Barcelona with Hilda

So, yeah... I'm in Spain now. I decided I needed to continue this trip in reverse so I could get to warm weather now. I'm happy to report that it's about 60 degrees and sunny!

Do you remember when I met Jasmine and Hilda in Derry, Northern Ireland? Hilda is from Barcelona, so when I told her I was flying here, she offered to show me around and take me to one of her favorite restaurants. If this was any indication, I'm going to love the food and coffee around here.

Next she took me to see some incredible architecture by Antoni Gaudí. This is Casa Milà.

And the famous Casa Batlla.

This isn't a famous building, as far as I know, but something about it made me feel like the cold gray weather was behind me.

It felt like my first day in Dublin when everything was different and so automatically interesting.

Hilda stopped in a Christmas marketplace to show me this Catalan Christmas tradition, the Caga tió, or in English, the Shitting Log. On Christmas Day, kids beat the log with sticks while singing songs, to make the hollowed out log... well... shit presents.

Alright, this deserves more description... Prior to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, parents buy a small Caga tió, which will make its first appearance at the feast. The kids will "feed" it then cover it with a blanket to keep it warm. Over time the log grows, i.e. mom and dad replace it with a larger and larger Caga tió.

On Christmas eve or Christmas day, the kids leave the room to pray that the Caga tió is extra backed up with presents this year. While they are away doing this, the parents put presents under the blanket just behind the log, traditionally treats and candies, like dried figs, turron, a type of nougat, or small toys. When the kids return, they beat the log with sticks while singing songs with lyrics like:

Shit, log,
Shit nougats,
hazelnuts and mató cheese,
if you don't shit well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
shit, log!

The blanket is then pulled back to reveal all the shitty goodness. Similar to pinatas, what comes out of the Tió is shared by everyone present. When the log plops out a salt herring, onion, or head of garlic, that means it's done pooping for the year, but I'm still a little fuzzy on the details. Regardless, this is my new favorite Christmas tradition, which I'm immediately incorporating into all of my years I have left on this Earth.

Just beyond the Christmas market was the Catedral de Barcelona

The sight of a palm tree made me exceedingly happy.

I loved the Gothic district the most. It just felt like Spain to me.

Then I heard these men playing guitar just ahead, I told Hilda that I finally felt like I was in Spain, and then she pointed out that it wasn't Spanish music, but Argentinian. I noticed his scarf and immediately felt like an idiot tourist.

 The city is all decorated for Christmas

Bon Nadal is Catalan for Merry Christmas

 One way I know I'm not in England anymore: Color.

The street popular with tourists called La Rambla, was especially colorful.

Hilda insisted on buying me jamón, thinly sliced cured Spanish ham, a traditional meat found in Spanish markets and almost every bar and restaurant. I've been told that if there is a national dish in Spain, this is it. 

 Thank you for everything Hilda! As I've never been to a country whose primary language isn't English, I never felt so far from home, so I'm so glad I got to spend my first day in Spain with a friend. 

 Shitting Logs!

Boxing Day

I asked the man at the bike shop if he had any discarded bike boxes that I could have. He did, so then I asked if he could show me how to properly disassemble a bike. He did more than that. He disassembled it and boxed it up for me, at no charge. Which is perfect because that is about all I could afford. Especially if it weighed more than 23 kg.

Carrying this box to the train station, which I guessed weighed 21 kg, was no easy task.

Thank goodness for trains that have room for bikes. The first two trains didn't have this luxury, so I was that guy with the box in everybody's way.

Woo 22.7!

Less than 23 kg meant British Airways would accept it as checked luggage with no additional $100 fee when they flew me and my bike to Barcelona, Spain!

After coming to terms with the fact that it's just too late in the year to be heading to Amsterdam next, I decided I needed to do this trip in reverse, spend a couple of months in Spain now, then ride north.

The Home of Charles Darwin

After, I don't know, six days that I said would be my last in London, I finally made plans to leave the city and start the next phase of this journey. I just had one more stop to make on my tour of important sites in science history, Down House, the former home of naturalist Charles Darwin. 

Inside the front door and through the foyer stood a man behind a counter. This man possessed so many English stereotypes that I thought if he were a character on Saturday Night Live, it would offend all of England. I had some difficulty understanding his accent, but he seemed to be saying that picture taking wasn't allowed, so since I had to be stealthy, I was only able to take 330.

I couldn't help myself. This isn't simply the house Darwin lived in, which would have been interesting to me in itself, but this is also where he performed his experiments and developed his theories of evolution by natural selection. 

Darwin had a great family life, which anyone who desires such a thing would envy. After his five year voyage on the HMS Beagle, where he visited numerous places around the world to study the plants and animals and collect specimens for future analysis, Darwin's thoughts turned to marriage. He made a pros and cons list and determined that the advantages of marriage outweighed the drawbacks, so asked his future wife Emma to marry him. Who says rational people can't be romantic! Three years and two children later, they moved into Down House where Charles would live out the rest of his life.

