My journey began very early in the morning on the fourth of September. I took a taxi to the airport. I almost didn't make it though because the taxi that I had called thought that my reservations were for the next day. But I made it to the airport. My plane left Eugene at 6:00 am and arrived in Seattle at 7:00am. I had a bit of a layover in Seattle so I checked in and found a seat in the airport and fell asleep. From Seattle I flew to Philadelphia where I had another layover. This time however, I didn't sleep. I just sat in the airport watching other weary travelers watching me. From Philadelphia I flew to Frankfurt, Germany. The seat next to me was free so I had a little stretching room which was nice because it is a long flight to Germany!

I landed in Germany the next morning. My brother Kelly was supposed to pick me up and I figured he would be waiting for me...I was wrong. I kept looking around thinking that I saw him but it turned out that it wasn't him. I haven't seen Kelly in 2 years so I didn't know if he had changed much or not. I waited a while but we finally found each other. He got a little confused as to where to come and get me because they have recently added an addition to the airport and you have to take a little subway like train to get to certain areas and he didn't know this.

After he collected me from the airport we drove to Mannheim and looked around the base a little. I was so jet lagged though that Kelly finally took sympathy and drove me to his house in Frankenthol which is just outside of Mannheim. My sister-in-law was waiting for us. She cooked me a nice dinner but was a little disappointed because I practically fell asleep in my plate. I tried to stay awake until a normal bedtime but it didn't work very well.

I spent most of my time in Frankenthol. I looked around Frankenthol a bit and Mannheim as well. I became very fond of a little brauchaus (or bakery) that was very near my brother's apartment. I became hooked on a little German pastery known as a berliner. They are like jelly doughnuts but a lot better!

Mannheim was an interesting town. My brother and I went to a department store there called Prinz. They sell a lot of electronic and computer stuff there so we both enjoyed it. Kelly is a computer nut too:)

On the 15th of September I traveled to London, England with a tour company called Enjoy Tours. I rode a bus from Mannheim, Germany to Calais, France. The bus trip took all night and we arrived in Calais early the morning of the 16th. From Calais we took the ferry to Dover, England. I had breakfast on the ferry - a typical continental breakfast: Tea and a strange looking pastry. The pastry wasn't very good but it looked good in the case.:)) Oh well, it is always good to try something new. When we arrived in Dover, we went through customs there and had our passports stamped. The British are very careful about letting people into their country. Other countries in Europe have relaxed a bit but England is still pretty uptight about it. From Dover, we drove into London. The first famous sight we saw was the Tower Bridge. It is, of course, very near the Tower of London which was the first landmark we got to really explore. The Tower was cool. The crown jewels are housed there and I got to see those. We stayed at the tower for a little over an hour or so. It didn't take very long for me to explore the tower so I used the rest of the time to purchase overpriced Postcards and eat at McDonalds - Yes, I am a typical American;)

Our next stop on the first day in London was Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum That was cool! It was extremely crowded though so it was hard to see everything but they, of course, had some really famous people there. I had my picture taken with the Pope.

After Madame Tussaud's we headed over to Oxford street to do some shopping. That was fun. I bought souvenirs there for everyone. I also stopped into Self Ridges. I didn't make it over to Harrod's unfortunately. I don't think I could afford to shop at Harrod's anyways:) After shopping for a couple of hours, we journied to the Sheraton-Heathrow hotel. I ended up with a roommate who was from my father's hometown so we talked for a little while. That night we went to The Albert for a carvery dinner. It was a buffet style type thing. I had a good time there. I learned at The Albert that there is no such thing as lemonade in England. I ordered lemonade and ended up with sprite.

The next day we went on a city tour of London visiting all the famous places. Our first stop was St. Paul's cathedral. We got a chance to walk around there. We also got to see Trafalgar square, Nelson's Column, Piccadilly Circus, and #10 Downing Street which is where the Prime Minister is currently living. Then we saw Big Ben and the houses of Parliment. We stopped at a place just across from them and I was able to get some really good pictures. Then we went to Buckingham Palace where I saw the changing of the guard. Well actually I saw a little bit. It was packed and so I couldn't see that well but it was still kinda cool.

After Buckingham Palace we went to Windsor Castle. It was really pretty there. The castle is situated in a quaint little town. I ate at a pub there called The Horse and Groom. It was good food for a good price.

While I was at Windsor I saw the state apartments and Queen Mary's dollhouse. The dollhouse is an amazing piece of minature architecture. The bathrooms in it have real running water and the elevators really work. I think the royal family had too much time on their hands! After I viewed the state apartments I went to St. George's cathedral and looked around at all the famous people that are buried there including Henry VIII. After Windsor, we returned to the hotel and rested a bit.

The night of the 17th we went to a restaurant near the Tower Bridge called The Beefeater. It was an interesting experience. It was just like eating at a medievil dinner. They didn't give you spoons to eat your soup with so you had to slurp it out of the bowl and you had to bang on the table for stuff. In between serving the meals, the staff of the restaurant sang songs and did little skit like things.

The next day, just before we left England, we stopped by Canterbury Cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered many centuries ago. I'm always interested in a good murder scene!:)) It was a beautiful chapel but we only had a few minutes to look around because we had to make it to Dover so we could catch the ferry on time. We were a little bit late to Dover but they let us on the ferry anyway.

The ferry ride back was nice. I took some pictures of the White Cliffs of Dover as we sailed away. We arrived in Calais and then drove through Belgium where we had a momentary stop for last minute shopping and bathrooms. We were told to try and get rid of all our British coins because you can't exchange coins - you can only exchange paper bills. They accepted the pounds in this little Belgium shop place but it wasn't very helpful because I got rid of the British pounds but I gained Belguin Francs. Oh well - I guess I'll just add them to my growing international coin collection.:)

After Belgium we drove all night back into Germany - we had a dinner stop in Germany. A chance to test my limited German skills. I find that just pointing to what I want works pretty well.:) I got back to Mannheim around midnight and Kelly picked me up...no waiting around for him this time:) We returned to Frankenthol where we spent the next hour playing on the computer.

The next day, I didn't do much except sleep. The weather was bad so there weren't many options. I watched a bit of TV (I am so much more appreciative of American TV now!) Actually European TV is cool if you can understand it:)) I ended up watching British television a lot. They seemed to be fascinated by the O.J. Simpson trial for some reason over there.

On Wednesday, my sister-in-law Sylvia and I journied to Ludwigshafen (which is also just outside of Mannheim) to do a little shopping. It was fun.

On Thursday, Kelly drove me to the airport early in the morning as I had to be there to check in. We got caught in a traffic jam unfortunately and I was a bit late to the airport, but I made it on time. I flew the same way back as I had when I came to Europe. It was a tough flight though because I had caught a bad head cold. It tends to make travel difficult when you are sick, but I made it back to Eugene at midnight on the 21st. I like Europe but I am glad to be home!