Finally, some internet.
May 28, 2009
Well, there was no free internet at our London hotel, so I wasn’t especially motivated to write for the blog. However, I did draft one entry upon my arrival so I figured I’d post that now.
“It is approximately 2:30 US time (7:30 London time) and my beautiful fiancée and I have just arrived at our hotel. Unfortunately, we cannot check in for five more hours. On the bright side, this inconvenience affords me some time to draft an entry.
There’s something about this city that seems strangely familiar. I have been here only once before when I was about twelve years old. You would think that I wouldn’t have been able to absorb much of the environment at that age, however, it seems that I did. The architecture that makes up the London cityscape feels homey for reasons that I don’t quite understand. Everything here is, to put it simply, epic and wonderful. The general class of the city seems, in some way, superior to that of any American city that I’ve spent any time in. The citizenry presents with a kind of unspoken pride that one does not often find among those back in the states. There is a general aesthetic presence in this city that, at least for me, encourages real inspiration. I feel comfortable here and in awe of the products of humanity for the first time in a while.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness-esque writing, I haven’t been able to sleep and I am currently overwhelmed (in a good way). More later.”
That’s it. The good news is that we are now in Paris and our hotel has free wireless so I’ll be making more frequent entries (I hope).
I have only ever been in Europe for about 12 wonderful days in Germany and the Czech Republic, but those were my impressions. Everything is on a different scale. History has a different meaning. And there’s something terrifically liberating and wonderful about walking down the sidestreets, winding and intersecting with none of the logical, grid-like structure of the American block. There’s also a different way of orienting oneself in Europe. I intentionally got lost in different districts, and I found that the most interesting architecture and locations were (for very salient historical reasons) all surrounding the churches. Hence my rule of direction: Follow the tallest, neatest looking steeple.