Comparisons and Statistics

I've been collecting observations over the past 9 days about my return to the US.

First, a glimpse into how long 99 days really is:

• When I left home, the high temperature for the day was a scorching 106° F, which was very hot even for an Indiana summer.  When I returned, the high temperature for the day was 67° F (which occurred at midnight) and then fell to about 39° F.
• The interstate numbers have changed because a new section of I-69 has opened.
• My grocery store moved across the street.
• The Olympics started and finished.
• A tree fell in my backyard.
• The front of my house changed, as Laurel did some landscaping.

Some observances on differences between Europe and the US which I see now.  It's the little things, really.

• Light switches are different.  Yes, the plugs are different, too, but the light switches are also different.
• Difference from the UK: you don't have to turn on a plug with a tiny switch at the outlet.
• Prices here are given without tax.  I got used to walking up to cash registers and paying what the sign said, not 7-8% more.
• I walk so much less here.
• There are no trains!  In general, public transportation is much more limited in Indiana.
• I actually have to plan out my meals.  This is not only because I ate out more in Poland, but also because stopping by a store on my way home requires more work.
• I can't think of anywhere in this city with a walk-up food-order window open regularly.  At least, not one that you wouldn't have to drive to first anyway.

Other notes:

• I have been on 12 planes in the past 100 days, covering a very approximate 13,000 miles.
• I have explored three countries and passed through a fourth.
• I have seen buildings and artifacts that are centuries older than the US's entire existence.
• My smartphone feels so powerful again.  I recognize that it's now a year out of date, but having used this for the past 90 days or so, it feels like a beast.

• I'm pretty sure every single app on my phone needed an update.  Oh, and the O/S, too.
• My key ring is so much heavier here.
• I've added new Facebook friends, including two Belgians, two British guys, one Omani, one Australian, and several Poles.  Some of them have moved on from Poland, just like I have.  Laurel and I now have friends literally all over the world.

This will likely be my last post to this blog.  Thank you all for coming along with me on my journey.  It's been a wonderful experience and a summer to always remember!

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UK Day 8 - London

London is huge.  It's not something you can see in one day, or even 1.5 days, which is the amount of time I have here.  Earlier, I decided to go to Buckingham Palace and a museum.  Quartney went with me to the palace (she had never been) and then took off to head home while I went to the British Museum.

Buckingham Palace is everything you would think proper British royalty is.  Enormous rooms?  Check.  Fancy staircases?  Check.  Huge portraits of your family tree?  Check.  More forks than you can shake a scepter at?  Check.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow photography of the exhibitions, so I don't have many pictures to share of the occasion.  I can tell you that they have an enormous collection of art, furniture, tableware, and gold rope...

Oh, and they have diamonds, too.  We saw a large collection of the royal diamonds, over 10,000 of them, in various articles of royal attire.  When the British want to make something glitter, they know how to do it.  In any other context, I would have thought I was looking at the world's largest collection of costume jewelry.  Instead, I shuffled by several, several million pounds worth of bling.

Outside the palace, you can take as many photos as you want, so I've got some of those to share:

The palace guard (you know, the guys with the funny hats) were out but well beyond the gate.  I was kind of hoping to put Quartney next to one of them for the comical height difference in a photo.  However, it didn't appear that any of these guys were actually outside their gate.  Oh well.

Before I left Poland, I spoke to some British guys about what to see in London.  The British Museum came highly recommended.  One fellow described it as "imperialistic kleptomania," and that's a pretty good assessment.  There are a lot of things here that you really stop and wonder why they're in Britain.  I took a lot of photos, but let's hit the highlights here.

First of all, the grand hall in the museum is enormous.  It's really hard to get a good sense of the size, but I've tried.  This is from the upper level.  Notice how small the people are.

I got to see Cleopatria.  Yup, that one.  She's been hanging out in London since the early 1800s.  She looks pretty good, considering her age.

I also got to see the Rosetta Stone.  No, not the software to help you cram for a Spanish test - the random laws written in triplicate that helped crack the code of hieroglyphics.  Here it is.

I also got to see pieces of the Parthenon in Athens.  Again, what are they doing in England?  Not really sure, but they're here.

There were many, many other items I didn't take pictures of (I'm not building a catalog here) or that weren't of such wide interest.  I've never been to the Smithsonian in Washington, but I think this is basically the British equivalent of it.  It was really nice to see, and I didn't get to experience anywhere near all of it. 

Tomorrow is the flight back home to Indiana.  I've had a great time in Europe, and I'll write a few closing posts at some point (but probably not tomorrow).

