Europalooza Part 1

Hello again my Renaissance Runners and Runnettes. The Euro tour to end all tours has finally come to an end, and what a tour it was. This was definitely not a tour to get caught up on your sleep, as there were many late nights which were usually followed by early mornings.

My vacation started when I touched down in Heathrow Airport in London on May 12th. I grabbed a black cab and spent the next half-hour on the way to my hotel marvelling at how green everything was. As a Canadian, I'm used to seeing a lot of greenery. The predominant colour in Afghanistan where I've been staying is dirt brown. Afghanistan is much like Nevada in it's appearance, actually, except without Vegas. Plus, people in Nevada generally don't launch rockets at you while you're sleeping, but I digress.

It was a sunny and warm day in London, so after checking into my hotel I went walking through one of the shopping districts during the lunch hour. My mind boggled at the number of beautiful London girls walking around. And the accents, oh God, the accents! What is it about a beautiful woman speaking in a British accent that makes me crazy with desire? Perhaps it was all the Benny Hill and Monty Python shows I watched in my formative years.

The night life in London was anything but dull, and I hopped around to a number of clubs in the Leicester Square and Covent Garden areas. I took one of those double decker bus sightseeing tours around the city and was awed by such spectacles as St. Paul's cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the famous clock tower containing the bell known as Big Ben. I ended up spending a very fun Sunday evening in a pub around the corner from my hotel with a bunch of friendly theatre arts students from Florida State University. All I had to do was turn to them and say, "Hey there, where are you from?"

Finally the time came to join my Contiki tour group and begin my journey to the continent. The tour group mostly consisted of Canadians, Aussies, Americans and Kiwis, but we also had a South African and a Japanese guy as well. We loaded up on the tour bus, drove to the white cliffs of dover and boarded the ferry for Calais. After a night of drinking, it was a pleasure to be able to indulge in a proper English breakfast on the ferry, which included eggs, bacon, bangers, fried potatos and deep fried toast. Nothing like some heavy fuel to get you back on track.

Well, it's almost time for dinner here and I'm ravenous, so I'll continue my tale later. Peace out!

RR