Sorry, everyone. This absence has been unforgivable, I agree. I've been keeping a journal since we left London, so I've managed to keep track of what we've been doing everyday and get my impression of places and things jotted down before I forget them forever, but you'll have to wait for that. Or borrow my journal. :)
Barcelona was a blur --the Gaudi was amazing and the weather was HOT! I have some pictures from inside the cathedral that are pretty cool. The light from the stained-glass windows was so colorful! I took a picture of the dappled light on the floor and it looks like we were in a club partying and not in a church. Justine and I immediately felt like foreigners, too, because we were absolutely cluelees when it came to the language. Makes the world that much more difficult to navigate through!
Paris . . . aaaaah Paris. Well, what a beautiful city. A very mellow place. I still maintain that I like London better, but I think that's because Paris seems like such a holiday kind of place. Too relaxing and mellow and pretty to be a place where anyone actually lives andhas to work. Are you kiddign me? Had cafe au lait, which was wonderful, and even greater croissants; I am forever spoiled for the north American variety. We especially enjoyed an evening with chocolate and wine on the steps of Sacre Coeur (in Monmartre where we were staying). That was, until we were assailed by the phenomenon that I cleverly nicknamed 'Parisites' or very forward French men. But I loved Paris. I want to go back someday.
Holland was next. I'm so glad we decided to go there. It was eye opening just to see where our roots were, and what little things of Dutch culture our families still retain. And it was so much neater and cleaner than so many of the places we've been! We stayed one night with Oma and met her siblings. There was some confusion with Dutch/English conversations, but we worked it all our in the end. We moved on to spend two days in Zwolle at Justine's relatives -which confirmed my desire to move there. Really, people! Good design everywhere there, and it's so accessible. So quaint, too: every duthc living room window has two pots in the window sill. Centered, to be more traditional, or off to one side or the other for a bit of a twist. Once I started noticing the trend I couldn't stop! We went to Utrecht on Friday and hung out with a friend of Justine's and went to an AMAZING 70's party. Reeally incredible --they painted the walls and there were some pretty good costumes there too.
We got up after a little sleep and caught our flight to Edinburgh this morning. Justine and I walked up a trail and caught some amazing views of the city. After that we trekked the city looking for a bank machine and somewhere to eat.
We're back in the English speaking world again, although I'm determined to learn Dutch and brush up on French. Being uni-lingual is so boring and not very useful. :)
But now I'm ready to sleep. My bum is sore from riding on the back of a crazy Dutch bike (this involves running and landing while the bike is in motion. I think I overdid it on my first attempt. I have a blue bruise!) and my legs are sore from the steep incline. Nothing that a great sleep can't cure.
Looking forward to finding a Scottish Presbyterian Church tomorrow.