One thing I want to say before I step off this continent is thank you to all my friends who made this summer memorable and helped me out along the way.  If you had a meal with me, thank you.  If you explained how some silly, ordinary item worked (especially translating Polish), thank you.  If you walked home with me, had a conversation with me, or invited me over for awhile, thank you.  If you told me the best route to take or the thing I had to make sure to see, thank you.  Although the massive buildings, the graves of heroes, and the historical artifacts are great, it is really friends that make the experience for me.

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UK Day 7 - Brighton to London

This morning I got to try a "full English breakfast" which consisted of two poached eggs, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, sausage, and toast.  It was pretty good and a nice way to start the day.  I also got to try "brown sauce" which is apparently common over here in the UK.  It tasted a bit like barbecue sauce, only a little sweeter than average.  Interesting, and OK on eggs.  I still have no idea what the baked beans are doing at breakfast.

We also walked around and got a few photos of Brighton's beach, which was nice:

The next stop was the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.  I got a photo of it (through the rain) from the outside, but they allowed no photos on the inside.

The Pavilion is the doing of George IV of England (the son of the one America wrote that well-worded "screw you" to in 1776).   It was basically established on a farmhouse and expanded into a palace suitable for a young king to entertain guests.  It was sold to Brighton some years ago, and although most of the royal stuff was removed when they moved out, the queen has lent it back to the Pavilion for exhibition.  How nice of her.

The palace is very ornately decorated in Chinese style, or rather, what an Englishman who had never been to China thought was Chinese style.  There are lots of dragons, snakes, and bamboo throughout the palace.  The most impressive piece to me was the large chandelier in the dining hall.  It was constructed to look as if the entire 30-foot, one-ton piece was being held in by the claws of a large, silver dragon.  Suspended from that was a lower ring of six smaller silver dragons, each with an oil lamp (now electric) in their upturned mouths.  When the original oil lamps were lit, it would have looked as if they were breathing fire.  Now that's cool!

After going through many other rooms in the Pavilion, we headed to lunch and then on to London.  For lunch, I got to introduce Quartney to the wonderful world of Spanish tapas.  Needless to say, she's now addicted like the rest of us that are familiar with them.

In London, the first stop was the London Eye.  This massive Ferris wheel overlooks the entirety of downtown London.  It's a huge, glowing, blue circle along the Thames.  We went on it and tried to get photos, but they may be a bit blurry due to the constant motion, darkness, and rain (did I mention we were in London?).

Tomorrow is Buckingham Palace, probably something else, and saying goodbye to Europe.  One more bonus photo of Big Ben!

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UK Day 6 - Warwick to Brighton

Today started with picking up the rental car in a nearby town.  Quartney and I were headed out for Brighton and London, and considering the cost of rentals, train tickets, and Quartney's recently-acquired UK driver's license, it made more sense to rent a car rather than use trains.  I, of course, will not be driving.  Firstly, I don't know how to use a manual, and secondly, UK driving would be hazardous to my blood pressure, insurance rates, and ego.

The rental car is lime green with a racing stripe.  Quartney was excited about this.  Take a look and see if you can tell why...

The drive from Kenilworth to Brighton was surprisingly quick, especially when compared with the drive from Inverness to Kenilworth.  It was still three hours, but the time passed quickly.  Slowly but surely I'm getting more used to the cars being on the other side of the road and the right turns being the tricky ones.

Brighton is a lovely little beach town.  I got to have authentic, seaside fish and chips!  What better place to have it!  In the afternoon we went out to a local pier which was like an old-time arcade and amusement park.  Several parts of it were closed probably due to lack of tourists, but it was still very charming.  I haven't been in an arcade like that in years, and it was delightful to pass an hour or so with those games.  We also walked out to the end of the pier and got a few pictures.

The weather in Brighton is as British as everything else around here.  The wind today is something else.  It's the kind of wind that makes you walk at an angle, that bites your fingers, that pushes your jacket into your chest until you feel the zipper.  Add to that the spitting rain and you get the perfect idea of today's weather in Brighton, a poorly-named city (today).

Needless to say, the evening was relegated to indoor activities.  We decided on a movie theater, as they have specials on Tuesdays and don't have wind.  We saw Looper, which is a nice film if you don't mind a bit of blood 'n' guts.

Tomorrow is the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, and then on to London!

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UK Day 5 - Warwick and Stratford

Monday was a day of sightseeing and friends in the UK.  I stayed with Sagar and Quartney, and as soon as we were dressed Quartney and I headed to Stratford.  The folks in the US may better recognize Stratford by its longer name, Stratford-upon-Avon.  As I'm sure you're straining your brains to remember, this is the town of Shakespeare.

