Day 10: Paris

This morning I got to have my first real European adventure.  Everyone was supposed to meet in the hotel lobby at 9:30 am for our business visit.  The plan was to take the subway together to the Paris Ward building to meet with our presenter.  A little after our appointed time, Paul realized that my roommate, Justin, had never come down to the lobby.  He sent me up to know on the door and hurry him along.  I ran up the stairs and knocked twice on the door to our room.  When there was no response, I figured he must have come back downstairs.  Knowing we were running late, I took off down the stairs to meet the rest of the group.  When I got to the bottom, everyone was gone.  At first I was kind of ticked off that they took off without me.  But, as the frustration slowly began to fade away, it was replaced with excitement.  I thrive off of adventures in travel situations, and this was surely going to be an adventure.  I walked out to the main road to see if I could see anyone from the group, but no one was there.  Initially, I decided to try my best to follow the directions Paul had shared and took off walking.  After walking for a block and not seeing the subway station that was supposed to be on my left, I decided I would need a little more help.  So, I returned to the hotel and talked to the lady at the desk.  She pointed me in the general direction and I took off working towards the Subway stop.  When I got there, I could not buy my ticket because the machine would not accept 50 Euro notes and that was all I had.  That meant I had to walk back out of the station and buy breakfast in order to make change for the ticket.  I thought for sure I was going to miss the entire visit.  Although it crossed my mind just to take off by myself, I decided to keep going on to try and catch up with the group.  Thankfully, the Subway system is really similar to the ones in New York and London.  With the help of the desk attendant and my own knowledge of the Subway system, I was able to easily find my way to the correct stop.  Finding my way from the stop to the church building was a different story.  When I exited the subway station, I honestly had no idea where to go.  Thankfully, I started walking in the right direction and found the street of the church building a block down.  This time, I did not turn the right way.  But, Heavenly Father had my back.  I ran into a companionship of missionaries who were walking down the street.  It felt so nice to see a pair of friendly faces.  They were headed towards the church building with a man who introduced himself as our presenter.  Sigh of relief.  I had not missed anything.  The Paris Ward building is tucked away in a little alley and housed in a large, old Parisian style building with a courtyard in the middle.  The building also doubles as home to the mission offices, which is where our presentation took place.  I was the first one to arrive from the group and I was completely shocked that no one else was there.  They all showed up about ten minutes later.  None of them even realized I was not with them.

Our business presenter is a member of the church who works for the OECD.  His responsibilities include heading up the economic development in Korea and Japan.  The job sounds interesting but he used a ton of graphs and economic jargon that had me pretty confused.  This visit went much better than the visit at the European Commission.  As we discussed afterwards, someone brought up the fact that all of us being members of the Church automatically creates a sense of trust that was not present in the other visit.  What a blessing it is to have that connection anywhere we go in the world.

After the visit, I went with a group to tour the catacombs.  The line was over two hours long!  I'm not sure I would wait that long again.  The catacombs were cool but I don't think I was in the mood to really appreciate them.  To me, they seemed like piles of bones in a never ending maze of underground tunnels.  The bones lined both sides of the corridor and were stacked about shoulder high.  All we could see were femurs and skulls; I'm not sure what they did with the rest of the bones.  The sheer magnitude of the catacombs was impressive.  The tunnels are home to six million human bones.  There is a certain sense of reverence as you think about the legacy of all those humans who call the catacombs their final resting place.  I'm glad I went, but I probably won't do it again.

From the catacombs we ventured off to find lunch.  We rode the subway to the Champs de Elysee and ate dinner at McDonalds.  Normally, I would not do this in France, but we wanted the novelty of being able to eat on the most expensive street in the world and McDonalds was the only place we could afford.  The only other thing we did was walk back the the Arch de Triomph at the end of the street.  By that time we had to get back to the hotel.  Paul gave us an early curfew because we have been running so hard the past few days.  I am really thankful for that.