Beautiful. Well, today was a really great day, that's for sure.
Sorry it's been a while since I've been able to update you on what we've been up to, but I'll try now.
Westminster Abbey was AMAZING! I think it's my favorite so far. Justine and I got of the tube and there we were, right smack dab in the middle of (touristy) London. We managed to take a few pictures of Big Ben and walked round the Parliament Buidings before heading to the Abbey. Just beautiful. And the history! I think what I loved about it the most was that we were free to just roam around these things and get close to them. I mean, really close! Saw Elizabeth I's tomb and Mary's too . . . and Henry V. And the coronation throne (minus the stone --which is on Scotloand right now). I especially enjoyed the memorials all over the place --the ones with erratic spellings and interesting sentiments; for example ' . . . for which he was severely lamented.' Who says that anymore? And the one dedicated by the inconsolable wife. Saw Poet's corner too, of course, with Jane Austen's tablet. And everyone else's. Did you know that Laurence Olivier has one there too? I had no clue.
Form there we walked to Buckingham Palace, through St. James' Park, and then went to the National Gallery. Also incredible, to see all the artwork that I've learned about in so many art history classes. But we were a little sad; most of the 19th century ones we would have recognized were off limits for some concert or for rennovations. We spent quite a bit of time there, just looking around.
I can't remeber at the moment if went other places . . . I'm already starting to forget! Oh no!
Yesterday is easier. We got an earlier start and headed straight to the V&A. Another favorite. So much stuff! We decided not to try to take it all in and went straight to a few different exhibits. The fashion one , oof course. Some fabulous clothes on display. And lots of, what I assumed to be, current fashion students taking notes and huddled around in groups discussing the ins and outs of things. I felt rather frumpy at that point.
On that note, I've decided that pink shirts (even purple) are the in thing for men here in London. Eileen was debating getting one for Gord but she can't find one she actually likes. He'd just be conformist here though. But if you want to be more cutting edge out in North America, men take note. Pink shirts are on the rise. But in general, Justine and I are quite enjoying all the nice suits that walk by. ;)
We also checked out other well-designed things at the V&A. Saw the great Bed of Ware. Huge! And lots of really old furniture.
After lunch in front of the museum we took a lightening tour of the Natural History Museum, mostly to see the building which was highly reccomended. Booked through a dinosaur exhibit, which I must say was pretty cool. They were setting up tents for London's Fashion Week outside, which starts the 18th. These things just happen in bog cities. I really am a country bumpkin!
From there we walked to Kensington Park and saw the Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall. In the background were some little girls playing in their school uniforms -in hats! How refined! Or not. I can't imagine putting up with that as a kid.
From there we walked by Kensington Palace and ended up walking the street in front of it with all the amazing embassy/ambassador (?) houses. Kind of felt like we weren't supposed to be there, but it was beautiful. Kind of fun to imagine all the high profile things that happen behind those doors.
From there we marched through Hyde Park up to Marble Arch. Hm. Not that thriilling. Then off to Carnaby street to see many more tourists doing their shopping. And there at the end of the street, Liberty. *sigh. Amazing. Much more expensive than I will ever ve able to afford but nice to go through of course. Felt even more frumpy! But I loved, loved the fourth floor. My favorite lamps and chairs all over the place. Mmmm. Soaking it in. From there we checked out Picadilly Square and then to meet Gord and Eileen at Leicester Square.
SInce we were early, we popped into the Portrait Gallery before meeting them for Thai dinner and heading to a show. Fun!
We saw The Producers at the Royal on Drury Lane, complete with drinks at the intermission. Thanks Gord and Eileen! So much fun! It was a great laugh.
Today we had a list of things all figured out to try to see. Started out at the Southwark Cathedral and walked from there along the Thames on a very nice walk towards the Tate Modern. Saw Shakespeare's Globe before we headed in for, what turned out to be, a very long visit. Ooooooo. Drooling. Well, not really. But I loved it. And absorbed the building too. Very nice. Very satisfying. Justine and I were both saying to eachother that it was inspiring; we were both ready to go home and start working on another proejct right away! The only sad part was that they didn't have anything up in the Turbine Hall. We might be able to zip in before we leave on the 10th.
When we finally left at 3 and ate our lunches, we traipsed across the Milennium Bridge to St. Paul's. We wandered around the buidling first then headed inside to tour it. What an amazing buidling. I guess Christopher Wren was a genious after all! We climbed up to the whispering gallery and Justine tripped her way up the stairs. (not really! -just once!). I think most of the time we just sat there, slackjawed. 
We toured the Crypt too, and then it was almost 4:30 and we stuck around to go to the evensong service. We were able to sit with the choir. So gorgeous! Most of you might know my affection for choral music, and boys choirs in particular. I loved it! I wanted to pinch myself, really. Although I was worried at some point that everyone else knew what
they were doing and I didn't. But that soon left. Such beautiful music. And the words! Reading the text by singing it. I couldn't believe I was there in St. Paul's, really.
Beauftiful.
This must be what travelling is all about.

