Number Three: The 10 Things I Have Learned in Europe

Apparently, I am incapable of walking in cities. It doesn't matter what city I am in or where, I simply am unable to walk in a city without rolling my ankle and hurting myself. This tends to be exacerbated by cobblestones in Europe, but I have a tendency to hurt myself in Seattle, as well. Today, I rolled my ankle twice while walking on perfectly flat sidewalk. My ankles just do not like walking in cities.

Now that that important comment is out of the way, we can make our way with this blog entry. I took my first final today; it was nice and simple, and fairly pain-free, I have to say. So now the countdown to home is 3 days, 3 finals, and a tea party. We're getting there, folks! I would also like to correct a mistake from Monday's entry (installment number 5): I said that the number one slot of the countdown would be on Saturday; I mis-counted. The number one slot will, in fact, fall on Friday, and so we will have a complete countdown by the time I physically depart this city, country, and continent on Saturday.

And now that the business end of this blog entry has been sorted out, I bring you the next installment of the countdown; we're almost there!

The 10 things I have learned in Europe:

3. When visiting cathedrals, there is a 50/50 chance that the cathedral you want to visit will be free. Some charge, some don't. If you do not want to pay to visit a cathedral (and why should you?), a simple way around this is to attend a church service at the cathedral. This way you can go in for free and peek around the cathedral while the devout are praying. It's okay, you won't be the only heathen in there, so you'll have company with you in hell! And if you're a Lutheran like me, you're naturally a heathen in any Catholic church. This is also a fascinating way to observe the locals and their crazy traditions!

Of course, some cathedrals operate on donations, as opposed to a set admission fee. So if you're feeling generous, you could always make a donation. Depending on the size of said donation, you might be able to secure your spot in Heaven, thus making your previous blasphemous visit to church null.

Now that we've established how you can see a church for free, here is a brief guide to famous cathedrals and whether or not they charge:

Notre Dame in Paris and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome are free to go in, but they have extra sights which do cost a small admission fee inside.

Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London both charge admission fees.

Bath Cathedral in Bath and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Stratford operate on donations.

Well, now that this necessary update has been completed, it's time for me to prepare for tomorrow's finals!