As someone who has spent a majority of their life in that special geographic pocket situated snuggly between New York City and Philadelphia affectionatly known as the lehigh valley, which harbors such small cities as allentown bethlehem and easton, i have suprisingly spent little or no significant amount of time exploring the concret- sidewalks-man-made jungles-The City. It is important to note i've also, more than once, struggled on the side of some lonely mountain to erect a tent in the rain, praying silently, or yelling outloud if there is any suspicion of hail, for the thunder clouds to hold off just until i can figure out how to peice together the color coded poles and find the stakes for the tent. (i admire those who can build immense structures from nothing.) For these, and most likely, many other reasons i was truly intrigued
by three days in a city the size of London. Edinburgh, was the first time i realized how a city can dominate a landscape and when i look at london in the same manner, it becomes a testament to the intellect and power of Man. however, like any cynical victorian I am somewhat distraught. The city is beautiful and it is an incredible center of intellectual discourse, yet riding the tube below the busy streets of london and rushing through crowded squares one senses a loss of individuality and one feels rather more like a cog in the machine than an operator of that machine or even themselves; the city. But this is all rather cliche and dull and depressing and london is just a really big amazing place with enough going on to keep a person busy for a lifetime. my three days, really more like two, and these few paragraphs will attempt (quite vaugely) to sum up everything you ever needed or wanted to know about london, england, the city, and life in general.
I suppose it began thursday afternoon when i walked down to the national express coach station in Leeds. i carried a book of plays by
Oscar Wilde that i began to read while i waited for joyce, who on her way to visit a friend in kenya decided to visit friends who are currently residing in the UK. apparently, as you do. after two nights of hobnobbing around leeds involving a necessary visit to the basement, walks down briggate, an interesting spanish resturant, and watching episodes of Friends at anna's flat, we boarded a bus early saturday morning. 4 hours later london engulfed the coach. and i was never seen again...would be a good start for the making of a sci fi novel...but we just stayed with some friends in london. Saturday night: thai resturant, servers who seem to insist i order a drink, subtle flashbacks to the chinese place in edinburgh, and a play by eugene o'neil, moon for the misbegotten i belive, starring kevin spacey. cheap seats mean you see half the stage and stretch around the guy who is actually standing in front of you so he can see himself, if you wish to see any more. it was however fantastic. Sunday: awake early for tourism, buckingham palace, cafe,
Charles Dickens house. i stand looking out his window at his backyard. Dickens is larger than life, his back patio was quite small. tower bridge. big ben, note the red phone booth, double decker bus and big ben all in one photo, every conception of london. art museum, natural history museum, dinosaurs, the tube, i'm in the westminster abbey coffee club. a christmas service at st. pauls cathedral. man has created his own wide open spaces contained within structures like this cathedral. much more that i've
missed. Monday: millenium bridge, very cool. the globe theater, The Tate Modern. i could only wander for 40 minutes before leaving joyce to board a bus back to leeds, but in that short time saw photographs by sherman, paintings by dali, picasso, pollock, monet and wow. london is great. very expensive, very intense, a cultural conglomeration. essentially its a crazy place and i'm learning to appreciate the city. the cafes, the pigeons, the unfriendly people, the museums, the friendly people, sidewalks and dirty sidestreets, long wide broadstreets, the gritty underground,
the expensive coffee(note: i don't appreciate, and never will appreciate, the expensive coffee. just on principle.), cathedrals and used bookstores, street performers, homeless, lawyers, bus drivers, kids on skateboards, bright sun reflected on steel bridges, even the rain that falls quite differently; a cultural conglomeration, london, the city, gain a new perspective, such is life.
Christmas in Amsterdam. with kyle and anna, staying in the Bed and Coffee which didn't entirly live up to its fantastic name; even if they did provide a bed and coffee, they also managed to decorate our room with disco balls, pyschadelic light fixtures, and colorful paintings of pigs. the
Brussels light show gave christmas eve some true spirit and glorious grid stamped fried dough dusted in powdered sugar or dripping with 
chocolate; the belgium waffel steaming just in spite of the cold december, well its really good. 
it can even be explained, 
I wouldn't 
believe it unless I saw it.
way from home. 
We meander through the ruins of the Foro Romano and my tour guide, the one and only matthew foley, nonchalantly points out a small structure he tells me is the belly button of the world. I've been in Rome for almost a week now with travels to pisa and Firenze (italian)(florence, in latin, matt explains they both mean flower). essentially i'm prepared to calmly wrap my mind around the incredible (michelangelos David, leaning towers, basilica di santa croce, italy, americans in italy, the vatican museum, three euro gelato, the pantheon) but the belly button of the world takes a few moments to sink in. this changes everything. i stand on stone at the place the romans believed was the center of the world and frankly i suddenly feel kind of important. at that moment my perspective shifts and i'm looking out at the world 