Before coming here, I already knew a little about Darwin's life in this house, so was utterly enthralled while walking through these halls.

As I stepped on creaking floorboards, I imagined a time when the silence was filled with the pattering of the ten Darwin children's feet. This was the schoolroom or nursery where the children kept their toys. They were known to climb down that mulberry tree to play outside or help their father with his experiments, which could mean digging holes and collecting earthworms. It sounded like a great childhood to me.

That mulberry tree is still alive and fruiting today.

Darwin became one of my favorite scientific figures, in large part, because of his relationship with his children. Regardless of the work he did, if he was an asshole, I probably wouldn't have cared about coming here. Evidently, Victorian fathers were typically stern and distant, but Darwin was known for enjoying his children's company, playing games with them, telling them stories, and involving them in his experiments.

It was also known, that Darwin viewed his children almost like specimens to be observed. He even kept a systematic journal when his first child, William, was born to keep track of his development. This made me chuckle because I know I would be the same way if I had children.

The death of his ten-year old daughter Anne from Scarlet Fever tormented Darwin for the rest of his life. In a personal memoir he wrote, "We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace of our old age.... Oh that she could now know how deeply, how tenderly we do still and and shall ever love her dear joyous face."

You can still see where William carved his name inside the cupboard in the schoolroom.

I was happy to see a recreation of Darwin's weed garden setup next to the house. It's a good example of the sense of curiosity Darwin had with the natural world and how rather than simply wonder about it, he conducted countless experiments on his property to learn more. 

In a letter to JD Hooker in 1857, Darwin wrote, "I am amusing myself with several little experiments; I have now got a little weed garden and am marking each seedling as it appears, to see at what time of life they suffer most."

This simple experiment, along with several others, demonstrated life's struggle for existence and how a lot more organisms are born than survive to reproduce

"...on a piece of ground three feet long and two wide, dug and cleared, and where there could be no choking from other plants, I marked all the seedling of our native weeds as they came up, and out of the 357 no less than 295 were destroyed, chiefly by slugs and insects."

In this book, and in many like it, Darwin made notes on these experiments with the plants in the garden and a variety of other things. On this page shown here, he recorded an experiment testing the resilience of some frogspawn that he did out in the hall. 

This infectious curiosity about the natural world is why most of my heroes are scientists. They made me into the nature-loving nerd that I am today. And I love that even in his adulthood, this curiosity sometimes seemed childlike. In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, "...one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one." 

Stories like that make me want to go get my hands dirty.

And it is adventure stories, such as as Darwin's five year voyage on the HMS Beagle, that make me want to explore the world. Darwin's Voyage on the Beagle in particular is responsible for my desire to travel the globe on a great sailing ship (#70 on my life list). 

On Darwin's voyage he filled small notebooks with his daily thoughts and descriptions of the places he visited on the journey. When he got back to the ship, he would expand on them and transfer them into this 750-page book. I like to think of this book as Darwin's adventure blog. 

By the way, I was excited to see that the audio tour was narrated by David Attenborough...

The Darwins didn't like the house at first, calling it ugly and not old nor new, but it was far enough from the city without being too far, and the house and grounds were large enough to raise a big family. 

They added this dining room later on and the original dining room became a billiards room.

Darwin discovered that playing billiards was a great way to clear his mind or contemplate something he was working on. He would often stop his work and call one of his servants into the room to play, which both of them loved.

He would also use the pool table as a workspace when he needed more room.

This is believed to be his bedroom and the room he passed away in at the age of 73. It is now a room with interactive exhibits to explain how evolution by natural selection works. I already know how it works, so I was more interested in the windows. As a man who thoroughly enjoyed the land he lived on, who was fascinated by nature, and who loved to watch his children play, I suspected that Darwin often stood staring out of this window, so I had to as well. 

Although not in love with the house itself, it seems to be the land that attracted them to Down House the most. Emma was passionate about her gardening, which are maintained today to replicate how it probably once looked, although it was unfortunately too late in the year for me to see it in full bloom. As for Charles, he said, "The charm of the place to me is that almost every field is intersected (as alas is our's) by one or more foot-paths— I never saw so many walks in any other country." 

We are all taught that it was Darwin's observations of the tortoises and finches on the Galapagos Islands that were the key to developing his theories, but it was mostly in this greenhouse and in the surrounding meadows and woodland where he would build the body of evidence to prove his theory.

Darwin's beloved greenhouse has been beautifully restored. More of his experiments have been recreated here as well. I walked in right at sunset, the perfect time for photos.

Down a small flight of stairs is Darwin's restored laboratory.

They even continue to grow vegetables in the Darwin's kitchen garden as well as rows of primulas to replicate an important study on plant evolution. All that was left in the garden this late in the year was this moss curled parsley.

If you continue down this path in the opposite direction you'll find Darwin's thinking path that he called the Sandwalk. I walked on it for a short distance, but unfortunately ran out of time and had to turn back. I was too fascinated by every little thing to remember that walking the Sandwalk was one of the main reasons I wanted come here. I have had a few thinking paths in my life. Like Darwin, I have found walking to be good way to ponder ideas, worries, or to just clear my head. Although, admittedly, my ideas and worries are considerably less profound.

