Hullo from London: Week 1

London: we're here! It has been a full week since we landed, and by now I feel quite acclimated to everything. This is my first trip to Europe, getting a stamp in my passport, yadda yadda yadaa, but what really strikes me is the sameness of it all. Modern human civilization is pretty universal. Everywhere I see moms with strollers, people on cell phones or drinking coffee in Starbucks, businessmen striding purposefully ahead with briefcases. The curators we meet have different accents, but their museum jobs require just as much research and maddening bureaucracy as careers here. And yes, standing around listening to wealthy collectors or well-known authors can still bore me silly. After a while my feet ache and I have this out of body listening experience where I can hear words, but they don't make sense. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong field? But then I see things like 1600s furniture, or late 1800s communion vessels, and I start smiling again.