Back In The USSR

Hey all,

We're back in Cardiff after a gruelling day of travel from Paris. Paris was a very cool town, of course, but I'm afraid we had reached our saturation point by then, so all the mind-blowing architecture, art and whatever else was a bit lost on us.

One fun thing was seeing the tomb of Napoleon (pictured above). It's in a huge church thingy, and looks like it's a huge, simple shape made of plastic. Really it's polished stone (some weird red stone that the French liked to use called poryphyry), and definitely would have been a wonder in the pre-plastic days. Still, I had to laugh at his big plastic tomb. I guess it took 21 years to make the thing and its surroundings.

That's all you get to hear about Paris. Oh, and that we went up the Eiffel Tower, and to the Louvre, and all that other touristy stuff that you'd expect. It was all fun, and overly crowded!

We left Paris by bus. The bus went straight to London, including a ferry, an immigration parking lot (one of our passengers didn't get through), and other fun stuff. The ferry went from Calais (where we saw the famous beaches of Normandy) to Dover (The white cliffs were really pretty). It wasn't too long. We got to London at around 6:00, right during rush hour, and the tube was INSANE. It sucked. We made it to our train station in a mad rush, and finally got on a train. They didn't let people on the train until 5 minutes before it was to leave (I guess it took extra time to prepare it), so when they finally announced the platform, there was stampede of people in business clothes running ahead of us to get on. I can see why people hate London's pace. It would be ok, as long as you weren't ever in a hurry.

Exhausted, we enjoyed some refreshingly well-priced Strongbows very much and watched the dark night go by.

It was nice to hit the pillow in Cardiff.

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I'm not sure I've ever mentioned our host in Cardiff, Desmond. Nicole's cousin, Desmond has been totally incredible. The best host one could ever ask for, and nearly too generous for his own good. I'd like to publicly thank him for his wonderful hospitality. He's left to his other house now, so we have the place alone, but we miss him.

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I'm now officially scrambling to find a job in Cardiff. I've all but given up on Archaeology, and have set my sights on a job I've seen advertised. I would be working at a halfway house/day centre for people with acquired brain injuries, doing various activities. Cooking, playing music, going on field trips, going to the gym, and pretty much helping these people get back on track. It sounds right up the Easter Seal alley that I really enjoyed, and I think it would be great. I'll call tomorrow about it.

Anyway, I've blabbed enough. Hope it wasn't boring. See you all later!

Luke