You can find Part 1 here.
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I arrived in London early on Friday morning, immediately getting lost in the beauty of the city. I wandered the streets of London until I finally gave up and flagged down a taxi and headed to my hostel. It was my first time in a foreign country, first time in a city of this size, first taxi ride, first time in a hostel. Somewhere between the ornate buildings and the beautiful parks I knew I was forever changed, forever after craving the city.
The first night I went out to explore the city. I boarded the subway and rode it till it felt as though I was leaving the city. I got off and rode the escalator to the surface. I was in a suburban community far beyond the sights of central London. I walked down the brick street till I stumbled upon a small cafe filled with locals. Beatles music drifting out of the front door of the cramped diner was a welcoming I couldn't resist. My first real meal in London, in a foreign country. It was some type of chicken covered in a thick white gravy, reminiscent of the southern cooking from back home.
After dinner I reboarded the subway and headed back to the central core. I walked the streets for the next few hours till retiring to the hostel for the evening. I met my roommates, all foreign workers who were now working in London and attempting to become citizens. They had cooked some food in our small room kitchenette and we sat down to watch Big Brother UK as we drank some orange soda.
The next day I woke up to the sound of the morning commuter trains rushing by outside our small window. I was soon back on the subway traveling the city. I explored all parts of the city before heading to the central area to see the touristy sites. I hopped on one of the sightseeing buses but decided walking would help me better understand the city.
The next 24hrs I took almost 900 pictures, mostly of the beautiful buildings and parks.
Mid-Afternoon I was in the agianst the river, near the London Eye. I asked a tourist to take this photo of me. In this very spot, seconds after the photo, my mother called me. "I'm sorry. You have to come home" It was in this exact moment that I found out my grandmother had passed away. As I was exploring London back home my father had went in to wake my grandmother to find she had passed away in her sleep. I have never felt as alone as I did in that moment. So far away from everybody, everything I knew, no way to comfort my parents and no one to comfort me. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone, trying to figure out how I was going to get home. I walked the streets of London, alone, in tears till late after the sun had set. I found a nice sit-down ice cream shop were I ate some ice cream to comfort myself.
Afterwards I went to a local pub in the West End area of the city. I went inside, sat down for a drink, and a lady walked up and I began talking with her. About 45mins later as we were both talking about living in America, she being from NYC and me from Orlando, a large black lady comes over and tells me I owe her money. I told her I had none and she began threatening me with jail and arresting me. She points to a small sign behind the bar that explains the ladies of the bar cost money and if you do not wish to pay them do not talk with them. I explained I had no money but soon a large black man was also there threatening me. They took my passport and told me I had 20mins or they were calling the cops. I ran to a ATM and got some money, when I came back I opened my wallet to get the money, the lady reached into it and took all my money and said "That will do"
I grabbed my passport, ran into the subway and literally got onto the first train that I saw. I was in tears, afraid, alone, and had no clue where I was headed. I waited 2 stops then got off the train. I was far from my hostel but decided I needed some time alone, so I walked back to the hostel in the middle of the night. It was a long, almost 3 hour, walk.
My roommates couldn't believe my story and confirmed that such actions were illegal, as I had expected.
The next morning I flew back to Tampa, a direct flight from London on British Airways. My roommate, Will, picked me up in Tampa and we headed back to Lakeland. My father met us there. Suprisingly my father seemed to be in good spirits. It was the first time my father and my roommate met.
I spent the next week at my parents house preparing for the funeral and helping them with all that a death entails. I spent the majority of my free time on the phone with Maggie.
By Friday my grandmother had been buried and I was ready to restart my European trip. That Friday my father took me to the airport. A tropical storm was bearing down on central Florida but surprisingly flights were still on track. I boarded my plane, tired and ready to escape to the other world I now found.
The plane queued up and in the rain began to take off. Our engines going and the front wheels lifted off the ground. I put my head back and closed me eyes. Then suddenly the planes brakes kicked in, the front of the plane smashing back on the runway, items from the overhead storage falling out and people screaming. We slid down the runway to very place it ends and we stopped. Within a certain amount of chaos there was silence. Then the pilot came on the speaker and explain that as we were taking off the wind kicked up and in the take off we had to make an emergency landing.
We were pulled backwards till the plane was able to turn around and go back to the end of the queue. We waited for 30mins or so. I sat in my chair and watched the storm outside, then we took off to NYC. Before I knew it I was back in London, this time staying in a dorm room.
I spent the next few days exploring more of London then boarded a train for Frankfurt. Because of a special I was able to get first class most of the way. I sat on a bullet train, eating a nice meal, looking out upon the french landscape.
By evening I was in Frankfurt and met a family of a friend who agreed to let me stay with them for the next two months. I crammed into the back of their small car and we on the Autobahn heading to the house before the sun was set.
