Here We Go! Days 68-73 (Lon-DONE!)

For the last stop on this grand adventure of a summer, we took a nice train ride through the English countryside from Glasgow to London. Most of my time in London was spent trying to keep myself from making silly remarks in a bad English accent, but we got a few other things done.

We so fancy! We took the opportunity to see a couple of super-American musicals. Hamilton was interesting, and my favorite character was definitely King George (and it was a special treat to see him in London). The Book of Mormon was out-of-control funny in the most uncomfortable ways.

Of course, spent a couple of days on the big bus, touring around (very slowly) and seeing some of the sights. The view from a boat on the Thames was probably my favorite.  

Other than that, we at a lot of food, I was able to track down a few more places that sell my new favorite beer, and we enjoyed getting to know the little part of Soho where we stayed.

Then, it was back on the plane for an 8 AM arrival in Lahore. I'm getting used to the heat, the smells, the people, the creeping work-stress...

What an adventure this summer has been! Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Here We Go! Days 61-67 (Do I have to glasGo home?)

The less said about the transit from the islands, through Lisbon, to Glasgow, the better (FYI: if life ever asks the question "What about Ryanair?", the smart answer is "Hell no!").

Who loves Glasgow? We do! Beautiful little city, nicely set up for walking, great food, lots to do.

This is what it looks like. Everywhere.

Botanical Gardens provide some new fruits and flowers.

Went downtown one day, got some street food, heard some drums, then this shit started happening!

Super crazy parade action! Marching bands! Community groups! Dance troupes! Steampunk strollers! Just a blast of creative humanity in our faces. We had no idea this was going on, but we got a front row seat.

Apparently, we'd stumbled into Festival 2018, a sort of side project for Glasgow's hosting of the European Championships (like summer Olympics for Europe). A big part of this weekend was these traveling bands from all over the world that did crazy drum and jazz numbers all over the city for the rest of the day (and the next day). We just walked around, followed the sounds, and saw some amazing performances right on the street.

We left this day feeling exhilarated. It was really just a celebration of beauty and humanity and difference that you can only get in a city that gets itself and welcomes the rest of the world in. As I was looking through the pics from the day and thinking about how it made me feel, I noticed some of this feeling coming through in the faces of the people who got caught up in my photos. Here's a bucketfull of exuberance and happiness for ya! (The cop really wanted to smile; I could tell. Plus, he was surrounded by people in purple and blue/green leotards with their faces painted orange dancing and playing the drums! Who wouldn't be smiling!)

If I forget everything else that happened this week, may the universe let me remember that day. Who cares what else we did?

Thanks Glasgow!