Day 9: Brussels and Paris

We had a business visit this morning at the European Commission.  I was really excited to go, but left feeling a little disappointed.  The lady who presented is in charge of a committee about corporate social responsibility.  First off, this is not something I am familiar with.  The whole concept of corporate social responsibility is passing legislation to encourage companies to make decisions that are socially responsible.  I can understand why this would be important, but I had a few issues with the content of our presenter.  For starters, her committee did not seem to have any clear goals.  When we asked questions about that she danced around our questions and would never give a straight answer.  The way she responded made it seem to us that she was not very knowledgeable and that her job was not very important.  I think she also had some problems with us.  She seemed to notice right off the bat that many members of the group were having a difficult time staying awake.  I got the feeling that she was ticked off because of this.  Overall, it was not the best experience for both parties and I am thankful it is over.

After grabbing some lunch in the town square, we boarded the bus and made our way to Paris.  The trip went really well until we got about 10 kilometers outside of the city.  That is when traffic came to a complete stand still.  This was our first experience with Parisian traffic.  It took us nearly an hour to go one kilometer (which is less than one mile).  Everyone was getting really restless on the bus and finding creative ways to entertain themselves.  Three of the guys started running in place in the aisle.  This turned into a game with Patrick, the bus driver.  He would put on the gas, which would make the guys go backwards, and then then brake which would fling them forward.  It was pretty hilarious to watch and helped to pass the time.

My first impression of Paris was not a very good one.  The first thing I noticed was the stench that seemed to be everywhere.  I soon came to realize that we were not staying in a very nice part of town.  There are two bums that live right outside the front door of our hotel.  I was feeling a little disappointed until Patrick took us on an evening bus tour of the city.  This is something that is not part of his job, but something that he wanted to do.  Patrick is an awesome guy.  His tour helped me to see the beauty of Paris that I have always imagined.  He drove us around to all of the big sites, which is an amazing feat in and of itself.  The roads in Paris are absolutely crazy!  The craziest one I saw is the circle that goes around the Arc de Triomphe.  There are no defined lanes so people enter and exit the circle anywhere they want.  Patrick charged right on in there with the bus and almost gave me a heart attack.  It was an adrenaline rush to say the least.

The other sites were impressive, but nothing quite as impressive as the Eifel Tower.  For whatever reason, this is the thing I most wanted to see in Europe.  There is something romantic to me about the Eifel Tower.  It did not disappoint.  Patrick dropped us off so we would have an hour to explore.  I think I could sit and watch the Eifel Tower all night.  At 10:00 the tower began to light up to the applause of everyone seated on the lawn n front of it.  At 11:00 it started to sparkle, adding to the magic of that is Paris.  I cannot wait to come back here and climb to the top.  That is one of the top three things I want to do in Europe.  I am so excited for my stay in this city.  It is going to be amazing!

Day 8: Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, Brussels

I retract any statement I have made over the past few weeks about being tired.  I don't think I ever experienced true tiredness until this morning.  It has been our second 5:00 am day in a row.  We got up that early to make it to the Aalsmeer flower auction in Amsterdam.  This is the biggest flower auction in the entire world.  Within an hour, millions of flowers trade hands and are shipped out to be sold throughout the world.  You enter the facility and walk along a cat walk above the warehouse floor where all the flowers are sitting on big crates, waiting to be displayed in front to the buyers.  In some ways, it looks like a colorful jungle.  The auction itself takes place at the end of the cat walk.  Each of the buyers sits at a desk in what looks like an auditorium while each crate of flowers is wheeled past.  A large clock sits on the wall that shows the price.  They conduct their business in a "Dutch" auction style.  This means that the price starts high and then drops.  This seemed kind of counterintuitive to me, but Paul explained that sellers prefer this style of auction because it requires buyers to act more quickly, and often sells items at a higher price.  A large window separates the public from the auction floor.  I don't think I have ever seen as many flowers in my life as I did today.

