Some final thoughts on the grand European tour of 2005:

• We did a lot. London, Edinburgh, Vienna and Budapest in 12 days. We had a nice little wind-down toward the end of the trip that kept us from being completely wiped out when we returned to Toronto…but we’re still pretty tired.
• The German poo-shelf toilet is truly an unnecessary and diabolical invention. If you don’t know what the poo-shelf toilet is, click here.
• I loved Vienna. Loved loved loved it. It’s clean, it’s beautiful, it’s friendly, and it has Hugo Boss shops on every other block. I got a distinct feeling of similarity between Austria and Canada in that both countries are overshadowed by their superpower neighbour, whose culture tends to dominate (or at least permeate) their own. I want to go back some day. Also, this has increased my already strong desire to visit Switzerland.
• Budapest I liked a little less, though I wonder how much of that was the halo effect from the unfortunate transit experiences we had arriving and leaving.
• Edinburgh was very much a hot and cold thing for me. Parts of it I loved, other parts I didn’t like at all. Nellie’s right, I think it’s very much like Halifax; if you live there for a while you get to know all the cool spots and learn the real charm of the city, but if you’re just visiting you may only see the less-than-flattering aspects. But what we saw, and what we saw of Scotland in general, was still a great experience. Same goes for the English countryside.
• London’s in my thoughts today, obviously. Two days ago we were wandering the streets where the bombs went off this morning. Yesterday we were chagrined at being on an express train when the Olympic announcement was made and we couldn’t share the moment. My brother and his girlfriend are there…safe, but surely shaken. I have the utmost faith in London’s ability to cope and rebound, but for now the attacks five time zones away seem too close to home by far.
• Speaking of my brother and his girlfriend, we’re tremendously grateful for everything they did. Hosting, organizing, driving, collaborating, laughing, guiding, providing…they made a great trip exceptional. Our memories will be as much of them as of the places we saw.
• The cats are frickin’ ecstatic that we’re back. One of them slept on my head all night.

That’s about it. Pictures are forthcoming; I dumped nearly 900 onto my hard drive. We’ll sort through them and put the good ones on display…somewhere.

I forgot about these pictures. I took them of some early-morning infomercial. I’m pretty sure they’re an indication of just how koo koo bananas society’s become.

Hey, Zoilus linked me. That’s pretty cool. Granted, there’re roughly 80,000 links on that page, but still…

Cool. Google makes it easier to do currency conversions.

Just checking the movie listings now that I’m back in town…Saving Face hit theatres here in Toronto last week. You should really go check it out.

“I had shoes like that during the revolution!”

Jesus. As all news agencies are now reporting, London’s been hit with a series of bomb attacks. Obviously we’re home and safe. I spoke with my brother; he and his girlfriend are safe as well.

The more I think about this, the shakier I feel. I was at or very near some of those stations just two days ago. In fact, yesterday as we were leaving my wife said she wished we were staying for a few extra days, in part to celebrate the city winning the 2012 Olympics.

Stay tough, London. We’re thinking of you.

We’re home. All went smoothly with the return flight. Now we’re just trying to stay awake long enough to get our bodies back on eastern time.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 down. The walk to the tube and through Victoria station carrying two giant suitcases (Nellie overpacked) wasn’t the funnest, but the Gatwick express train was pretty sweet and the check-in took seconds. Some fast food and magazines before going through security; we learned from our Vienna flight and bypassed the security queue for the lone guy over in the corner. Fastest, friendliest security check ever.

So now we’re just waiting to board.I have two diverse magazines (The Economist and GQ) to occupy me, and my Nomad to entertain me. S’go!!

We’re about to enter the home stretch now. Here’s the plan: short walk to tube station, tube to Victoria station, express train to Gatwick, flight to Toronto, taxi home. Somewhere in there is a lot of waiting before our flight, as well as at the luggage carousel. I reckon the whole trip should last about 13 hours.