Stratford is not terribly far from Warwick ("Warrick"), so we took the bus over.  I got to ride on the top half of a double-decker bus!  It's slightly terrifying at first, but then you get used to it.  The British bus drivers should really be commended on their skill in maneuvering around corners, by cars, and through low-hanging branches.

Quartney is turning into an unofficial tour guide for Stratford.  Being so close to her apartment, she's been there many times with friends. Thus, she was able to quickly locate Shakespeare's grave and birthplace for me.  I got to see the famous words from Shakespeare's epitaph in person:

Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare

To digg the dvst encloased heare

Blese be ey man ty spares thes stones

and cvrst be he ty moves my bones

Stratford reminds me, in some ways, of Hannibal, Missouri in the US.  It's kind of a small town, and although they have other things there, people really only seem to go for one reason.  In Stratford's case, that reason is Shakespeare.  For Hannibal, it's Mark Twain.  Everything in those two towns is built up around their respective authors. It was a delightful visit, but the three or so hours allocated to it were sufficient for me.  Here are some other photos from the journey:

I should also mention that through all of this, Quartney is walking around like a mixture of John Wayne, C3PO, and the tin man.  She's a bit stiff from her marathon the previous day, so little things like, say, going up to the second floor of a tea room for lunch are much more challenging than they should be.  OK, truth be told, getting up there isn't the hard part; getting down is the hard part.

I then got to see Quartney's university work in Coventry.  (The university of Warwick is not actually in Warwick.  I don't understand British logic.)  She has some cool engineering stuff that I'm not really well-equipped to describe, but I did get to see a racecar in the shop from an overlook!  The school looked a lot like an American university, with the major difference being that I almost got hit by a bus while walking on the left side of the street, instead of the right side of the street.

That evening, we went to quiz night at the pub.  After about 1.5 rounds (of 5) it became obvious that I needed to completely forget about this quiz thing and just enjoy being in a British pub.  Although I'm a little rocky at sports, TV, and movie questions in the US, I'm incredibly bad at them when they all surround British culture.  For example, the first task was to identify up to 20 British Prime Ministers by their pictures.  I think I got three.  Questions on British TV shows went about as well as one would expect.  Through the evening, I got one question right by skill and one by spinning a coin (lucky guess).

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UK Day 4 - Inverness Race

Yesterday, I woke up and the first order of business was to complete the 10k race I had come to Inverness for in the first place.  The Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running, unfortunately, does not have a half-marathon to complement the marathon, 10k, and 5k events.  I usually run a half-marathon (about 21k) in the spring and fall of each year, but this time I had to make due with a 10k race.

Quartney (I keep forgetting to link to her blog.  You can find it here.) is more hardcore than I am, so she was running the marathon.  Thus, she also had to be up and out the door earlier than the rest of us.  Sagar and I were running the 10k event, and Amy was our injured cheerleader (otherwise, she would have been in the marathon).

Sagar picked me up about 8:30 and we went to the start  line for the 10k, where we promptly waited about an hour and 45 minutes for the start of the race.  Although it was sunny, it was windy and kind of chilly.  About 1 hour and 15 minutes into the wait I started shivering, something I can't remember doing that much in the past few years.  Needless to say, by the time the race started I was quite ready to run.

The race course did a good job of showing Scotland's natural green color.  The marathon course was basically a straight 26.2 miles along the Loch and the river to the ocean.  The 10k course wound around through a park before merging with the marathon course towards the end.  So, despite the name, I didn't actually see much of Loch Ness proper; instead, I saw more of the river from the Loch to the ocean.

I ran a pretty good time: 44:43 according to the chip time.  I think that works out to a 7:12 mile pace, once of my fastest races ever.  There were a couple of factors helping me out, though.  (1) I was cold and wanted to get warmed up quickly.  (2) The grade of the course was pretty much downhill all the way.  This was not true for the marathoners, but was helpful to those of us in the 10k.  (3) The 10k is roughly half my usual event distance, so I felt like I could push a little harder.  Regardless, I'm still pleased with the result.

After Sagar and I finished, we met up with Amy, took some photos, and got some food.  Then we went out to find Quartney on the route.  Sagar actually ran the last mile with her, while Amy and I tried to take photos.  I got one good one, but Amy has a few more on her camera.

Here are my best photos from the event.  I should mention that Sagar ran the race in a green "morph suit" which is apparently based on some British TV show that I am incapable of understanding.  Also, by some twist of fate, his number and mine are one different.

The rest of the day was a long, determined drive back down to the city of Kenilworth, where I stayed with Quartney and Sagar.  Although watching the rolling hills of Scotland slowly taper down to the flatter lands of England was interesting, it wasn't great for pictures.  On some evenings, one goes to sleep; this was an evening where we simply all passed out from exhaustion at the end of the day.

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