Three Countries in One Day

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Yes, I have been in 3 countries today! What a day....

I woke up ready to leave Amsterdam. I had to wait a while to get a train reservation as anything international going into Paris uses the high(er) speed Thalys trains, so it took about 30 minutes. I took off for Paris via Brussels with a 2 hour layover in Brussels. "Great! I can read up on Paris during those 2 hours," I thought at first. Then it hit me.... I have 2 hours in Brussels!!! Run Run Run!!! I did a quick readup in my travelguide about Brussels, and luckily, some of them were only 5-10 minutes from the Central train station! Yeah! (ok, important note here... my train was actually going to the next stop in Brussels, the Brussels Midi station. My next Thalys train would leave from the Midi station, not the Central station, but it was only the next stop on the train away). I ran off the train with my backpack, and hit the Grand Palace. A wonderful place, as you will see from the pictures. Again, Gothic with Art Nouveau mixed together. I had to have some chocolate, so I bought some hot chocolate (it was still a bit chilly), and it coated the back of my throat with pure 53% cacao goodness! The kind of chocolate that you can still taste an hour later, and that's good. I was looking for a chocolate shop that my guide recommended, and I heard someone speak directly to me. I turned, and it was Susan and Irvin, the two people that I spoke with on the train out of Rothenburg back in Germany!!! We laughed how odd it was to see each other a country or two later, and strangely enough, Irvin pointed out the Neuhaus chocolate shop right next to us as we were talking. I said goodbye (maybe?) and acquired 3 of the most delicious chocolates (1 with hazelnut cream, 1 with walnuts, and 1 with almond creme (my fav!)). What is that beeping? Ah, that's my watch alarm that I set letting me know I had 30 minutes to get to the station, then get to the NEXT station, then get to my train.... and I still haven't had lunch yet! Thank goodness the sugar buzz from the hot chocolate kicked in, and after getting a little disoriented, I found the Central train station again, got a couple pieces of pizza, found a train to the Midi station, made it to the Midi station, and made it to my high speed Thalys train to Paris, with 10 minutes to spare! Sadly, my pizza didn't quite make the journey as the kase (cheese) had slid off, but the tomato sauce and crust did the job :-).

To Paris from Brussels:
I knew we were moving fast, faster than I have so far. It just SEEMED unreal. Again, being the geek I am... I timed a 1 km section of track.... 12 seconds! 300 km/hr, about 180 mph!!!! Very exciting! Obviously, the trip didn't take long, but I was still able to get a quick catnap. Getting into Paris Nord station, I didn't have a place to stay for the night, so I bought a France calling card and made a quick phone call to a recommended hostel in Paris. Luck would have it, they have availability! I bought a local travel pass, and hopped on the underground Metro. I couldn't see anything, but I knew my neighborhood would be fairly close to the central part of the city, in the Jewish sector. Getting off the crowded Metro, I came up to my home for the next few days, and let me say I was pleasantly happy with the area. My hostel (named MIJE) was even better, more of a 5 story French chateau' with a VERY beautiful spiral staircase. I had not done my homework on Paris, so it was a bit overwhelming to take in, and at 6-7pm, I thought it would be fun just to see how the local people live, and stay away from the tourist areas and enjoy the local scene. I stopped in a supermarket and got a chef's salad, yogurt, juice, and sat down on a park bench by the metro, and next to a merry-go-round that local families were enjoying. I ate while watching the world go by.... the little old woman hunched over going to the store... the mother and father walking with the little one pushing her own baby stroller... the businessmen coming off the Metro to go home... it was a fun dinner. I find the French people to be very friendly as multiples of the locals said 'bonjour' to me as I was sitting there. The sun was out, it was in the upper 60's still, and through the 3-4 story buildings down the road, I could see the sun setting making some amazing shadows on the building architectures. A woman named Kathy sat next to me, and began talking as if we have been friends forever. My guard went up just because she was a little 'too' friendly, if you know what I mean, but I engaged in conversation, turns out she was from Boston and dying to move to Paris. She was just a very liberal minded person (read as 'hippie' who likes to talk to people). After determining that she was just being friendly (albeit a little strange), and not looking to kill me, we talked politics for a while, she is a social worker back in the States, she showed me some local sights in the neighborhood, and shared her bread and 'cheese of the moment' with me (wow! I don't think I'm mentioned it, but the cheese in Europe is INCREDIBLE! It actually has flavor! :-) I left Kathy, and walked by another British pub where another FIFA football (soccer) match was going on, and again, this place was on fire. I had to go in to watch Barcelona vs Chelsea. It was 1-0 Chelsea when Barcelona scored after the regulation 90:00 minutes, and the roof blasted off the place! The crowd was obviously a Barcelona crowd, and the people were loving it! I head to bed a very tired camper.

I am in Paris!

Au revoir!

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