They lived in a small village just outside Darmstadt in a decent size 2 bedroom town-home overlooking the village. Elliott was a local missionary pastor from Orange County, California. They had moved her a few years before and themselves integrating into the German culture. I spent the next 6 or so weeks living with them. They had a small two year old daughter who I quickly fell in love with.
Most of their work was with the local American military base.
Each day I woke up, left and explored what I could within a day. Germany was abuzz this summer as it hosted the World Cup, everywhere I went there were people. And each win happened there were people in the streets. Elliott and his wife also took me to many of the sights outside of the local transits reach. They were friends with some families from the base and we had many day trips with these families. We went to Koln, Heidelberg, Weimar and many smaller local attractions. I was also able to experience Germany from a more native view as we attended a wedding, a carnival, and many local churches. I also met up with some university students who attended the church Elliott led.
In these few weeks my views of the world and myself dramatically changed as these new experiences challenged me. I spent most of my days walking the streets of Darmstadt. I think I walked almost every street of this clean beautiful city. I used the trains and buses each day to explore new parts of the city and parts of Frankfurt.
After about 2 months or so of being in this area of Germany it was time to come home. I was quite homesick by this point, feeling very alone, and missing Maggie. I took a train to Paris. The train ride weaved through the small villages nestled into the mountains of southern Germany. It was the opposite of the earlier trainride, this one slow with many stops.
The next week I explored Paris. I unboared the train in a small station in the middle of the night. Security with machine gun style guns watched over the guest. I walked out into the dark street, it filled with trash. Less than 10mins later I witnessed a mugging directly in front of me, the person being mugged seemed prepared with a large black stick they used to beat the mugger and escape. My hostel was directly behind Moulin Rouge. A crepe stand at the back door of the theater was surrounded by the performers from the show. The district itself seemed to be a red-light style district that was in the midst of a gentrification. My first night in the hostel I stayed in a hotel room because the place was over-booked. I slept in a chair, two random strangers slept in the bed beside each other. All three of us being Americans we were quite surprised at how they booked us in a room together. I spent most of the night leaning out the small rooftop window of the room and watching the beautiful sparkling Eiffel Tower in the distance. I was finally in Paris, soon I would be back in America. I was homesick but also not ready to give up the big city lifestyle I had grown accustom too in Europe.
My first day in Paris I went to Disneyland Paris. It was the day of the World Cup, France vs Italy. I had all of Disneyland to myself. It was my first non-Orlando experince with Disney. I was happy to see the same quality of the Orlando resort but sad to see the small size of the park itself.
I left the park and watched the end of the big game on a screen outside of the Planet Hollywood in the Disney Marketplace. The train ride back to the hostel was insane. Fireworks going off in the train, people hollering, the train rocking back and forth. I got off the train and decided to walk back instead of staying on the insane train ride. I walked across Paris in the midst of the post-World Cup celebrations. It was by the craziest and scariest celebration I had ever seen. People everywhere, fireworks everywhere, fire, loud noises, police in riot gear and in the midst of it all here I was no clue where I was going, no clue what any of the people were saying. I was on the phone with Maggie, lost in the midst of the city, with a certain level of fear of the whole scene.
The rest of the week I explored Paris doing the touristy sights. Bike tours, walking tours, meeting other Americans on vacation. It was a nice time with many nights of hanging out with fellow backpackers. The city of Paris itself was such a let down. Compared to Germany with its clean streets and hospitable people Paris was a culture shock of trash and rudeness.
The last day I bored my train for the airport. The train was weaving its way through the suburbs at a large speed before slamming on the brakes. The engingneer came on the speaker and said something in French. The lady sitting across from me, also an American, asked if I knew French. "No." "He said a person a just jumped in front of the train and killed themselves, it will be a few minutes to clean up the body." We sat there for around an hour or so, conversing, as we waited. Soon we began to slowly moving, looking out the window I was surprised to see the dead mangled body laying on the side of the tracks with police around it. It seemed as though they just pulled the body off the front of the train and let us go by, not covering the body or even washing the blood off of the train itself.
I was soon at the airport and but the choas of Paris was going to have one last roar. As we unboarded the trains there were many people at the gates trying to get into the airport. The airport was without power so all electric items were down. This included the gates to get out of the train statation, the check-in computers, the luggage system, and even the toilets. The lines were long and by the time I checked in it was well past the time my plane was to leave. We were given hand-written tickets and had to carry our luggage to the plane ourselves, luckly all I had was my backpack and one small bag.
By the time our plane left I had befriended the other passengers, including the lady from the train ride. Soon we were in the air and I was headed back to America.
This seems like a good place to leave off. I should get the next part up within a few days. This series is taking much much longer than expected, sorry about that. But i must admit there are only a few more major highlights. Until then, thanks for reading.
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