I saved my favorite part of this tour for last. In this study, while sitting in that chair, Charles Darwin wrote, On the Origin of Species, the most important biological text in history, prob in all of science. In it, he presents the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process called natural selection. It includes evidence gathered on the HMS Beagle voyage and his findings from experiments, research, and correspondences gathered while living and working at Down House.

Since it was the best source of light in the house, Darwin built this table for his microscope.

The first edition of the book and pages from the original manuscript were on display in the museum upstairs.

He waited twenty-three years to present this work to the public, possibly in part because of the religious implications of demonstrating how species evolved from one another, as his wife was deeply religious, but it seems more likely that he wanted to be sure he preempted all of the counterarguments that were sure to come from his colleagues from such a controversial theory.

I've never understood why this controversy is still so wide-spread in America today, given the evidence is demonstrably clear, and that many religious people today happily accept the theory, believing God to be the cause of life and evolution the product. 

As for me, I revel in knowing that all life on earth stems from a common ancestor, that all life is connected in a very real way, that we share so much of our genetic makeup with every ape and apple tree, with every orchid, butterfly, and banana plant. To not have this knowledge carefully accumulated at Down House, and other scientists in the 150 years that followed, the world might somehow seem a little bit less beautiful, less mysterious, less worthy of my absolute reverence and awe.

This ended up being my favorite stop around London. Although there is a lot more I could explore here, I'll save it for another time. I was finally ready to leave it behind me for now. I got back on my bike and rode toward another hostel, thirteen miles away on chilly dark streets, with the excitement and concerns for the following day swarming around in my head.

Hunting Edmond Halley's Grave

The next morning, I rode a couple of miles south to the Saint Margaret of Antioch church. The Internet told me Edmond Halley, another one of my favorite figures in science history, was buried in the cemetery here.

Halley's list of accomplishments is long, but he is best known for discovering a comet that he didn't actually discover. Using his friend Isaac Newton's new laws of gravity, he determined that the comets observed in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same comet, so predicted its return in 1758. When it returned as predicted, this confirmed that objects other than planets orbited the sun and was a successful test of Newton's Laws. 

I walked through the small cemetery looking at tombs, vaults, and ledger stones, but couldn't find his name. I saw a man working outside the church, so asked him. He told me the inscription was too worn to see anymore, so pointed it out to me across the street. I needed to go to the medieval churchyard next to the remains of the old St. Margaret's church. All that stands of the original church now is this tower, added onto the 12th century church in 1275.

All I could find was the tomb of John Pond, the sixth Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Royal Observatory. Halley was the second Astronomer Royal, but died 25 years before John Pond was born.

The man from the church walked over to see if I found it. I told him I found John Pond's tomb.

"That's the one," he said. "They are buried together."

I found this quiet strange, being buried with a man you never met. The fourth Astronomer Royal, Nathaniel Bliss, is also buried here in an unmarked tomb.

The reason Halley's name is no longer on the tomb is because the ledger stone was moved to the Royal Observatory for display and preservation, a couple miles north. 

Before I left, the man asked if I wanted a tour of the newer St. Margaret's Church, across the street, built in 1839 - 1841. Apparently it's one of the best preserved examples of a decorative Gothic revivalist interior in London, but I wouldn't know. I just know it's pretty. I'm simple.

Another man heard me getting the tour and asked if I was a fan of Victorian architecture. Of course, who isn't, but when I said I was actually on a self-guided tour of famous scientific sites in England, he seemed disappointed. He did mention that the person who did the restoration ran off with the Rector's daughter. Why can't I seem to go to church without hearing judgmental gossip about people I don't know? Anyway, they were preparing for a concert that I would have liked to stay for, but I had places to go now. I had a plan and one more stop before finally leaving London.

Doctor Who and the Maritime Museum

London is a hard place to leave, so rather than bother with that, I went to a Doctor Who museum instead.

I read about this small museum on a blog after deciding I couldn't leave England with seeing something Doctor Who related. After a six mile ride to West Ham, I went inside. All I saw was a gift shop, no signs for a museum anywhere.

"Is there a museum here?"I asked the girl behind the counter. She wore a Doctor Who t-shirt and looked like a fellow Whovian nerd. I wondered if she felt she had the best job in the world.  She handed me a key to the TARDIS, the big blue police box in the corner. It was larger on the inside, of course, as it was the entrance to the small museum. If you don't watch Doctor Who, a lot of this may be confusing.

Doctor Who fans will recognize all of these costumes and props, and since non-who-fans won't care, I won't bother explaining what all of this it is. Although I really did want to see something Doctor Who related, deep down I knew I was also just delaying my ride out of London.

There are a many reasons why. I'm sure K9 would know some of them with his encyclopedic knowledge of all things, but his immense computer intelligence surely wouldn't be able to understand every reason. They aren't all logical or rational.