After the flower auction, we stopped in the little town of Delft.  I had never heard of Delft before, but apparently it is the place where all of the blue pottery is made.  This is the most picturesque, idyllic town I have ever visited.  The town square looks like something that would have come straight out of a movie.  We arrived so early that most things were closed.  This meant we had the experience of watching the town literally come to life as merchants and shoppers arrived to go about their day.  The pinnacle was reached when I heard a man playing the accordion in the street.  I knew then I had arrived in the romanticized European village my mind so often and easily creates.  The normal town is located only a few blocks outside the village square.  While it still has its own unique style, it is simply not the same.  The magic stays within the square.  There I got to have a fresh strop waffle.  This is one of the traditional pastries of Holland that reminds me more of cookie sandwich with caramel filling than a waffle.  It is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.  Eating a real strop waffle was one of the few things I wanted to do before leaving Holland.

The highlight of my day was our temple trip in The Hague.  The temple there is one of the smallest I have ever seen.  Nevertheless, it is one of the most beautiful.  It is located in a little suburb of The Hague which thankfully has no resemblance to Amsterdam.  The whole structure cannot cover more than one city block.  Because of zoning laws, the Church only owns the building itself and none of the land around it.  I think we were probably the biggest group they have seen in a long while.  As we entered the Temple, each person was given a pair of blue booties to cover their feet.  The baptismal font is located directly behind the desk.  It kind of surprised me when I walked in and saw it there.  There were only enough seats for about six people around the font.  The brethren in the group served as the Temple workers and performed all the functions in the baptistry.  I started as a witness at the font, and then did confirmations.  As I was in the Temple, I was amazed at the faith of the Dutch saints.  They have the smallest temple I have ever seen, yet they are more grateful for the temple than anyone I have ever met.  This is because they understand the importance of the Temple.  Some people would complain about the inconvenience of having such a small temple, but not the Dutch.  It was a marvelous experience to do the work for the Dutch in their own land.  It feels different from doing it back at home.  I was the last one to be baptized, and I got to do more names than all the rest.  I had an extreme feeling of peace come over me while I was in the font.

After the Temple, we took the bus to Brussels.  Patrick took us on a detour to see one of the biggest tourist attractions in Brussels: The Atonium.  This is something that was made for the world exposition several years ago.  Basically, it is a big metallic structure in the shape of an atom.  It is pretty cool.  When we actually got into the city, I was not really impressed, until we got to the town square.  This is considered to be the most beautiful town square in all of Europe (maybe all the world).  The square is cobblestone and has gorgeous buildings on all four sides.  Everyone just sits in the middle of the square with their friends and enjoys life.  While we were there, I tried some Belgian chocolate and a Belgian waffle.  The Belgian chocolate was the most marvelous things I have ever tasted.  The waffle was also delicious, but they only gave me a tiny fork to eat it.  It was almost comical.  The other thing we saw was the most photographed statue in the world: a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain.  The statue was a lot smaller than I expected, but provided a good laugh.  After seeing most of the touristy things in Brussels, I took time just to sit and watch people on the square.  I absolutely love doing that and just soaking in the culture.  I think I could sit and watch people all night long.  The sun stays out much longer here and I think that contributes to the active nightlife.  Italy beat Germany in a really important soccer game and there was a lot of celebrating in the square.  Belgium, for whatever reason, is very pro-Italy.  People were driving around honking their horns and yelling and screaming for joy.  Even after we got back to the hotel, we could hear partying for several hours.

Day 7: Amsterdam

5:00 am came very quickly this morning.  That was the time we all had to get up to check out of our hotel in London and take the subway to catch the train to Brussels.  Our route took us under the Chunnel, but unfortunately, I fell asleep for that part of the trip.  I woke up and could immediately tell we were in a different country because all of the cars were driving on the right side of the road.  The train transfer in Brussels was a little hectic.  Since no one knew where we were going (and no one spoke the language) everyone just started following the first person who moved in any direction.  Because of that, we missed the soonest train.  (Not that it mattered…our tickets were valid for any train to any station in The Netherlands).  We had to wait an hour in the station, but it really was not too bad.  The second train was not as nice as the first one but it got us safely to the Airport in Amsterdam.  From the Airport we had to take a third train to the Amsterdam Central Station.  Each leg of the journey took longer than we were originally anticipating and we did not make it to Amsterdam until after 5:00 pm.  No one had eaten since breakfast; understandably, everyone was starving.

