Hearing languages of all kinds all around me.  The predominant language changing as we move from country to country.  It is like song to my ears. 

This church was build in 1822 and replaced an ancient building with Saxon arches and Norman work.  The current walls follow the medieval church layout and the original vaults remain under the present floor.  King Henry 1 refers to it so they know the original structure dates back before 1184.     This church houses a painting of The Last Supper which is considered a national treasure.  It was presented to the Royal Chapel in 1660 The choir sings in this beautiful chapel.

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my bucket list items for this trip was to have English tea in England.  Boy Howdy did we do that in style!  It was accomplished in a pub that is older than my country and with a view looking out at Windsor Castle.  Yes, THAT Windsor Castle, the worlds oldest and largest inhabited castle.  The one you see on shows like The Crown and a bazillion others.  We are specifically at the western end of Windsor looking across the street to the Curfew Tower which was built between 1227 and 1230.  The walls are said to be 13 feet thick at the base and are 100 feet high.  After lunch I made a bee line for the tower wall.  I did for the first time what I did many times during this trip - put my hands on the wall of some ancient edifice and listened.   I have done this many times with rocks, mountains and nature in general, always finding an old and wise voice.  But I had never done it to an ancient ...

British pounds for London.  Swiss Franks for Switzerland.  Europes for everything else.  I'm sitting in a London pub (across from Windsor Castle no less) ready to make my first purchase of the trip and I pull out all of my seed money.  About $60 of each.  They are all pretty and new, with some cool colors and shiny bits.  But I have no idea what's what.  Maybe I shouldn't have mixed them all together.  Ooops...  My sister Sandy, the world traveler, comes to my aid and all is well.  I can do this!  (Sandy, don't ever leave me!!)

I've been home from my Europe tour a week and I've been in a funk.  I'm tired.  The fast and furious pace from beginning to end took it's toll on me, but that's not it.  I miss Europe.  I miss my new friends.  I miss the students.  I miss being with my brother and sister.  I miss Europe.  My mind keeps flitting back and forth between my two worlds - Europe trip and my "normal" life.  I can't seem to land on just one.  I can't seem to determine which one I want to live in.  I'm depressed. 

I crossed the 10,000 page view mark!  It still blows my mind that anyone reads this little blog of mine.  But according to Google, Pageviews all time history 10,036

Between major connectivity problems and intense lack of time, I scraped the "blog as I go" plan and took major notes and photos to compose at a later date.  I got back to Boise last night from Europe and plan to use the month of August to process and post an extraordinary experience - one I shall never forget.  (To be accomplished all before fall semester starts!)