London

Well, we arrived home safe and sound on Saturday night. I spent most of Sunday recovering (i.e. sleeping, lounging, and eating junky American food), but now I'm ready to wrap up my final blog entry....London!

Day One: We arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon after taking the chunnel train from Paris. We had a little time to rest before heading to Piccadilly Circus in search of fish and chips. We found what we were looking for and had a great dinner. Afterwards, we walked around the area for a bit before everyone was cut loose for free time.

Day Two: We spent much of the morning at the National Portrait Gallery and then had lunch around Trafalgar Square. Matt, Neal, and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Cafe in the Crypt beneath the St. Martin in the Fields church. Afterwards, we stopped to listen to some English chamber music for a couple of minutes before meeting back up with the rest of the group. From there we all headed over to Westminster Abbey for a self-guided tour of the abbey.

Since I still wasn't feeling well, Neal and I ended our evening pretty early, but many of the students spent the evening taking in a show. I don't recall exactly who or when, but these are some of the shows the students attended during the week: Wicked, The Wizard of Oz, Les Miserables, Rock of Ages, and The Lion King.

Day Three: Today we had a day trip out of the city. Our tour guide, Andrew, picked us up promptly at 7am. Our first stop was the Salisbury Cathedral.

From there, we headed to Stonehenge. During the bus ride to the site, Andrew provided us with a lot of the history and mystery surrounding Stonehenge. It's kind of fun to think about all of the various possibilities regarding the creation and function of Stonehenge.

After Stonehenge, we rode to Bath for a pub lunch and a tour of an ancient Roman bath.

We were back to the hotel by 6pm because several students had tickets for another round of London theater.

Day Four: We spent this day walking around Oxford. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you probably know that Oxford serves as the setting for many scenes in the movies. Since I haven't read the the books or seen any of the movies, the HP references were lost on me, but Oxford was still a very cool place to visit. It was interesting to hear about the university structure and all of the famous people who have attended Oxford (including our tour guide, Andrew).

Day Five: Our last full day in London. We started out at the Tower of London. While we waited for the Tower to open, we snapped a quick picture of the group in front of the Tower Bridge.

Next we hurried over to Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, I was not able to see much of the ceremony because I'm relatively short and there were about a hundred people crowded in front of me. So I enjoyed the band and the excitement of the crowd, but I didn't actually see any of the ceremony. Maybe next time.

From there, we had an afternoon of free time to fit in any last minute must-sees. I know that some of the students went to see Shakespeare's Globe Theater, while others had a bit of a Sherlock Holmes afternoon planned (Sherlock Holmes museum, restaurant, and movie). Neal, Matt, and I stopped for a Thai lunch, and then we headed back to the hotel so that Neal and Matt could take care of some business stuff. Later in the evening, we met up again for dinner (pub food followed by sushi for Neal and Matt). We had heard several students rave about the Rock of Ages show so we decided that would be a fun activity for our last night in London. We weren't disappointed. How can you go wrong with 80's rock music and stripper jokes? :)

The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit before heading to the airport. It was a long travel day, but we made it back to Omaha (and Storm Lake) without any trouble. Our adventure had come to an end. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but, personally, I was a little sad that it was over. It was such an incredible trip. We were able to see and experience such a wide variety of things over the three weeks that we were in Europe. From the Red Light District in Amsterdam to the concentration camp in Berlin, to attending mass at the Salzburg Cathedral, to seeing Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Every city offered something a little different. I am so thankful that I had these experiences and that I was able to share this trip with such a great group of students (and faculty leaders).