It's becoming difficult to blog.  There's just not enough time to tell you everything! Justine's in the shower at the moment and I feel like I should be multitasking . . .
We got in yesterday morning. I guess it was somewhere around 10. The flight was mostly uneventful. Justine and I managed to have a little chat with Sally from Southampton who was seated next to me; she was very nice and gave us lots of advice on things to see and do. Justine wasn't able to sleep at all, but I managed to sleep a lot. More than I have ever slept in a plane. I was in the middle seat of an AirTransat flight and I slept for more than 3 hours. Can you believe it?? Poor Justine was sitting next to the bathroom so there was a lot of traffic around her seat, so that probably kept her up all night.
When we got in the first thing we did was make it to a real bathroom. Hurrah! And then we marched off to the baggage claim. At this point Justine began exhibiting some trouble walking. Should I have been worried? Maybe. But I thought that was normal.  (She really did not get any sleep!). We managed to lug our bags off the carousel and then said good bye to Art, who was headed to a hostel somewhere in central London for the short time he was going to be in London.
We found Eileen very quickly and then headed off on the train to get home to Richmond. We were feeling pretty sweaty and dirty and ugghhhh -like we had just spent a lot of time on an airplane. So it was very nice, when affter an invigorating walk, we ended up at their flat, able to take a shower an freshen up. Eileen went out for provisions and we made a lunch before heading out to discover their neighborhood. At this point Justine was looking pretty tired but we diecided to keep plugging anyways. 
We walked through Richmond, past the pretty Almshouses and made our first stop at coffee, since Justine was having a hard time staying awake even while walking. Satbucks coffee didn't helo too much either! It wasn't till we took a bit of a walk through the shops that she began to revive. :) We took a walk and Eileen showed us the farm. In the middle of London! Short photo op with the cows ensued. Then we headed back into the town to check out the shops some more and have a look around.
We did that for most of the afternoon and capped of with a pint on the green.
Here Justine was able to squeeze in a bit of a nap. We managed to keep her up till about 8 last night with dinner and email and everything else, including a brief intro to the transportation system. We had about 12 hours of sleep last night!
So now we're headed into London today. Westminster Abbey and some other places. Tomorrow looks like rain so we'll probably do lots of museums then or something. Justine is out of the shower so I should run.
We're off to tackle the busses!

(sorry for all the typos. But no time to fix!)

Whooooeee!
It was a lovely weekend. Let's start with where I left off . . .
Friday night I was on a mission: I was sent to the mall with my cousin Anton to find him an outfit for the wedding. We entered the GAP with one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to get him to try on something on. :) We succeeded! Kira and Daylinn were on backup duty giving their opinions and it didn't take us too long to find somthing that worked. What took a little longer was deciding how long Anton wanted his pants to be. We had the help of several Gap employees to get it straight. And we did.
After that, I was in need of some refreshment. So I went to DQ and had a blizzard with (Canadian) smarties! Yummm. Probably I wouldn't be that obsessed with them if they were readily available all the time. But they're yummy and chocolate.
From there, we trouped to Peter's family's house for the post-rehersal dessert. We got alittle lost on the way . . . Anton couldn't find his way in the dark! So one part of that road got very familiar. :) When we finally got there I was treated to trifle and I got to met a few more members of the wedding paty and his parents, so that was nice.
The next day Daylinn and I slept in very late (we decided that we'd reverted back to Pacific time!) and got a lazy start to the wedding day. Justin, meanwhile, had to get up really early to get everyone ready of the wedding. You know, girls stuff. Hair, makeup . . . the works. When I saw her at the wedding ceremony, she was looking gorgeous, of course. I met some more family at the church before the ceremony started, so more hugs and kisses were in order. (As you may have noticed, I come from a very affectionate family!) After the wedding, there was some entertainment at the standing reception: Peter's Opa performed a song with sound effects. You had to be there, but it was amazing. I don't think anyone understood what was going on but it was GREAT! That and the beer bottle rendition of "Here comes the bride." All very well done.
Ther was some confusion at that point: Anton and Daylinn and I tagged along for the pictures to give them a ride and because we had nothing better to do. We got a little bored and in due course, Anton and I began singing a medley of the Sound of Music for Daylinn. Can you believe she has never seen that movie??! It was amazing, I must say. "I am so glad I got to share this moment with you!"
After that, there was dinner at the Ancaster Old Mill. There we enjoyed food and drinks and entertainment. More speeches, more singing, more food, more fun!
The next day was Sunday, recovery day. I was able to do Lord's Supperr at the CanRef church here in Burlington which was really nice. I also enjoyed singing the old Genevan tunes again. I wass planning to whisk off and visit my Oma B. in the nursing homeright after church and meet my Opa andmy uncle and his family there, but we got out of church too late to make it in time to met them. Hopefully I will be able to see them when I am back in Ontario in about a month.
The afternoon service at church saw an invasion of all the Lodders! They were all coming over for a BBQ here at Uncle Fred and Aunt Jackie's. At church, as usual when I am in Ontaario, I got told how much I look like my mom. And how much I act like my aunt, for those that get to know me a little better. We also got lots of helpful advice from Justine's friends for our trip. And Justine finally got her pack! We really were getting close to leaving.
The barbeque was great! There were lots of puns being thrown around, and the Lodder family is always a lot of fun to get together. Aww, good old times. I caught up with Shannon and asked about all my old classmates. Ack! --everyone's growing up! I was a really great evening though.
After everyone filtered out of the house, Justine and I started making lists of things we had to get and do before we left.
This morning we did our errands --and went to the Dutch store. So dangerous! I bought drop and king peppermints. Mmm.
Now I just have to squeeze a few more things into my bagt and we're headed to the airport! Our flight leaves at 9:50. So there won't be an update for a few days, till we've settled in.
ciao!