In Amsterdam, we picked up our tour guide, Patrick.  He will be driving our bus until we finish the trip in Rome.  He is a native of Holland and a lot of fun.  We went out walking with him after we checked into the hotel.  Amsterdam is an interesting place.  I feel like I need to be a lot more on guard than I was in London.  Maybe part of that is due to the negative reputation Amsterdam has for things like drugs and prostitution.  As I found out, that is a reputation they rightly reserve.  When some guys from the group asked the hotel attendant what she recommended that we do she suggested the beer festival and the red light district.  Hence the reason we went out walking with Patrick.  He was planning on taking us to Dam Square for dinner but he got lost.  We ended up walking about a mile or more in the wrong direction.  Other than the fact that we were starving it was not too bad.  Amsterdam is a beautiful city.  There are canals that crisscross their way all throughout town, and flowers everywhere.  The city itself is built on stilts and is slowly sinking.  For that reason, the building are all leaning different directions.  The other thing I immediately noticed about Amsterdam was all of the bicycles.  You can't hardly walk anywhere without having to worry about getting run over by a bike.  The bike lane looks like the sidewalk and therefore is very deceiving.  We spent the first half a mile walking in the road and wondering why all the cyclists were whizzing past us.  London has me all screwed up as far as navigation goes.  It took me until yesterday to start looking the right way for cars in London, and now I'm looking the wrong way all over again.  Thankfully, the rest of Europe will be similar to Amsterdam.

After boarding a tram, we finally made it to the square.  Everyone dispersed to go get dinner.  Jared and I ate some sort of chicken kebob that was really delicious.  While we were walking around we also noticed that everyone had french fries.  Apparently, Amsterdam (or maybe Holland in general) is known for their french fries (called "Frites").  Basically, my visit to Amsterdam consisted of walking and eating.  I can't say that I mind either one.  After the hectic days in London it was nice to have a bit of a break.  Another early morning tomorrow.  Here we go!

Day 6: London

Today was our one entirely free day in London.  That is one of my favorite things about this trip.  We have ample time to spend touring and doing what we want.  I think that is the only way a trip like this works.  A big group of us got up fairly early to ride the underground to the Tower of London.  This was of the coolest things I have seen since being here.  It is a reminder of the old and somewhat gruesome period of British history.  We often think we have old portions of American history, but it has nothing on Britain.  The tower is also home to the crown jewels.  More than anything these are the representation of the great royal traditions that have been passed down for centuries.  They have little if any utility but are quite amazing to look at.  More gold is contained in that gallery than I have ever seen (and probably will ever own) in my whole life.  Across from the crown jewels is the tower itself, which is the home to an impressive collection of royal armor.  I saw the tallest suit of armor ever created for a human, standing 6'8".  The tower complex is located alongside the Thames River and gives fantastic views of the Tower Bridge.

From the tower, the group I was with made an unexpected trip back to St. Paul's Cathedral.  This time we paid to make the hike up to the dome.  This journey goes up tiny, winding staircases.  This is probably the realization of my biggest fear.  Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I do have a bit of a phobia of people walking behind me up stairs.  Any of my close friends would testify of that.  Many of them are thoughtful and try to let me go last.  Spiral staircases are the worst because I can hear people coming up behind me but can't see them.  Thankfully, the view from the top made the whole journey worth it.  The first stop is the Whispering Gallery, which is on the interior of the building.  The acoustics of the building are so good that you can whisper from one end of the dome and be heard perfectly at the other end.  From the Whispering Gallery, you move through one more outer view point before making your way up to the top.  The views from the top of the dome are absolutely spectacular.  A friend told me they rival the views from the London Eye.  You can see the entire city.  The climb to the top was definitely worth it.  After the climb, we moved down into the crypts.  This was kind of special experience because it gave a small glimpse at the sheer number of men and women who have given their lives in defense of the British crown.  They have a sense of nationalism that is almost deeper that that of the United States, especially when it comes to the World Wars.  I think this is because the wars actually happened here.  This makes it somewhat holy ground and increases my appreciation for the freedom and liberties we all enjoy.