Some of the delay was weather related. The temperature has dropped considerably, as to be expected in December. It's hard to get moving on a bike when it's raining and cold. Some of the delay was from not knowing exactly what I should do next. 

Amsterdam was the plan, but it's even colder and just as rainy right now. So I delayed the decision even longer by going to the Maritime Museum and booked another hostel. This ship in a bottle is just outside the entrance. It's another great free museum in London, so I just had to see it, right?

There is just so much to see in in this city, I didn't want to leave regretting not seeing something, like Prince Frederick's gilded barge built in 1731-1732. Although, I could have left the city without seeing it, so why was I still in London?

After leaving the museum, I stopped my bike to gawk at the famous Cutty Sark. It was one of the last and fastest of the British tea clippers, and very well preserved. I didn't know it sat here, so stood opened-mouthed like a child staring at his favorite character in costume at Disney World. My budget wouldn't allow for climbing aboard, so I circled it twice on my bike looking at it from the outside. Although prone to sea sickness, I desperately want to go on a sea voyage.

I rode into the giant lift that lowers pedestrians into Greenwich Foot Tunnel to ride back to the hostel. I'd give myself another day to figure out my next move.

Number 19 on my Bucket List

1. See Neil Young in concert
2. Visit Yellowstone National Park
3. Photograph the Aurora Borealis
4. See Niagara Falls
5. Take a road trip to Canada
6. Travel around Australia
7. See Walden Pond and Thoreau’s Cabin
8. Backpack on North Manitou Island
9. White water kayak on the Salmon River
10. Go on a road trip across the US
11. Visit Ireland
12. Hike the 100-mile Wilderness in Maine
13. Hike a section of the Appalachian trail 
14. Hike the entire Appalachian Trail
15. Go white water rafting
16. Visit London
17. Stay in a cabin in remote Alaska
18. Go whale watching
19. Write a book

"Write a book" has been on my bucket list at number 19 since 2006, which is pretty high considering there's an additional 150 items below it. After the last few years, and after a lot of encouragement from readers, I finally feel like I have something worth writing about.

The book will be about leaving my comfortable okay life, to take a shot at living an amazing one. It won't just be an exact copy of the blog or a series of journal entries. It will be a story, filled with many things I have written about here, but also some things I never got around to telling.

Anyone interested in contributing money for this project, will receive a gift in the mail when it is complete (see below). I'm giving myself a year from when this trip is complete to finish the book. As a thank you for anyone who has already donated to my blog, I will also be sending you the gift(s) below.

I'm doing this to give me the added motivation to finish the book, and of course, help fund the printing costs and the trip currently in progress.

If you would like to show your support and pledge, just click on an option below. Thanks again for all of you who have donated so far!

Pledge $10 or more and receive a copy of the eBook and your name listed on the blog's donation page	Pledge $25 or more and also receive a signed paperback copy of the book in addition to the eBook version	Pledge $50 or more and also received a companion photo book, which will reference back to pages in the book	Pledge $100 or more and receive all gifts plus get your name printed in the acknowledgements in the back of the book
Estimated delivery in mid-2016

My Second Last Day in London

I had every intention of leaving London when I left the hostel. I peddled away in the direction of Down House, home of Charles Darwin, about 20 miles south. I had a hard time letting my sightseeing tour of London come to an end, so I looked at a route that would take me to a few more sights along the way. This is Shakespeare's Globe Theater, a replica of original Elizabethan theater, which shows Shakespeare plays.

And this is Western Europe's tallest building, called The Shard

I wanted to see London Bridge, but when I got there it was the most plain looking bridge imaginable, then I realized what I thought was London Bridge was actually the next bridge, Tower Bridge.

I couldn't leave London without riding across, right?

This is the view of downtown London from Tower Bridge. I love architects who seem to despise 90-degree angles.

After riding across the famous bridge, I went to see the Tower of London. With the £22 ($34) ticket price, I decided seeing it from the outside had to be good enough.

Here is Tower Bridge from the other side of the River Thames

Next stop was the Royal Observatory

This is the oldest thing I have ever touched, the Gibeon Meteorite, 4.5 billion years old.

This is a second edition copy of Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the most important mathematical text ever written. In it, he explains his theory of gravity, a breakthrough that still underpins our view of the universe today. This particular copy is significant because it is supposedly bound in leather from Newton's own chair.

I love seeing the equipment used to make major scientific discoveries. They have been my favorite things in London. Around the start of the 19th century, William Herschel used this lens and these thermometers to measure the heat produced by different colors of light. He used the lens to concentrate sunlight into a prism to split the light into the different colors of the spectrum. He discovered that each color had a different temperature, the red on the left being warmest and the blue on the right being the coldest. The major discovery came when he discovered that the control thermometer sitting outside the visible light to the left of the red, showed an even warmer temperature. This was the accidental discovery of infrared light and that there was light that we cannot see.

And this is one of William Herschel's telescopes. Although since it was difficult to operate, it didn't actually get used very much.