Awww Ontario. I'm back in the "home and and native land" (for all you non-Canadians who don't understand that referencee it's from "O Canada"). While everyone else here takes a break from the heat of the day with a nap, I'll natter away in the background on the keyboard.
Wedensday's flights here were mostly uneventful. I sat around the Portland airport for quite a whioe; the instructions were to arrive quite early because of all the new security measures. So I settled in with my book for the hour and a half wait to board. At one point I looked up and recognized Sebastian and Hope (friends from UO and recently graduated Architecture students), waiting for the same flight to Newark! Such a small world. It was nice to chat with them a bit and find out their plans before we had to get on the plane. The flight was long --or maybe it just felt that way: a few rows ahead of me a toddler decided to holler his way through the night (and it wasn't just cryinging hollering. He was yelling to prove a point. On and on and on.) Poor Seb and Hope were sitting right in front of them and didn't get any sleep at all. I didn't do anything but doze in an out, with my earbuds jammed in my ears.
Said bye to them in Newark and set off to watch the sun come up before my connecting flight to Buffalo. That wass a nice flight. The plane was empty and also very quiet. Some sleep at last! Too bad it wasn't longer --that precious hour was all I got that night.
When I arrived in Buffalo it was about nine in the morning and I set off, excited to finally see my cousins and head home to crash. But they weren't there yet! The got there around the same time my bags showed up on the carousel, though, so I didn't have long to wait.
The trip home was great: Five of us squished in the car with Anton and Ryan picking and accompanying the music. And I got to stop at Tim Horton's for breakfast. Mmmm doughnuts. And coffee.
As soon as we got to Burlington I jumped straight into the shower and felt much better. Hugs all around to the rellies, and then a trip to the beach. Got a short nap in and then home again to Justine's where we came home to a note from Oma, who had droped by. She came back after a trip to the Dutch store with Tyler and Leanna in tow. More rellies = more hugs and kisses. :)
Later in the evening all the girls came over (the girl cousins. Everyone else had their baby sister there! -I missed you, Nadine!). We walked to the store to pick up the essentials: lots of ice cream and chocolate. That and a chick flick. All in all, a perfect evening.
And last night I slept beautifully.
This morning the "girl time" continued -- I tagged along as Candice and her bridal party and sisters went to get pedicures and manicures as well as some shopping.
Then it's wedding all day tomorrow!

Okay, so here it is folks! I've entered the blogging work in order to keep you all posted on what I'm up to. In case I haven't bored you to death telling you this over the past, ooooh, six months or so, tomorrow I am leaving on "Sabrina's Limited European Tour." Tickets on sale now. Accepting all major credit cards.
In general, these are the plans:
:: Tomorrow I head east to Ontario to be able to go to Candice's wedding on Saturday. One wedding down, one to go! I'll be there until
:: I head to London with my cousin Justine on Monday the 11th, and I'll be staying at my aunt's exploring in and around London until
:: Tuesday the 19th, when Justine and I fly to Barcelona for a couple days,
:: then we're off to Paris from the 21st until we head to Holland by train. There we'll check out Rotterdam and Amsterdam, as well as meet up with my Oma. She's going to be visiting with her brothers at a cottage to celebrate her 75th brithday, and we're dropping in to say hi and soak up some Dutch coziness.
:: From Amsterdam we'll fly into Edinburgh on the 30th.
:: Then, we're back in London on the 2nd of October. The next day Nuria is flying in from Germany and we'll meet up with Robert and head west to check out Bath and celebrate R's birthday in Bristol.
:: Justine and I will be flying back to Toronto on the 11th of October. Shannon's wedding is on the 14th, so we have a little bit of time to recoup and then it's time for more fun!
:: I'm flying home to Oregon . . . I don't even know! I think the 16th or the 17th. In any case, I'll be back late for school.
*sigh. And then it's back to real life for me.

I spent the weekend NOT getting ready for my trip by going to Crater Lake instead. Thomas took this picture. Such a beautiful blue . . .

Checklists. Mental notes. Post-its.
Just a few more days till the big trip begins!