HECTIC!

The other day I was watching National Lampoon's European Vacation. I've been having better luck than they did, but still it's turning out to be quite the Eurotrip.

On Thursday morning, I awoke at six-thirty, drove to Calgary from the Hat, saw my cousin's new condo, and then at the airport, somehow lost my wallet. At the check-in counter, we rifled through my bag upteen times. I ran through the airport, searching. My mom checked in garbage cans. We looked through the parkade. Then a policeman found a dirty old napkin blowing through the parkade with a phone number for someone to call if they had lost a wallet. A couple had found it, and not trusting the authorities, had taken it home. Their note had blown away so I didn't see it. My cousin drove to retrieve the wallet, I held her baby, and my mom tried to find me a new way to England since I wouldn't be able to make my flight. God took good care of me. For no fee, the airline let me fly to Manchester and figure out my own way down.

Manchester - home of "football"s United and Oasis. All I saw was the airport. I hopped on a bus and a few hours later made it to my hostel near Hyde Park in London where my friend Meridith had checked in the previous day. I was a little road weary, but after a quick shower, was out and about. Meridith's Manitoban friend took us to pub where they dined on fish and chips and I tried to stay awake.

In our lovely dorm room, we made some interesting acquaintances - a Dane who stopped liking a girl because she wore a dumb hat, an Israeli who smokes in the room at the risk of being kicked out the hostel, an Irishman who lived in Kentucky . .. One of the best parts of travelling is the people you meet.

Saturday, Meridith and I walked around Buckingham Palace and caught the end of the changing of the guards. We strolled around the old streets, jaywalking and admiring the anti-Bush/Blair protesters. We went to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey has been in operation for over a thousand years and many of England's finest citizens have their mortal resting places there. We saw the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, William Wilberforce, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton . . . One section is devoted to the arts. Robert Browning, Dickens, Milton . . . The Abbey seems to be more about dead people than God. But when you read the inscriptions - Latin or Olde English - you are struck by the lives the people led and how many of them did seek to serve God - with the exception of Darwin of course.

For free, we were able to go into the Hall of Lords at Parliament (first time I've ever been frisked) and were therefore able to see Big Ben really close up. It's disappointingly smaller than I expected.

We also tackled the British Museum. It would take lifetimes to see everything in that place. We did see the Rosetta Stone. Most exciting for an admirer of the Old Testament like myself was the Ancient Near Eastern Exhibits. Entire walls from Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh were on display. The Old Testament was there before my eyes. There are so many cool treasures in the British Museum that it's daunting.

We also saw the London Tower, Tower Bridge (often mistaken for the less spectacular London Bridge) London Bridge . . . I'm sure I saw more, but it's a little hazy right now.

Then we met up with some of my friends from Taiwan. Colin is a Cantonese Englishman. Esther and Andy are visiting from Taiwan. We ate Chinese food at Colin's parents' restaurant. It was a jolly good time. It was kind of trippy being with Canadian and Taiwanese friends at the same time in the UK.

Today, Esther met us to attend a service in St. Paul's Cathedral. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, it's white dome is a definite city landmark. Meridith was almost in tears as the men's and boys' choir sang selections of Palestrina. The opening hymn was "Holy Holy Holy". It was awesome to sing that song in a building that grand. That made me tear up.

Fish and Chips . .. then we visited the monument Christopher Wren designed about the great London Fire. 311 steps (I think) to the top and we were overlooking the Thames and the Tower. It was pretty cool.

Next it was Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park where people stand on their soap boxes, orate and debate. It was interesting, but too argumentative for my liking. Lots of Anti-Bush monologues, fundamentalist Christians, cookoo religious people, and social activists.

Now we're figuring out the next leg of the trip. I have to sign off before my internet runs out!