brainsplotch

We're standing here at Gate 14 for NYC/JFK because there really is no place to sit. Our flight was delayed three hours, so we'll be spending tonight at, presumably, the 1962 mid-century modern TWA Airport. Then we fly out early tomorrow to, wait for it, Columbus, Ohio where we have a two hour layover until we make our last leg to Detroit. Then the one hour or so drive to Okemos. It's gonna be a long few days of travel. I can't tell if Edinburgh Airport is small and just feels busy because it's Saturday, or if it's always this busy. The place is crawling with people today.

Monday, we took the train from Liverpool to York. I can at least say I passed through Manchester and Leeds on the way to York. York itself is an ancient city with Roman walls still circling it. The walls are accessible for walking and offer a tremendous vantage point. We also toured York Minster, which was incredible. Not that I am any expert on the grand cathedrals of Europe, but York Minster ranks right up there with ones I have seen like Westminster and Notre Dame.  We also walked down the Shambles, a winding street the resembles Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books. It plays up the similarity, with a few Harry Potter/magic-themed shops. It's just a tad touristy. (Like we somehow aren't tourists, too? I really should quit with this elitist attitude). We retired to our hotel, where there was an open mic music event taking place downstairs. The music was, shall we say, of varying quality. (But I respect anyone willing to put themselves out there). We had a few cocktails t...

Every shower in every hotel or airbnb varies in size and to what degree a PhD in engineering is required to either a) turn it on, b) get the hot water to work without giving oneself third degree burns, or c) both. Negotiating how to get to and from every train station and whether walking is an option: this is an adventure. Realizing unequivocally that Europe's public transportation system is a thousand times better than the United States' and that isn't likely to change in my lifetime. The "see it, say it, sorted" public service announcements at the UK train stations will be in my head for awhile. Aside from the first few episodes of Dept. Q on Netflix when we were relaxing in our hotel our first night in London and some of the Isle of Wight festival whilst in Liverpool, we have barely watched any television here. That said, it's gonna drive me nuts if I don't find out if the heart attack victim survived and woke from her coma in the emergency 999 reality ...

Backtracking to London... We had a whirlwind stay in London. Our one full day, we walked across Hyde Park to the Victoria & Albert Museum and spent almost the entire afternoon there. It was the one major museum we didn't make it to in 2023, so it was thrilling to get there this time around. The collection of artwork and sculpture there is astounding, and one can almost feel the presence of ghosts from the Victorian era in the old building, which also still bears the visible scars of the blitz during the Battle of Britain. I wore my Brandi Carlile t-shirt and we bumped into some American Brandi fans at the V&A who were in London primarily for the concert. These fans invited us to a pre-show get-together at the Gloucester Arms. (We considered it, but didn't end up going). After we finished at the V&A, we walked back across Hyde Park to our hotel, charged up our phones a bit, grabbed dinner in the Aubaine Restaurant adjoining the hotel, then trekked back across Hyde Pa...

As I write this in our room at the Hard Day's Night Hotel (don't laugh--it's actually much classier than the name might imply, though does have a definite Beatle theme), we can hear loud dance music pumping outside. It's Saturday night in Liverpool and this place parties louder and harder than any city I've ever experienced. And I mean the entire city centre. Every pub and restaurant blasts music and people are everywhere drinking, singing karaoke, and in some cases wearing dressy, shiny clothes. Glowering bouncers/doormen stand out these places looking menacing. In my first day ever in Liverpool, I'm trying to get a grasp of the place, but am not successful so far. Not to say that this is a bad place at all, but it operates at a frequency that I am not attuned to yet. I'll have to see if it calms down at all tomorrow, which is a Sunday.  After wandering around the area surrounding the hotel and not finding a restaurant that didn't look crowded, insanely...

If you think TSA is stressful, just go through the security checkpoint for the Eurostar from France to England: find Hall 2, present ticket to intimidating, uniformed French authorities, go up escalator to Hall 2, wait in line, scan passport, go through gate, cram all belongings into baggage, scan passport again, send baggage through x-ray, hope you didn't forget to take off your belt with metal buckle (I did), pass through body scanner again and pray. Success! Thank British authority. Take several deep breaths of elation and relief. Then pray you can find all the stuff you hastily crammed in your luggage. When you find them, take several more deep breaths of elation and relief. In conclusion, pretty please with sugar on top: rejoin the EU, UK!