Cheers from London, all!

London weather today was being pretty London, but yesterday- yesterday was like a sauna and I haven't shed that much sweat since Rome and the French Riviera. We survived though and were rewarded with rain and cooler weather today. I like your style, London. 

Before we jump into London adventures though I suppose I should finish out Brussels for you all and share our little Eurostar adventure. Put your emotionally stable pants on for this ride. You'll need them for this one. I assure you that much. Or maybe that was just me. 

So Belgium- we were headed into Bruges at last I wrote and it was a great day. Bruges is a beautiful little town surrounded by a gorgeous river/stream/babbling brook type deal. I never know how to distinguish between the few. I'm so cultured. 

Then there was this evil, evil swan. Duck. Robot Animal. Whatever you want to call it. Before I give it a few seconds of fame on here with a photo- can we discuss that there is no version of this story where these things are not on steroids or man-made? NO VERSION. They were absolutely massive. Like, they could rival a baby elephant in a fight and probably take home the belt. Let's be honest here.

It was not having any part of the picture taking process etiher. Rude. Look at those eyes. Robot I tell you. Robot. How's your motherboard holding up in that river/stream/babbling brook bro? Ridiculous.

We found a fabulous beer wall, which I mean.. beer wall. Enough said. We followed the beer wall and had a beer on the river and then had some frites, of course.

We had a photo shoot with our favorite statue in the town

Then, out of nowhere as we are walking off our frites and beer through the main square, we stumble upon the apparent set of Drumline II: Belgian Throwdown

All I'm going to say is the cymbal game was strong, but the base situation was unfortunate. I feel like I can be critical as a former drumliner. DON'T JUDGE ME FOR HAVING DRUM STANDARDS. It was a nice surprise though right in the middle of this little medieval town. 

So that was Bruges- delightful little place. If you are ever in Blegium I would suggest a day trip for sure. The remainder of our time on Belgium was spent enjoying the local delicacies- chocolate, beer, frites and waffles. In no particular order and in no particular combination of the four either. 

I did get into a fight with a chocolate and strawberry waffle. I lost. It ended up on my shirt. It ended up on my sunglasses. It ended up in my hair. It was like a chocolate massacre. This picture in no way does the situation or emotional distress it caused justice. 

As you can tell, Gentry was getting a little payback for when I let him suffer at the train station in Modena and took pictures of him instead of helping him stand up with his pack on. Looking at that picture now, I feel the need to express that I was not ugly crying. I repeat- I was not ugly crying. I won't steal your thunder Kim K. Never. 

Then we saw a kid peeing in the square

So that was Belgium and its various places that we visited. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I do have to say that I learned more in those few days than from any other place that I have been to all summer. I think most of it stuck more than the things I have learned in other places because it was about beer and, well, I've already expressed my thoughts about passions and those being "home" wherever you are so I won't bore you all with that spiel again.

Finally, on our last evening we had a traditional Belgian meal

LOCALS.

On the day of our scheduled departure from Belgium to London, we got up, made coffee, went in search of chocolate (I had ice cream for breakfast). Found chocolate, macaroons and then finally I had to handle my post card situation like in every other city before we leave. Long story short on this end- I ran out of time to mail postcards because the trains were too close together, so that was depressing. 

So we get to Midi Station were the Brussels portal for the Eurostar (the train that runs under the English Channel into London) is located. Our particular train leaves at 12:53. Lets take a moment and discuss that we have not had to show our passports or do any form of border control/customs/passport verification at any point during this trip. This is the 8th country of the trip and not a single one has requested that I prove who I am or what business I have entering into their country. Not even Switzerland which was the biggest letdown of life- but that's another story for another time. So was it wrong of us to be surprised by the customs windows getting on the Eurostar? 

I'll walk you through this timeline of events with rough accuracy. The sweat I was shedding during this entire experience slightly clouded my ability to tell time. Mind you once again- the train leaves at 12:53.

12:23-Our train leave Bruxelles Central for Midi

12:27 Train arrives at Bruxelles Midi (it was jsut across town, no huge feat)

12:35 I ask for a time check as we are standing in line for customs

12:37 (ish) I approach the customs lady very politely asking how her day is going and she yells at me for not having filled out an immigration form

12:39 (ish) We are feverishly scribbling information onto immigration cards so as to appease the border control lady. 

12:40 (ish) We return to the border control line and wait our turn, again, to speak to the nice (relative term) lady. 

12:42 (ish) Our turn at the window comes. Again.

12:44 (ish) Customs lady asks how long we are staying in the UK since my card says 4 days and Gentry's says 8. 

12:45 (ish) We get a geography lesson and stern reminder that Ireland is under no circumstance a part of the UK. 

