Where Did My Four Weeks Go??

Well, it's finally come: my final blog post about our Europe trip. After two final days in London (for the second time, yes) we are at last wrapping up our four-week backpacking adventure through ten different cities in seven different countries with an eleven-hour direct flight back to Los Angeles, where Hannah's parents will meet us and drive us six more hours back home to Phoenix. That's our trip by the numbers, so to speak!

So what did we do with our two "bonus" days in London? Well, having been thoroughly convinced of the value of Sandeman's free walking tours in Berlin, Munich, and Paris, we decided we needed to do their London tour as well. And it was well worth it! We had a very good guide, who took us to Covent Gardens (which isn't actually a garden), St. James' Palace, Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, Big Ben, and Parliament Square, and a few other places. Though we'd seen several of these stops during our stay in May, it was nice to hear more about the history of it all.

By the way, if you'd shown this post to fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, he probably wouldn't have believed that twenty-year-old Jeremiah actually wrote it, based on that last sentence alone. I used to hate history. It was my least favorite subject all throughout school. But after these last four weeks in Europe, I think I've developed a better appreciation for it! I still would never take a history class of my own free will, but I think there's something to be said for experiencing it in a different way. If only I could've been given a free walking tour of Ancient Mesopotamia, the Vietnam War, and everything in between.

On that tour, we stopped by Trafalgar Square. You know, the one with the big lions you can climb on? Except this day, you couldn't. There were temporary walls set up all around the square, covered by posters advertising an event called West End Live. Our guide told us that it was an event going on this weekend meant to celebrate the culture of West End, known mostly for its plethora of big-time musical theater shows. And how better to celebrate that than with free, live musical numbers from some of the best musicals in the area? Hannah and I looked at each other like, "Uh, yeah, we have to go to that!" So we made plans to go the next afternoon, during our last day in London.

First, though, we spent the morning of our last day visiting King's Cross Station to see Platform 9-3/4. We were a bit underwhelmed; I think we'd expected to see the actual platform where they'd filmed the Harry Potter scenes, but in retrospect, I suppose it'd be silly to dedicate an entire, functional train platform to a spot for tourists and Harry Potter fanatics. Still, it was kinda neat! They had a queue set up where you could wait to get your picture taken with props that made it look like you were disappearing into the wall to get to the platform. They even made it some poor sap's job to hold your scarf and toss it into the air during pictures for a more realistic running effect. We got some good shots! And we also stopped by the Harry Potter Shop, where they sold really neat but really overpriced HP merchandise. It was fun to look through stuff and decide which characters had the best wands.

We then took a nice long walk through cool, cloudy weather to get to the West End Live event at Trafalgar Square. It was even more impressive than I expected! They had the actual casts of all their local shows performing numbers straight out of the musicals! We saw stuff from Phantom, Les Mis, Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, and several other shows. It was perfect weather for the event (by Arizonan standards at least), but after a few hours, our feet were aching. We checked the schedule and didn't see any other shows we recognized, so we decided to walk up to Oxford Street for some window shopping and Ben's Cookies.

By the way, I know in my May post I mentioned that Ben's Cookies were great, but I think we must've caught them on an off-day last time, because this time they were about ten times better. We got three cookies to share the first day, and went back for two more the second day because they were so amazing. Our favorite was the oatmeal raisin. It was so, so soft, which was miraculous because they didn't achieve this by under-baking the cookie. Somehow they've managed to make thick, fully baked cookies that maintain the soft, moist texture of underdone cookies. Our May cookies were drier and crumbly in comparison. Still great, but nothing like the cookies we had this time around. They may very well be the best cookies I've ever had. Only Paradise Bakery can compete!

After killing some time in the stores on Oxford Street, we wandered through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace again, since it's only about ten minutes from our hostel. Then the clouds, which had looked ominous all day, finally opened up with some rain, and since we didn't have anything else planned for the day, we went and found a cheap dinner and went back to our hostel. Good thing we did, because it only rained harder after we got back! Still, it was a really great last day in London - and all of Europe, for that matter.

So, yeah! That's our four weeks in Europe! It feels weird to think of going back to ordinary life, where we don't need WiFi to access the Internet, where we have more than four shirts to pick from, where we can't eat pastries and cookies and gelato every day because we're using cars - not our feet - to take us everywhere.

Mostly, though, it's just crazy to think that this enormous trip, conceived almost a full year ago, is coming to a close. Once we began actively planning, it felt like I'd divided up the timeline of 2015 into two parts: before Europe, and after Europe. Now that this whole trip is behind us, it's time to take the leap into the second part of this year, which will be highlighted by my internship with Medtronic, Hannah's twelve weeks abroad in Costa Rica, and the start of my SENIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE. Like, seriously, where has the time gone?

Maybe that's why it feels so difficult to end this trip. Putting Europe behind me inherently reminds me of how close I am to the rest of my life - my last year of undergrad, the start of my Master's, and the beginning of my career. I'm in such a pivotal point in my life! And it's scary! But it's also REALLY exciting. So don't mistake my shock for fear and my nostalgia for sadness. I'm stoked for what lies ahead, and even more stoked to go through it all with Hannah by my side.

And of course, you can continue to read about it! The end of our Europe trip does not mean the end of our blog. It is, after all, named after us, and we will continue to exist after our trip. Granted, our lives won't be quite as interesting to you, or at least not in the same way, so don't be expecting posts every three days like we've done this last month! We'll probably go back to a monthly schedule under the facade of posting "every two weeks." I mean, that's practically our trademark.

Thanks to those of you who have loyally read every one of our nine posts on Europe! Hannah's gonna have one more coming soon after this one, to do her own little wrap-up of our adventure. So keep an eye out for that, and I'll see you in a month!

Er, my mistake. See you in "two weeks" ;)