After touring the Cathedral, I split off from the group.  I guess I really wasn't supposed to do this, but I don't think I had much of a choice.  The half of the group we left at the Tower of London was going on a tour of the Harry Potter Studios, and the half I was with was taking a ferry out to Greenwich.  Since I had not paid to do either (and I was going to Singin' in the Rain in the evening) I had to find something else to do.  Honestly, I didn't really mind.  I just took the Underground up to the British Museum.  The museum itself is so massive that there is no possible way to have seen everything in the short amount of time I was there.  I did walk through several cool exhibits about the history of clocks and watches, and the history of money, though.  In the latter exhibit, I saw a note for 50 billion of the currency of Zimbabwe.  I remember the guy at the Bank of England talking about Zimbabwe yesterday.  He said if you want to be a billionaire for a day just go to Zimbabwe.  Because of hyperinflation, it will only cost you about 50 cents.  I am glad we live somewhere with a stable currency.  I also saw some Mummies in the display on Ancient Egypt.  Probably the coolest thing, though, was an example of the Olympic Gold Medal.  We learned in our business visit that the Gold medals for the London Olympics are made from medal mined in the Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah.  I have been surprised there has not been a bigger hype about the Olympics here in London.  There are quite a few signs in places like the Subway, but other than that I have not seen much.  I hope to have more of that experience when I return to London in a month.

My last show on the West End (for now) was Singin' in the Rain.  I was probably the least excited for this one than all the rest just because I have seen it already (twice), and I found it ironic that we were going to a very American show in London.  They made some very unique staging choices that I thought contributed to the show.  They are subtle things that would be hard for me to explain to someone who has not seen the show before.  During the first act I could not decide if I was really in love with the leads.  They did not have British accents (thank goodness!).  I think that would have been a little too much.  Lina was funny, but maybe a little too over the top.  Kathy's voice kind of annoyed me, which is funny since she is supposed to be the one with the pretty voice.  Nevertheless, all of those things were washed away after the number Singin' in the Rain.  I was very curious to see how they would stage this number.  Every other production I have seen has used some sort of rain on the stage, but this one outdid them all.  The sprinkler system came on and absolutely doused the stage.  The middle part of the stage was sunk in, allowing the water to pool up.  This pool of water became an integral part of the choreography.  Don did the normal Gene Kelly dance routine up to a certain point, but then he started kicking the pooled up water out on to the audience.  We were sitting in the sixth row, which was about the end of the splash zone.  It was really exciting every time he kicked out in front of him.  As cool as that was, the highlight was the very end during the curtain call.  The sprinklers came back on and the entire cast came out in rain gear with silver umbrellas.  This time all of them were dancing and the water splashed even farther.  It was one of the most spectacular dance routines I have ever seen.  Everyone had their silver backed umbrella, and then seemingly in unison they spun around to reveal brilliant colors that literally lit up the stage.  They got a standing ovation from me for that number if for nothing else.  It was a little bit of theatrical magic.  Definitely worth the price we paid to see it.  The West End did not disappoint!

Day 5: London

The alarm came really early this morning, but not quite as early as it did for my roommate, Matt.  He heard my alarm vibrating at 3:50 am, the leftover from my early morning flight from Portland last week.  For some reason I though today was Tuesday and set the wrong alarm.  Sorry Matt!  No one else in our five person room heard it go off.

This morning started our business visit portion of the trip.  We began by visiting the Rio Tinto world headquarters.  This presentation was given by two expatriates on assignment from Utah.  I had a tough time staying awake during their presentation (oops!).  I caught more about being an expatriate than anything they presented about their business.  After being in London several days I think I could live here with a family.  Most expatriate assignments last about two years; it would be like taking the family on a mission.  The one recommendation they made was to start young.  It is much easier to bring children abrade when they are young, before they become really involved in school.

