The Theory Disproved (the end)

Back in Vancouver at last.

The last time I returned home after a long time abroad was after spending seven weeks in Ghana, and there were a few days I spent marvelling at the weirdness of the once-familiar things around me, seeing it with new eyes.  So I was surprised that when I stepped onto the Canada Line at YVR two weeks ago, I felt immediately a profound sense of normality, as if I'd never left home, or had left only yesterday.  Nothing seemed changed, in itself or in how I saw it.  I wonder how common of an experience this is.  No doubt it's partly to do with having gradually been moving through more and more affluent countries, having more in common with home, before finally returning.

The final month-and-a-half was more of Europe - Paris, Amsterdam, Scotland, England and Ireland, before finally visiting an old UBC friend in her beautiful home on Cape Breton Island.  Paris and Edinburgh stand out especially, due to their beauty and to the people I met there, as does the all-night summer solstice party at Stonehenge, where some fifteen-thousand druids, pagans, and miscellaneous revelers gathered for the shortest night of the year.  All of this of course is amply documented in the photos linked below.

So what can I say about the trip as a whole?  It was a series of many meetings and partings.  It was an experience both of the diversity of cultures and of their commonality.  It was breathing the history of ancient places.  It was a powerful exercise in self-sufficiency.  It was fertile ground for inner growth.

While there were a few times when I felt I was nearing my limit and began to think about going home early, looking back at it, there is no part of the journey that I would have missed (and of course, I never thought about it very seriously).

And that's all I have to say on this blog, for now.  If you've followed me this far, thanks for reading!  I hope I made it worthwhile.

Germany and France (just Paris actually):

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152504849675879.1073741865.514945878&type=1&l=3409eca29e

Amsterdam:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152567447655879.1073741867.514945878&type=1&l=1c906ad0e3

Scotland (two albums):

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152581044055879.1073741869.514945878&type=1&l=75fdebf415

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152581061475879.1073741870.514945878&type=1&l=f3ddff9784

Stonehenge:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152583487095879.1073741871.514945878&type=1&l=cf6f6df710

England:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152579868290879.1073741868.514945878&type=1&l=052b579cfc

Ireland:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152606680240879.1073741873.514945878&type=1&l=3b2658a659

Nova Scotia:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152606711945879.1073741874.514945878&type=1&l=43c04cd03b