In this picture of me cheesing like a complete idiot, I have one foot in the eastern hemisphere and the other in the western hemisphere.The Royal Observatory is located on the Prime Meridian, where the Longitude of the Earth is at 0 degrees.

From the Observatory on the hill, I could see the Maritime Museum, and I thought maybe some artifacts of another one of my favorite English scientists, Edmund Halley. As the museum was about to close and it was another cold rainy night, I found a hostel for £10, so I could continue trying to leave London the next day. but not until seeing the Maritime Museum and searching for the grave of Edmund Halley. I went back across the River Thames, but this time by going underneath it in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

Thank You Tracy Broens!

To Tracy Broens from Greenwood, Indiana, who donated to this blog with a message "For whatever you need my friend."

After geeking out over the Royal Institution and the Faraday Laboratory, and being way more excited than I thought I would be over there, I decided what I needed was more time in London to see more things.

So I used your donation to stay at the Click261 hostel, near King's Cross Station. Another great hostel, and another great day in London, and all thanks to you Tracy. You're awesome, Thank You!

The Royal Institution

Before leaving London, I had to see the Royal Institution. A major landmark for science geeks like me.

I admit, my level of excitement while walking through this building rivaled anything I've felt while climbing to a mountain top. So many scientists, who made major discoveries, worked inside these walls. Fifteen of which went on to win Nobel Prizes. I imagined Michael Faraday walking down these stairs to go to his laboratory where he'd discover how to create and control electricity, among other things, which would dramatically change the course of humanity. Before you yell, NERRRRRD!! at your screen, or if you already have, think of the millions who come to London to see sites made famous because the Beatles once stood there and had their picture taken. My reverence for this is no different. I'm simply a different kind of nerd.

In the basement, almost 150 years after his death, Michael Faraday's laboratory still sits in exactly the same spot and looks pretty much as it did. The placement of his equipment has even been arranged to match watercolors painted of his lab in 1850.

Other than one oil lamp, Faraday used everything displayed in this lab.  Although born in poverty and only going to school to the age of 13, he formed the basis of the electromagnetic field concept and induction (which is how we still power most of our homes), developed the laws of electrolysis (which led to the production of aluminium, lithium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium), invented electromagnetic rotation (the principle behind the electric motor), made discoveries that led to refrigeration, and discovered benzene (an important component of gasoline).

I spent a lot of time looking at every detail. I love old scientific instruments. It's like art.

Like the "Faraday's Egg" an instrument designed by Faraday. The discoveries he made with this led to the development of Spectroscopy, which reveals what an object is made of by the color of the light it emits, which is why we know things like the composition of distant stars.

If I was geeking out this much over Abbey Road Studios would you judge me the same way?

These are parts that made up the first electric generator and transformer created here by Faraday. Prior to innovations like these, electricity had only been generated with chemical batteries and had no real practical use.

Faraday spent four years trying to perfect making optical glass, but failed utterly. After giving up on glass, he kept one optically decent chunk as a souvenir.

Later he'd use it to discover the Magneto-Optical Effect. Even his biggest failure produced world-changing discoveries. This story was told so well in the latest Cosmos series (episode 10, you should watch it on Netflix or Hulu.)

This is the famous Faraday Lecture Theater.

Some of our greatest scientists of the past 200 years have given talks on that floor.

This is like holy ground to a science nerd like me.

In this room in 1825, Michael Faraday gave the first Christmas Lecture, a now annual science lecture that examines one scientific subject through spectacular demonstrations by a leader in the field.  The Christmas Lectures have continued every December ever since, other than 1939-1941 when it wasn't safe for children to travel to central London. They are now broadcast in the UK every December and watched by millions.

I had to know what it would feel like...

But I'm no scientist. I'm not even a great thinker, but didn't Faraday once say, “But still try, for who knows what is possible.”

So with my own spectacular demonstration, I decided to teach the one theory I do know a thing or two about.

This is called Crane Technique. If do right, no can defend.

A spectacular demonstration indeed. I can now add myself to the list of great minds who have taught from this floor.  I hope my parents are proud.

Victoria and Albert Museum

This is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design.

It houses more than 4.5 million objects.

My favorite of those objects was The Bed of Ware, built around 1590, a bed so famous that Shakespeare mentioned it in his play, Twelfth Night, and knew his audience would understand the reference. This sealed it for me. When I have a home again, I'm getting a four-poster. Even if it's the only thing that fits in my house.

Actually, I changed my mind. This is my favorite. "The Sleep of Sorrow and the Dream of Joy" carved in 1861 by Raffaelle Monti

Admittedly, this wasn't my favorite museum in London, but I think I discovered one reason I enjoy museums so much. Like most of them in London, it's a gorgeous building to slowly wander around in. And like the other museums, it's free, so why not go in and have a look.

Maybe find a bench in a nice room and take a seat, because regardless of what they contain, museums are places to slow down.

Have you ever seen anyone frustrated or rushing in a museum? (Who didn't have children with them, I mean.)

