a feeling that we are not alone on this journey with much to learn, experience and understand as we continue on our trek around Europe!


Amsterdam: August 4-7

We left London accompanied by Will Parker, headed for Amsterdam excited to move on our journey, but at the same time it wasn’t necessarily easy to leave “our home” in Notting Hill and the English-speaking familiarity. We made it there and to the apartment we had found via Craig’s List! The “apartment” was great—really more of a big room in this “historic mansion” as they called it. But we had a fridge and beds, it was clean, and the guy who owned it was friendly and helpful.

We spent our two days in Amsterdam seeing the Anne Frank Museum, walking around the city, and then on the second day biking outside the city. We rented bikes, hopped on the ferry across the canal and rode in some beautiful countryside and farmland—and I rocked a helmet for Uncle Chuck, even though everyone said I didn’t need one! I loved the uniquely quaint Dutch houses that we passed by and tried to take pictures of upside-down with my left hand while riding the bike—almost took out some locals in the process.

We ate pancakes and biked through the disheartening red light district later on, and we just took in the “scene” of Amsterdam; very different from London, a much younger crowd and heavily sprinkled with hippies. No, we didn’t go to any “coffee” shops in case you were wondering, we got enough out of our Amsterdam experience just being there, people watching, and trying to understand and appreciate our cultural differences. And then before we knew it, it was time to catch the train to Berlin!

Berlin: August 7-9

When telling people (back in the US and abroad) that we were going to visit Berlin I often got a variety of responses, usually though, a quizzical expression wondering why we were going there. And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really sure myself except that it made for a nice stop in between Amsterdam and Prague. After having been there for the past two days I can now tell you whole-heartedly why we went to Berlin—we went to encounter a city unlike any other; a city still trying to crawl out of the hole it fell into years ago, a city with a bizarre and unfinished history disguised by building facades made from gigantic posters and characterized by countless attempts to appear better/more successful/more competitive than it really is.

We came to Berlin with no expectations, but we were ecstatic with what we found there. The first night we ate at an organic restaurant called “Foodorama” which was great and a nice change of pace after pancakes with not-so-organic meats etc in Amsterdam. The best thing we decided to do was to go on the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Berlin the next day. It was GREAT. So nice to not have to worry about navigating the maps on our own and looking at buildings wondering, oh I bet that’s significant, but I don’t know what it is. Our guide, “Wolf” apparently is the owner of the company and decided to take a break from the office work to lead our tour! We definitely lucked out with him, as he told us all about what we were seeing and what had happened there, and it was fascinating to see the city, the remnants of East and West Berlin, the parking lot now in the place of Hitler’s Bunker, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, and of course the “Wall” just to name a few of our stops. I would highly recommend anyone to take a Fat Tire tour if you ever have a chance!

We also happened to be in Berlin for the weekend of the “World’s Largest Beer Fest”. Who knew?! There was a mile of road taken up by over 400 something different brewers of beer. There were SO many people there, I heard the number 800,000 from somebody. But we stuck it out, enjoyed the scene and not being huge beer fans, we tasted a few, and turns out they aren’t all that bad!

And that brings me to today, as I am on the train from Berlin to Prague enjoying the view from our window and the chance to catch up on sleep—and the blog. I’m feeling blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to explore Europe like this. I am so grateful for my travel companions, Sarah and Margaret, and their flexibility, patience and sense of adventure that is making this trip better than I could have imagined. And mostly I am grateful that we aren’t alone on this—that everywhere we go the Lord goes with us and is watching over us constantly. I am looking to grow in my understanding of the Kingdom of God along this trip, and the reminder of His presence is encouraging in that process. Thank you for your prayers…

Blessings and peace from Europa!

catherine