It's 7:30 on Sunday night, and we have just gotten home from our latest travel adventure. We are feeling tired but blessed!
I didn't blog last week, so let me recap the timeline. This past week, Arturo participated in a BSRT (Building Strong Ready Teams) work bonding trip through the church to Normandy, where he had the opportunity to explore the region's war history and historical sites, including the beaches. He said it was a meaningful trip with lots of great historical insight.
While he was gone for those 3 days, I went to my first International Women's Coffee & Conversation meeting. It had just started back up after summer break, so it was the perfect time to get out there. What an amazing group of women. I was one of only 3 Americans at the meeting so being the minority is so interesting for me. I have been to two meetings now, since they are weekly and have met SO many wonderful and interesting women from all over the world! At the first meeting, they split us up into 5 groups depending upon what hobbies you had so you knew you would have things in common. Then you had to invite someone you didn't know out for a coffee. At the second meeting, we played Bunco, as they have a very active Bunco group in the community. I have met and made more friends in the short time I have been in Belgium than in the entire time we were in Indiana and Washington combined. I had truly missed having a tribe, and this really makes my soul happy. We all need those bonding moments and feeling like you are seen.
Arturo was back at the end of the week, which was just in time for Shapefest! The once-a-year ALL nation block party-celebration event that includes food from all NATO countries as well as live music, games, rides, and ends with fireworks. We were there with friends from 1 pm and didn't get home until 11:00.
It was then my Birthday week! I spent the week getting things done around the house, including having a water softener installed, catching up on some good TV, and getting some much-needed time to relax. I felt recharged just in time to take off again on another trip. This time to London! This trip was another BSRT trip through the Army and those Arturo works with, but this one was for families. They drove us to London by bus and ferry, paid for a 5-star hotel, and all meals except dinner on Saturday. Talk about feeling grateful. It was a 2-hour ride to France, where we drove onto the ferry that took us to Dover, England, just shy of 2 hours, and then another bit of a drive to London. If you take the train, it only takes 2 hours, but it can be very expensive. We got in late on Friday due to traffic, but we were able to have dinner and make it to see The Lion King musical that Arturo was so sweet to get us!
We were warned before coming that there were going to be protests/demonstrations all around London that weekend, and they would be starting outside of our hotel. These demonstrations were Tommy Robinson’s “free speech” rally and a counter-protest, “March Against Fascism,” and Stand-up to Racism. It was reported to have been the biggest free speech rally the U.K. had ever seen. While it was crowded and noisy and the city was absolutely trashed afterwards, it was nothing like how violent the protests have been in the U.S. Just to show you the sheer numbers and chaos of the day I have a YouTube video plus one of my own videos of the day.
At the end of the night, as we were walking home, you could see how trashed the city was and all the work that lay ahead for city clean-up crews. I've enclosed a video of the crowds moving through and just throwing trash as they went.
While this filled most parts of the city, it also cleared the area around Buckingham Palace. We were able to walk around Saint James Park and the Palace without too many crowds.
Same waterfront area with a different vibe from day to night.
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