On the street, there is that hustle and bustle. When you walk into a museum the world puts on its brakes.

You are like a roller coaster coming to a halt and easing back into the loading station.

Regardless of my own schedule, in a city I eventually share the feeling of urgency with the people around me. I start rushing with them. I speed-walk along side them in the tube to catch the next train.

When I leave a museum and go back into that hustle and bustle, I stroll down the street on a busy workday or walk through the London Underground like it's a Sunday in the park, because the slowness of the museum, and it's contrast to the busy street, reminds me of when I was just like those people. Having a job. Needing to be somewhere else. People expecting me. It reminds me that I'm not those people right now, so they'll just have to wait or go around me. There will be a time for deadlines and schedules some other day, but not today.

The British Museum and King's Cross Station

My next museum was the British Museum

I saw a lot here, but I came to see one thing in particular...

The Rosetta Stone

Along with Egyptian hieroglyphics, which nobody on earth could read at the time of it's discovery, the same text had been chiseled into this stone in Demotic Egyptian and the common Greek language. This made it possible to decipher the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics and essentially give a voice to people who had been dead and silent for thousands of years.

People like King Amenhotep III, ruler of Egypt around 1386 to 1351 BC, give or take a couple of years, when Egypt reached it's peak of artistic and international power. This sculpture stood in his mortuary temple west of the Nile at Thebes. If he had a voice, I think he'd be saying, "How did I get in Britain?"

A British friend described this as a museum for all the things Britain stole from other countries. Although nowhere did I think of that more than when seeing all of the relics taken from the Parthenon.

I can't help but think these would look better with the actual Parthenon, but I know if they weren't here, they would certainly be in worse condition and may have been utterly destroyed.

This piece of the Parthenon's marble frieze, which filled this large room, would be really hard to see if not brought down to eye-level. And I suppose it's good that they are being so well preserved here at the museum, but it takes some balls for Britain to say, sorry Greece, but these are ours now.

This is the King’s Library, the former home of the library of King George III. I could be locked in this room for years and never run out of stuff to keep me entertained. There are so many old books and artifacts in cases and drawers to look through.

I have wanted to see the Easter Island statues since I was a teenager. This was originally painted red and white, but it washed off in the sea. Actually I learned that most of these ancient statues, including those in the Parthenon exhibit, were originally painted. That fascinated me. It's like finding out that most dinosaurs had feathers. Someday I may actually get there, but for now, I'll have to be satisfied seeing this one stolen by Britain.

Alright, I'm being to hard on the British and am oversimplifying the history. There is a record of the villagers on Easter Island actually helping to load the four ton statue onto a raft. Honestly, I loved this museum and would not change a thing. Besides, not everything in the museum was taken from other countries, like the Lewis Chessmen for example. I wish I would have taken more photos of these. They were probably made in Norway, in about AD 1150-1200, but were found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

Holding his hand out so inviting like that next to a sign that says, do not touch. It's entrapment.

Although a mile and a half further away than the closest London Underground station outside the British Museum, I walked to King's Cross Station

It's a beautiful train hub, but that's not why I walked the extra distance.

Like the dozen or so teenage girls waiting in line for a photo op, I came to see this cart between platforms 9 and 10.

London at Night

After the museums closed, I decided to walk around London taking long exposure photographs at night.

No picture is more British than this picture

Waiting for the the signal to cross the street at Buckingham Palace

And again at the next crosswalk

Either there is someone around here having a great night or there is someone around here dealing with a debilitating disease.

The gates in front of Buckingham Palace

And again from the other side

London is beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...another holiday I would like to teleport home for. It seems I'll be celebrating the holiday somewhere in Belgium this year, unless I head to warmer weather next... or I may be in London at this rate, since I can't seem to tear myself away from it.

Thank You Sarah!

Thank you to Sarah Crum from Marion, Indiana for contributing to my blog. You allowed me to stay two extra nights in London, so the next blog posts and all of the priceless works of art and artifacts that I saw in that time were because of your generosity. I stayed at Palmers Lodge Hillspring just North of London, a short walk from the tube, so easy access the entire city. When I finish writing a book, even if only self-published, expect a signed copy in the mail :)  Thank you so much!

London's Science and Natural History Museums

For me the best reason to visit London is for its free museums, but admittedly I'm kind of a nerd, as you'll soon see. The presentation and buildings themselves are as impressive as the items they contain. And it's amazing how much the museums of London contain. The next visit on my museum tour was the Science Museum...

This is one of Michael Faraday's magnet and coils! I know, right?? I don't have to tell you why this was so exciting, but I'm going to. Faraday, of course, discovered that an electric current flows in a coil of wire when it is moved through a magnetic field (a term he created). This lead to electric motors and electricity generation, which completely changed the course of humanity. Not bad for a guy born in poverty with only an 8th grade education. He used this magnet and coil in these experiments and it was in a box low to the ground that I nearly walked right by. I went through this museum twice to make sure I didn't miss any other amazing things.