12:47 (ish) Customs lady stamps our passports and reminds us that IRELAND IS IN NO WAY PART OF THE UK AND WE SHOULD NOT LET ANYONE KNOW UPON ENTERING THE UK THAT THAT WAS EVER A THOUGHT IN EITHER OF OUR MINDS

12:48 (ish) We enter the security check and empty all our pockets

12:49 (ish) Security was a joke and we grab our bags and fill said pockets with items we just removed. 

12:50- 12:51 My calves burn with the fire of a thousand stair stepper repetitions at a 70 degree incline as we all but sprint towards the train- up stairs, around corners, up more stairs, down corridors, through Narnia and finally emerge from the Deathly Hallows at our platform. All with packs on. Yes. You win, life. 

Let me break up the monotony of all these words with a photo of us just after we made the train. I was still out of breath in the moment this was taken. I WAS TRYING FOR AUTHENTICITY HERE, FOLKS. I STRIVE FOR QUALITY FOR YOUR SAKE. 

Photo break over.

Finally, we set foot on the train and rid ourselves of our packs and find our seats. I am pretty sure we hadn't even sat down yet before the train rolled away. The entire situation is a little hazy because of the adrenaline/sweat/calf burn/geography lesson/EMOTIONS. 

We get to the first stop of the train about 45 minutes later and come to find out some protestors have stormed the tracks at the entrance to the tunnel to the channel and set them on fire. How pleasant of them. Backstory: The company of Eurostar had recently sold some assets to another company and the ferry workers were apparently not very happy about this little business venture, so they expressed their unrest by setting things on fire and placing their physical bodies on the tracks- stopping all through traffic. 

All traffic on the rail was stopped for the rest of the day and we were forced to either go back to Brussels with the train or get off in Lille, France and stay the night and try again the next day. The latter was our option as it was a new city and we were already there. Lille turned out to be a cute little place and Eurostar paid for everything that evening so I cannot complain too much. 

We woke the next morning and things were running as planned, so life goes on. There's this little concept in life called adaptability- it's a great characteristic to have and something I constantly strive to sharpen within myself. Experiences like these really enhance that part of my personality. So thank you protestors for helping me find the positive in this and grow as a person in some way. Rock on protestors. Rock on. 

So London. We arrived. I will now provide you all with a detailed account of our past two days in London. I kid. It's been a great few days, but I will only throw up a few snapshots as A) you guys have just read an extensive novel B) I have just written an extensive novel C) I want at least one person to actually read this post in its entirety. 

All those things considered, I present to you- London up to date:

We met this fella named Ben. I saw him. I heard him. I crept his picture.

I crept my picture with him. 

We crept him from the air spaces

So Ben and I are pretty much the best of pals now. I had planned to touch him but I figured that might cross a line. So I resisted. For now. 

Then we enjoyed the London Eye, which if you know anything about me was a dream come true because of my unwavering love of ferris wheels. Heart be still. 

Oh look, there's Ben lingering in the background. I see what's going on here. 

We also scoped out the British Parliament situation and Westminster Abbey which was gorgeous. 

But to be honest the real showstopper for yesterday was Pimms. A huge thank you to my amazing insider to all things England, Ms. Kristie Leybourne, for setting us in the direction of this delicious creation. A million thank yous is not enough to justify the extent of happiness these have brought to our lives thus far. 

I advise immediate tastings for everyone reading this and even those folks not reading. Trust. 

After a phenomenal first day in London we woke up today to take on some more. We day-tripped out to Salisbury to play with some rocks for a while. Not just any rocks though, oh no; I have high standards for rocks. Today we played with Neolithic rocks.

Serious note- Stonehenge has been a place that I have wanted to visit since I was a little wee child playing Geo Safari. What can I say. I've been a geek since day one. 

At one point today I had the whole henge in my hand..

It was an amazing day. Really and truly. You win England. You literally win because I am enjoying you so much. 

All the feels for England. HOWEVER, I have held you all captive long enough with this extensive post. You are sufficiently caught up on my life and travels and I am setting you free now. For those that have made it this far, I am beyond impressed with your commitment and perseverance. You deserve some award, I just haven't figured out how that would work yet. But you absolutely deserve it- whatever it is. 

Okay, okay. It's quitting time. I'm for real this time. It's done. I'm out. The day is over. Having been surrounded by Neolithic stones all day and the legacy that comes with such a structure, I invite you all to think about your own legacy. Is it everything you have always wanted or have you even given it much thought? 

You do have the power to create the legacy you would like for yourself- always. Just a nugget for this Thursday. Stone on my friends. Stonehenge on.