So it has been quite a while since I updated this thing. It has been really hard to get any internet access in the last week or so. I've been all over the place and WiFi is a lot spottier than I thought it might be. I would love to upload some pictures to this, but I really don't know when I can do that as i'm not getting access with the netbook (I'm at an internet cafe now). SO what have I been up to?

Last week was spent with bodo and we had a great time. Koblenz, his home town, was a lot like home. His parents took me in as there own. Really good people with big hearts. Bodo was great and took me around and showed me the sights. But all good things come to an end and as Bodo found out he had a pretty big deadline in front of him it was time for me to give him some space. So I decided to take a side trip to London. Awesome.

So I booked plane tickets from duesseldorf to london, a B&B monday through friday and off I went! I also wanted to see Koln and Bath so I left Bodo thursday for Koln with bath planned for Saturday.

Koln was a nice city. A lot nice than I thought It was going to be on first arrival. Once you get off the train you are immediately greated with the Koln cathedral. Apparently it is the biggest in germany, I wouldn't be surprised as it was HUGE. I looked around a bit that afternoon, got a hotel, a meal and hit the hay. The next day I climbed the largest tower in the cathedral to get some photos and headed to the Ludwig museum.

So this is a modern art museum, and I liked it quite a bit! Truly a surprise for me. After leaving the museum I headed to a hotel in dusseldorf before the plane the next morning, saturday. So saturday I was flying to london, train to bath and then figuring out a place to stay. Well all went rather smoothly considering I had made no reservations except the plane. Feeling like it was smooth sailing, once I got into Bath I stopped at a tourist info place to ask about a room. I was literally laughed at. There were NO rooms that night due to a Rugby game.

So I set out towards the closest hostel to look for ANY bed. Turns out the only bed in the city that night was a 10 bed shared dorm room. Well that wasn't my first pick, but beggers can't be choosers. So that night I hit the pub for the rugby game and a meal and then back again with a couple guys from the hostel. All in all a good night.

The next day was my only full day in Bath and I wanderd the city seeing the sights. I did the roman bath museum and something a little interesting, Bizarre Bath. It was a comedy tour that night where a guy walked a group of us around town telling jokes about Bath. It wasn't half bad and something fun to kill the night with.

The next day it was off to London. Train in the morning, tube to the B&B. I was a little unsure about the Tube because I have heard so much about it, but with a little help from a guy on the train it easily became no problem. The train systems in Europe really do work well and are designed to make sense.

So I got to my B&B mid afternoon and was greated with open arms. Nicola, the women who own's the house is great. Probably in her late 50's and totally full of energy. The house is wonderful and the room is even better. So much nicer than the hostel bed the night before. So with more time than I thought I headed out into London for the afternoon.

So this city is so much different than I expected. At this point I'm not really sure what I thought it would be, but once I'm actually here, it is really a lot different. I guess it's like seeing anythig famous up close, you have a set idea in your mind and it is usually a bit off.

Today, tuesday, I really got a chance to see things. I saw parliament, london eye, westminster abby, the changing of the horse guards and the best of all the national art museum. Yeah that's right, ART MUSEUM. In the past I probably would have rather pulled my hair out than spend a few hours in a place like this, but today I really enjoyed it. They had van gogh, monet, leonard Divinci and a bunch of other paintings I remember from Art History class, yeah the one I almost failed. I couldn't help but think of Lauren all day. She would have died to have been here. It really was awesome.

So if you have actually read through all of this you are either, family or nuts, but that's the update! I'm really enjoying it here and learning a lot about myself and the world. It's great. I'm off to dinner with a friend from Cape Town tonight, so that will be nice. Hope I can update this thing a little sooner next time, talk to you all soon.

Cheers,

E