After months of planning, weeks of waiting and an 8-½ hour plane ride, we were finally there!  We arrived in London, England at 8am with a full day of sightseeing ahead of us.  We were greeted at the airport by our British friend, Ian who was kind enough to let us stay with him during our European Vacation.

We drove off from the airport in a flash and sped through the streets of England at high speeds on the wrong side of the road!  We arrived at our friend’s flat, a townhouse on the outskirts of England in about an hour and since it was 4AM in the United States we decided to rest before our big day. 

After a much-needed nap, we were off to see the sights. Public Transportation in England is the primary way to get from place to place so we became experts at taking the tube (subway).  “Mind the gap”, the pre-recorded voice on the subway intercom would say to caution travelers of the gap between the platform and the train. Our first stop of course was an English pub.  Cheers, to our arrival, with two warm beers. After our toast, Ian toured us around the most popular attractions including the House of Parliament, Piccadilly Circus and the Queen’s Gardens.

On day two of our trip we got to see Buckingham Palace, One Downing Place, West Minster Abbey and had lunch in the park.  We had beautiful weather, an Indian Summer I heard it called.  Not a cloud in the sky.  We closed the evening by attending a traditional English Beer Festival.  The libations of the event, warm beer! 

Days three and four we met up with some friends from Norway and Austria that flew into London especially to see us. Also, an English chap from Bristol met us along the way.  A tour of Buckingham Palace and a ride on the London Eye filled these days with many beautiful sights and great fun with our friends.  We couldn’t leave England without having a traditional English Breakfast, Fish and Chips, Indian cuisine and Lots of Tea!

No sooner did we get our bearing in London, than it was off to Munich, Germany to partake in their world famous OktoberFest!  Rides, Food, Games and tents full of cold Beer!  People danced on the tables, sang, and ate and drank from morning till night.  We were surprised at how friendly and welcoming everyone was to two young Americans such as ourselves.  We felt right at home and were able to communicate quite easily with many of the German festival goers.  What a Blast!

Our last days in Europe we decided to take the bullet train to Paris, France.  After a quick 2-hour jump across the channel we arrived in the home of the Eiffel Tower. We spent a whirlwind day trying to get in all the sights and before we knew it, it was time to board the train back to London.

With a tour schedule of three countries in 10 days we were quite exhausted.  After some brief shopping, we spent our last night in London chatting with our friend over a cup of English Breakfast Tea.  We talked till the wee hours of the morning as if we didn’t want it to end.  We’ll always remember the night and what a wonderful time we had on our European Vacation.

Thank you Ian for all your hospitality! Thanks you Ove, for taking a long trip from Norway to visit with us, and thank you to Robert from  Austria...  You guys made our trip a memory we will have for a life time!  Until we meet again..... Cheers!