This rock was formed billions of years ago in an ancient lava flow on the moon. It was part of a larger rock collected by astronaut David Scott during the Apollo 15 mission.

This is the Apollo 10 Command Module. Inside this capsule, three astronauts traveled around the moon in a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing.

A great example of how science and art often co-exist, this is the One Million Volt Particle Accelerator built in 1937.

Up next was the Natural History Museum. Built in 1880, it is one of the most beautiful museums I've seen.

This is the main hall where you're greeted by the cast of a Diplodocus skeleton. Walking into this room was like walking into a great cathedral.

I could wander these halls for hours. I wonder if they need a security guard?

The only thing I love more than a two-toed sloth is an alive two-toed sloth.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw these bones from the extinct Giant Sloth.

The main hall from above. I wanted to hide in the restroom's drop ceiling then pop out after they closed so I could wander this place alone at night. Actually, that has been a fantasy of mine for almost 30 years.

You don't appreciate how big a blue whale is until you see something like this up close.

I also appreciate how Blue Whales always look like they took a big drink of water a moment before someone said something really funny and they are trying to hold back a spit take.

I had to keep going back to the main hall. I just needed to be in there. If I could replace all those people with one really comfortable sofa this would be the perfect room.

I walked outside to get a picture of skaters on the museum's ice rink...

Then stopped to get a photo of the building at night

...then one more look before heading back to the hostel.

An American Thanksgiving in London

I have some really great friends. Greg in Indiana, Jana in Washington, and Jaylene in Ohio, all sent me a donation, so they 'd be certain I had a great Thanksgiving dinner. I searched for restaurants all over London that put together a special Thanksgiving menu for Americans in England over the holiday.

While looking over several Thanksgiving Day menus, I started to realize just how much Thanksgiving isn't about the food. It made me miss family and friends more than I ever have since leaving home three-and-a-half years ago. Since going home wasn't possible, I'd make up for it by having one of the best meals I'd ever eaten. I settled on Gordon Ramsey's gastropub overlooking the River Thames called The Narrow.

I sat with a view of the Thames with a glass of Pinot Grigio, waiting for this delicious Pumpkin and Cep Mushroom tart to arrive. 

Next, for the main course, they brought out stuffed turkey with corn bread and chestnuts, roasted yams, brown sugar-glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, and gravy.

Although I ate alone, it definitely tasted like Thanksgiving. 

The dessert may not look like much, but this pecan pie with cinnamon mascarpone was quite possibly the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. After my first big bite, I slowed down and nibbled it. I didn't want it to end. Ever. 

Thank you Greg, Jana, and Jaylene for helping me forget about my budget for one day and enjoy one of the best tasting meals I've ever had. But more importantly, for forcing me to reflect on what is most important in my life: You, and all my other friends and family out there, who I miss now more than ever. In these three-and-a-half years I've learned that the best way to discover what you want out of life, is to leave everything you have. Obtaining that understanding of yourself is invaluable.

On Thanksgiving night, with the money I had left over, I bought a few things at the grocery store to take back to my hostel, an entire roast chicken, a few sides, and a small apple pie, to celebrate another time-honored American Thanksgiving Tradition, eating myself into a food coma.Thank you all so much!

First Day Exploring London

London didn't feel like London until I came out of the tube at Westminster Station...

...and stared up at Big Ben.

I crossed the River Thames for a view of the Houses of Parliament...

...where a bagpiper near the London Eye provided some ambiance.

Not as well known as the changing of the guards, but at The Household Division near 10 Downing Street, there is the changing of the horse guards.

Something in my brain lit up when I walked into a room of Van Gogh paintings at the National Gallery.

And again in a room of paintings by Monet...

Then Renoir

...and in a tiny room that only contained this single drawing by Lenodardo Da Vinci

And a couple thousand more.

I walked up to every painting in the gallery.

Although I'm not totally sure why, this was one of my favorites. A painting of a "man seated reading at a table in a lofty room" by an unattributed follower of Rembrandt from 1628-1630.

Not to mention that the building itself is art.

Back outside, I saw a man holding a sign. I didn't ask him if he had a reason to hold that sign, because I didn't want him to have a reason.

Maybe the sign holder simply wanted to people watch like me.  London is a great city for that. And for taking their picture without their permission. And posting it on the Internet. Hmm, is this weird?

I strolled passed the adjacent Trafalgar Square then decided I would walk in the direction where the highest percentage of people seemed to be going. At first this took me to a train station. Which made me realize it wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, so I bought a coffee and continued walking in the direction with the highest percentage of people not going to the train station.

This lead me to Leicester Square where I would find myself fifty feet from Angelina Jolie at a movie premiere.

The guards forced me to keep moving, so I tried to find another place to get a photo. I considered climbing a tree on the forbidden side of a barricade, but I didn't want to get arrested. I'd love the free room and board, but I had already paid for my room that night. She was on the other side of that wall. Curses! I'd have to be okay with getting a picture of her on that big screen over there.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I went back to the hostel on the London Underground.

