I have arrived... in Krakow

I. just. spent. 24. hours. on. trains.

On Saturday morning I left Amelie and her family in Toulouse, and set out for Paris again. I met my friend Walid there, who offered me his couch. After arriving around noon and a nice lunch, we did what any group of young, liberal, Parisians do... JOINED THE PARIS GAY PRIDE PARADE!!

I haven't laughed and danced that much since... Valencia. We followed the AIDS/SIDA awareness float and dances with the gogo dancing men onboard. It was epic.

After, we went to an epic ice cream place. I had one scoop of chocolate.

Oh.

My.

God.

I almost died.

The next day, I went to the train station to arm wrestle with Eurorail (as usual) then headed to Cimetire Pere Lachaise to see Jim Morrison, Chopin, Bizet, Oscar Wilde, and Edith Piaf's graves. It is a really beautiful graveyard with thousands of graves. Some are simple tombstones but others are huge chapels with marble and stone statues and stained glass. Oscar Wilde's grave is covered in lipstick marks, and a solemn plaque requests that the public 'desist defacing the tombstone of Mr Wilde in honor to respect his memory'. I think that Oscar might have been ok with it, but I didn't know the guy, so I resisted kissing his tomb.

Plus, I didn't bring any lipstick.

After this I went to Les Invalides. Commissioned by the Sun King, Louis the XIV, this monumental complex opened its doors to the wounded soldiers of the day at at one time housed between 4000 and 5000 soldiers. It was big enough to by classified as a sort of mini-city and had its own governor. Now, the remains of Napoleon are encased in five successive tombs in one of the 'most splendid domes in France'. I went and paid by respects, then made my way to the World War 1 and 2 sections of the complex. It was a good history refresher, as it went as far back as the mid 1800s. Recollections of paper 3s on Bismarck and Churchill came floating back to me. I knew that somewhere in the world, Alex Seaman was smiling.

That said, although I was refreshed I did learn a whole lot there. In order to do so, I made my way to the Charles de Gaulle special multi-media exhibit. I did make a quick detour through the armour and weapons section, but once you have seen a suit of plated armour, you have seen them all? Also, I killed about 15 minutes in the 'Napoleon Wing' which was rather pitiful given that the late emperor's remains are in the same complex. I mean, the lights weren't working properly, so half of the exhibit was in the dark. And for these huge events in history including the emperor's rise to power and reign, they would have the story posted on the wall and there would be... one or two uniforms and a painting and maybe a sword.

So off I went to de Gaulle's tribute. I knew nothing about the guy. No that's a lie I knew that there was an airport and a street and a metro station named after him, and that he had something to do with the army. You wear these headsets that sense where you are in the exhibit and play commentary, and the entire thing is video and music and other multimedia. NO artifacts. And they play a little film, so I decided to see it.

A piece of propoganda, yes. But to be expected. But very informative and this guy was king of the cat's pajamas of France. He fought in the First World War, then after the French lost in the Second he took the French campaign and fought it from Great Britain. He was also heavily involved wih North African campaigns such as Algeria and ultimately ran France on and off. So the film was really good, and I would recommend it.

I made my way back to Walid's, picked up my stuff, and went off to the train station.

The first train was... cozy. I was in a compartment for six people, and they were all dudes. I had a big French guy above me, and there were three Koreans and one German guy. I thought the German guy might pull through with the English... but no. The Koreans I thought didn't speak English, until I passed them in the hallway later. They had met up with the Americans down the hall who had brought Heinekens for all, and one of the kids exclaimed 'Dis is my first bee-yah evah!'

I finished my book on Rwanda by Romeo Dallaire (I will be glad to offload THAT) and made my way back to the sleeper car around 11. I crawled into bed, expecting the worst.

First the French guy farted. More than once. Yum.

Then the German snored.

Then, and I know this is going to sound bad. One of the Korean kids drew back the curtains. All I heard was metal on metal. I assumed the worst. The Korean guys were going to chop off my head, just like that dude did last summer on the greyhound bus. I accepted my fate in that moment. But nothing happened.

And so I drifted off to sleep, soaked in the flash of fear sweat I got from the curtain, covering my nose and ears from the assaults.

Ah, life on the road.

Then I got into Berlin.I love the Germans. Everything is so... orderly. And in English. I got in the Eurail line to confirm the ticket that I had and it took... three minutes. For comparison, this task took and hour and a half in Spain and at least thirty minutes in France. I couldn't help but think of my friend Oliver, and his complaints about France. I have to give him this one, although with the amendment that Spain is worse.

After my 8pm to 9am train from Paris to Berlin, and my 10am to 9pm Berlin to Krakow train, I am here. And planning my day for tomorrow.

Why and I in Krakow? This remains a mystery. I felt a lure, a pull. Life a waffle stand to Amelie, it was irrestistable.

Will I have fun?

Most certainly.

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Part of trip: Back to the Mother Continent

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