Our next visit was to the Bank of England.  This visit felt a little more international because our presenter was British.  (The Rio Tinto visit was very similar to the one we did in Salt Lake).  Yet again, I had a hard time staying awake.  I think that is a sign to me that I really need to get some sleep.  Anyways, I can only remember the randomest tidbits of what he said.  The Bank of England is responsible for printing all of the legal tender for the United Kingdom, which means only the British pound is officially recognized as currency.  Several other banks, particularly the Bank of Scotland, print and circulate their own currency.  He said we could accept the Scottish currency if we want it but it is not legal tender.  Then he leaned in to tell us a secret: it's not legal tender in Scotland either.  But don't tell the Scots that!  Another interesting fact is that the gold reserve for the UK is housed under the Bank of England.  They can only stack the gold to about knee level because the weight of the gold would break through the clay soil causing it to fall onto the Tube line directly below.  That would be an unfortunate incident.

After the business visit, we walked across the Thames River to the Globe Theatre.  There is not much to see from the outside, but it is cool to have been where Shakespeare's plays premiered.  We met a British man outside the theatre who was obsessed with San Diego.  We asked him to take our picture, and as soon as he heard our "accents" he started going off on San Diego.  I just had to laugh at some of the things he said.  "San Diego is the best city on the whole planet.  Nobody knows its there…not even the Americans!"  Well, I definitely know it's there, and it is the home of some fond memories.  The next stop was the Tate Gallery of Modern Art.  This is one of the finest galleries of Modern Art in the world.  Unfortunately, I have never gained much of an appreciation for Modern Art.  I don't think anyone anyone who was with me has either.  We found a room with little strips of paper for taking notes on the art and used them to have our own art contest.  The theme was sadness; each of us had a chance to put our modern art skills to the test to interpret the theme.  Mine was intended to be two fish (don't ask me why) but they ended up looking like a giraffe.  I think I like that interpretation better.  After the museum, we walked across the Thames River to St. Paul's Cathedral.  This is one of the most impressive structures I have ever seen.  I am amazed by the ornate architecture and intricate designs.  When you stand under the massive dome you realize just how big the universe really is and just how small you really are in the grand plan.  Paul, our director, told me that was the point of the Cathedral: to make one feel small before God.  Well, I guess it worked for me.  We participated in a prayer service while we were there.  Just as the service was beginning a whole bunch of missionaries walked in.  When we talked with them afterwards, we found out they were departing missionaries from the London mission who will be returning home this week.  It feels like we have run in to members of the Church everywhere we go not he trip.  The church really makes the world a whole lot smaller.

My highlight from today was being able to go to Les Miserables on the West End.  This is the longest running production of a musical ever; it has been my lifelong dream to see the show in London.  My seat was on the very back row of the balcony in the right hand corner.  At first I was a little disappointed, but then I realized what a blessing it was just to be there at all.  My view of the stage was slightly obstructed by the balcony, but once the show started this didn't really prove to be a problem.  The actor who played Jean Valjean was amazingly talented.  I found his performance to be both moving and believable.  His rendition of "Bring Him Home" was one of the most powerful theatrical moments I have ever experienced.  I love the message of the show: the simple truth that people can change and that we are not locked into one path we choose to follow at one time.  Inspector Javert to me represents the plan of the adversary.  He is convinced that Jean Valjean was, is, and always will be a thief, and that there is no hope for him to do or become anything else.  The role of the Savior, on the other hand, is portrayed by the Bishop, who not only saves Valjean from Javert after he robs him, but gives him even more with the charge to use his new found fortune to help someone else.  I believe that is what the Savior does for us.  He redeems us when we don't deserve it and gives us the means to bless other people's lives.  That becomes the quest of Jean Valjean, and he becomes the means of salvation for so many who are lost and wandering.  The overall production was spectacular.  All of the set pieces moved on their own, and the center portion of the stage revolved.  One of my favorite things about professional productions is the strength of the ensemble.  When they sing together they have the power, it seems, to bring down the walls.  "One Day More" was one number that was particularly powerful.  On the whole I loved the production, and feel extremely blessed to have been able to experience it.