The Bitter End

Hello again,

So this will be my last post of my travels; I've come a very long way and had the most amazing experience of my life. I've had highs and lows, times of reckless abandon and times of contemplation, and it's all been incredible and life-changing. I'm sad that it's come to and end, but overjoyed with my experience, and ready to move on into life with confidence. But, before I get to deep on the life stuff, I'll fill you in on the rest of my travel stuff.

I last left you in Edinburgh after having taken the free tour. After I blogged to yall I headed up to catch the last scoth tour of the day at the "Scotch Whiskey Experience" (not as impressive as EMP, but much tastier) on the Royal Mile which stretches fom the castle to the parliment. I learned a lot about scotch, albeit from a pretty silly production, and got to taste quite a few as well. So I left a little bit tipsy and naturally my next stop was the cathedral just down the way. Although the cathedral was pretty unassuming compared to many that I've seen along my way, it was one of the most beautiful on the inside tat I've seen. Inside I bumped into a friend that I had made while on the tour who is a pretty rad artista from Rhode Island and we went to go get some food. As is my custom while traveling, we went looking for food that is unique to the area, and we decided that it would be a great idea to try something that you can't really find anywhere else: deep fried pizza and mars bars. I know what your thinking, "that sounds like a healthy and delicious and reasonable meal", and let me tell you, it really was. Well, not healthy or reasonable, but it actually was really really delicious. There's really no way to explain it, you just have to try it for yourself.

Anyway, that night we went to a hilltop just on the edge of the city and clicked some pictures of the night skyline and then it was off to London the next day. I had booked a bus, which was the cheapest option I could find, but I had a 10 hour haul in front of me. It was a good amount of time to reflect as the countryside rolled by, and I got in some really good thinking. I also wrote what may be the most important thing I'll have written in my life. It had dawned on me that the end of my trip was nigh and that there was still so much I wanted to accomplish personally, so I took thetime and made it happen. I was blessed to be able to have searched out my epiphanies which aren't meant for sharing quite yet, but I did want to share with you that I had them. It was a bus ride of incredible growth haha. I arrived in London's Victoria station and I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and walk across the city to my hostel near the London bridge. I had some nice beers and conversation with the bar tender at The Blue Eyed Maid around the corner and fell asleep content.

The next couple days involved a lot of walking and sight seeing. I saw the London Bridge, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge (they are incredible creative with names, I know), the design museum, Queens walk on the south bank of the Thames, the OXO tower, Tate modern, the eye of London, Whitehall and Trafalgar square, Covent Garden (where there is no garden), Camden Town, Brick Lane Road and Old Street in Shoreditch, and a lot of walking inbetween (a one way ticket on the metro is 4 pounds, basically $8). I also managed to drink my fair share of English ales, cornish ales, IPAs and Bitters (the last two of which are suprisingly not bitter at all and have lower abv than normal ales (which is wierd if you didn't know)), and eat an english breakfast, shepards pie, and fish and chips. My flight out of London to DC was at 750 in the morning, so I wanted to get there by 550, but the first metro was at 530 and takes an hour so I packed early and took the last metro the night before at half twelve (which is the local and silly way of saying 12:30). I knew that I was going to be going 6 hours back so I stayed up the whole night and made friends with the workers of the 24 coffee shop in the airport.

Then I was in DC! Ah, the mixed emotions of seeing the American flag flying high outside of the airport. I went to go meet up with my childhood and lifelong friend Laura at her work at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. Sound familiar? Yes, it's only three blocks from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, aka the White House. Washington DC is incredible, there are all of these historical and powerful places that you've seen a million times in movies and in the news and in history books, and they are all right there in front of you. Just standing in the streets I felt that there was a massive amount of power in the air. The people who run our country and change the world are all around you. They exist, they are real, and they are in Washington. Crazy. I made the most of my sightseeing hours and blitzed aroun the city. I saw the White House, Washington monument, WWII memorial, Reflecting pool and Lincoln memorial, Vietnam memorial, the Supreme Court, the Library of congress, the Capitol, the National Archives (including The Decleration of Independance, Constitution, and Bill of Rights), the air and space musuem, and the Jefferson memorial. And we drank a lot and talked about politics (unavoidable here, everyone is involved in some way). It's been a great stay.

So right now it is noon on Sunday and I fly home to Seattle tonight at 550. I get into Seatac at 8 or so pm and then tomorrow morning at 8 am I have orientation for graduate school. The adventure continues =). So that's it from me as far as my travels go. I wrote a lot and left out even more, but thanks for following along. I hope that life's adventures find us all, and when they don't, we find them. Much love,
-Jon