Home

Home at last! It's wonderful to be back. I got a solid 12 hours of sleep last night. When I woke up, I was confused about where I was and my first thought was "Where do I need to be today and how am I going to get there?" It was a relief to realize the answers were "church" and "drive."

I played bass this morning, which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but it was the kids Christmas program today so there was an unusual amount of activity and preparation before the service. Instead of having 45 minutes to practice, we only had about 10. I wasn't feeling very confident about the songs, so I just turned down the volume on my amp and figured the kids would be cute enough to distract everyone, and nobody would care very much about the bass.

Oh, I wanted to share a couple of pictures from London. It ended up being a really fun night! Reed was an excellent tour guide. I got to ride in the top of a double-decker bus (what?! no driver on the top?), see some famous works of art in the London National Museum, which is free and open to the public (and fortunately, open late), ride the tube plenty, see Big Ben, and walk and walk and walk. Part of the walking was due to Reed's quest to find a particular pub he wanted to visit. It was a little tricky to find, but in the end we made it and I got to experience some rowdy British nightlife.

I was amazed by the number of people. You can kind of tell by the photo above how packed the sidewalks were. Part of it may have been the season and partly that it was a Friday night, but there was a non-stop, heavy stream of people everywhere we went. And walking so fast! It was like Rome on speed.

One thing about the abrupt cultural change made me laugh. I had gotten used to the Italian way of never forming any lines, just pushing ahead until you get to the counter or ticket booth or whatever it is you need. When I got to the hotel from the airport shuttle bus, I waited at the front desk and suddenly realized there was nobody around me. Confused, I turned around to see where everyone had gone, and lo and behold they were lined up behind me! I've got a picture to prove it.

I suppose this is my last post. Thank you all for joining me on my travels! Ciao!!