As a man who doesn't normally care for cities, I find myself quite surprised by how much I'm going to miss London when I go.

Northampton to London

Inside a disused Oxendon railway Tunnel, which originally opened in 1859, you could barely see your hand in front of your face. At least until getting close to this pool of light on the ground halfway through the tunnel.

This is the outside of the Oxendon Tunnel.

This was my campsite outside Northampton. You wouldn't know it to look at it, but the area was covered in cow patties. I found a clean patch to setup my tent. After all, it was the middle of the night in a city. Prime sites like this aren't easy to find in that situation.

This bike path south of Northampton both made me want to stop for a photo and hum the song from Pee Wee's big adventure. La la la. Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm. La la la la la.

Living in "narrowboats" on Britain's rivers has become increasingly popular. Some are permanently moored, but others never stay in the same place more than a few days.  In some areas, the narrowboats have made the river look like a floating trailer park, but others are beautifully restored with potted gardens and solar panels on top.

Every form of minimalist lifestyle interests me.

This was the coldest night yet. I woke with a thin layer of ice on my tent. Nonetheless, I was still warm in my sleeping bag. It does make getting up rather difficult, though.

It was a crisp chilly morning along the river in Watford, heading toward London.

Thank you Steve and Cindy!

Thanks to my aunt and uncle in Washington for getting me a room at this Holiday Inn for the night. Although, just a quick bus ride to downtown London, I didn't leave this area full of shops, restaurants, and Wembly Stadium. Once I got into the room, took a long shower, laid down on that comfortable bed, I just didn't want to leave. This was a much needed bit of rest and luxury. Thanks again!

My Week with Megan and Chris

(Photo: Megan, Chris, and Izzy at Abbey Castle)

Although this trip was spontaneous and never properly planned, I knew of one stop I'd make since day one, visiting my friend Megan from Indiana, her husband Chris from England, and the new addition to their family, Izzy. What I didn't know when I left four months ago, was just how much I'd love being with someone from back home again, a familiar face who comes from the same place, knows some of the same people, gets my American references, and understands my cravings for American food.

(Photo: Izzy)

In addition to them taking me to their favorite restaurants, for the six days I stayed with them, Megan cooked anything I was craving. She even made buttermilk biscuits, something that is sadly missing from the British Isles.

(Photo: Meg and Izzy from atop Abbey Castle)

The following Sunday, we went to Chris's parents house for lunch. I loved everything about it, his English family, the traditional English meal, a roast with potatoes, gravy, Yorkshire pudding and spotted dick covered in custard for dessert (It's a thing, look it up).

With their English accents, dialect, and slang, I could have sat back and listened to their conversation for hours, which at one point got onto the subject of the Rosetta spacecraft's comet and the comet's size relative to Borg cubes.

(Photo: Me, Chris's mum and dad, Chris's sister Caroline, Meg, Izzy, and approximately 20% of Chris's head)

I actually didn't expect to stay much longer than the weekend, but when asked if I would be staying until Tuesday, so I could go with them to their favorite chippy (fish 'n' chips shop), I couldn't pass up another opportunity to spend time with this family.

Thank you all for everything. This was the highlight of all my time in England.

My First Days on a Bike

Two hours after sunset, the forecasted rain finally started to fall. I stopped on the side of the road to peer over a stone wall to see if the field on the other side was suitable for a tent. 

A series of shorter stone walls divided up the land into sections. The hoof-tilled mud and the scattered cow patties meant cow pastures. An open gate on one meant I’d likely be left alone and untrampled.

The issue was getting the bike over the first wall, which was five-feet high. I dropped my gear onto the other side and used the stones that jutted out to climb on top. I lifted the bike on top and balanced it on its side. I hopped down, feet sinking into the mud, and then pulled it the rest of the way over. 

It was initially very strange to pull away on my bike and not feel the pack on my shoulders. I'd have this split-second feeling that I forgot something important, like when you realize you don't have your seatbelt on when driving. When setting up camp, I had to get used to the fact that all my gear wasn't in the usually places. I didn't realize how much I had gotten used to a routine.

The next morning, I looked up and saw a herd of cows trudging toward me through the mud. That open gate I thought led outside, only lead to an adjacent pasture. I held up my hands and gave them a, “Woah," then a "Good morning, fellas. Please go away.” They looked at me briefly then ran back to where they came from. I have to say, commanding twenty tons of stampeding animals like a Jedi feels pretty good. 

I've never seen an aqueduct before, so had to stop for a photo

Here is the view from the top.

Testify!

Cobblestones are not the best surface to cycle on, but I loved this little hidden pathway in the city. I walked along side my bike and shared my cookies with the ducks.

Some days, cycling through England isn't all that different from hiking through it.

I know I'm not seeing the more remote English countryside on this route, but that was on purpose. I wanted to see the English towns and meet English people.

But whenever possible, I take the scenic route.

A lot of my route has been on repurposed disused railway lines

I had to stop for a photo. Doctor Who fans will know why.