London

London was everything we hoped it would be and more. Our hotel was right downtown, a ten minute walk away from Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Westminster bridge... Awesomeness.  We were in London for four full days, and each day was busy.  Our first day was gorgeous, pure blue sky and sunshine, so we spent our day walking along the river side and taking pictures of the skyline with big Ben, the bridge and the rest of the sweet old buildings along the water.  Big Ben is so cool... Its huge.  And its so detailed and intricate.  The clock face looks like stained glass with roman numerals on it, and there's so many carvings and grooves all up the sides of the clock.  When the clock chimes every hour, you can't really decide whether to appreciate the beautiful tones of the chime, or try and place what movie you've heard a clear recording of these intense gongs that are usually meaning doomsday.  I really wanted to get a picture of the clock and bridge scene, like in peter pan, but discovered that you have to be in a helicopter or something to get that kind of view. 
We really enjoyed being in a big city again.  We would wander up and down the alleys and streets, discovering how big theater is here.  Huge is the answer.  There were advertisements for musicals and shows everywhere.  We didn't get to go see any because they were ridiculously expensive, but it was still cool to see all the different theaters and posters of the shows.
It was fun going into different little pubs for dinner.  In the other countries we'd been to we never saw too many pubs where you could just grab a cheap meal, but London is all over it.  We would have two meals for ten pounds, and it would be real food! Not fast food. Im talking like salmon and vegetables and stuff... Oddly graeme still got hamburgers at the pubs, but they were fresh hamburgers in his defense. Y'know, real meat and real fries.  Anyway, the pubs had a cool environment that we loved being apart of.  They weren't big restaurants with huge, elaborate meals, just a small little room with a bar and some tables for people to sit at.  Everyones just there to grab some food, and enjoy conversation before going out to see what the night brings them.
So now we are at the end.  21 cities within 10 countries.  We have taken 15 trains, 5 planes, 2 ferries, 1 rented car, and countless busses, metros, and trams.  We start our journey home today, stopping in toronto for the night to see friends Hodg and Laura, and baby Coral.  We've been through a lot on this trip, experiencing amazing things we never thought we would.  We've enjoyed a week of being on a nearly deserted, tropical greek island, tasted delicious deserts from Portugal, France, and Belgium, searched for hotels that don't exist, had all id and bank cards stolen, had a white Christmas in Germany, new years with friends and fireworks, and walked through the Red Light District of Amsterdam.  Like i said, amazing experiences, even though some were scary.    
Our plans for when we come home are to move to Vancouver, live in an apartment, and enjoy the city life.  Graeme wants to go back to school in the fall, and I'm going to look for a job downtown... No more teaching for me.   We're excited to see what this year brings for us and where it takes us.  Its hard to believe that its over, but we are ready to come home.  The crazy hours that graeme worked, and the hard budgeting and saving were totally worth it.  This trip was once a hopeful dream that we had together, and now it is a wonderful memory that we share. 
See you soon!!!

g&k