cascade

Sunday 5/31 From Paris, I took the overnight train to Madrid, and on the train I met these girls from Kansas. One of them knew Michael Warady because she went to high school in Overland Park with his sister. Small world. In the middle of the night, the guy sitting across the aisle from me got arrested by these French policeman possibly because of his passport. When we got on the train, I thought it was bizarre that he handed the train conductor a piece of paper as his passport, and he was very fidgety. I slept through the whole incident and only knew about it because the girls from Kansas told me the story the next morning. When we arrived in Madrid, I went with the girls to their hostel so I could leave my ... read more

I took the overnight train from Munich to Paris and arrived Sunday Morning at Gare de l'Est. After I dropped off my bag at St. Christopher's Hostel, I tried to walk to Gare St. Lazare. However, after about 30 minutes and still nowhere near the train station, I realized I had to take the Metro. From St. Lazare, I rode the 1.5 hour train to Rouen, a city to the north of Paris. Once, one of the largest and richest cities of Medieval Europe, Rouen was where Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. I spent a couple of hours walking around the city and taking in the Gothic Architecture. I was on my way back to Paris after a visit to Rouen's Notre Dame Cathedral. Too tired to do anything else, I called it a ... read more

I flew out of Houston yesterday afternoon on Lufthansa, and arrived this morning in Frankfurt, Germany. Since all drinks on Lufthansa international flights are free, including alcoholic ones, I tried a Campari Orange, an aperitif, that my flight neighbor recommended. It was kind of bitter but still enjoyable, and probably the only thing I enjoyed on that flight. It was too long and too cramped for my liking. Spending 10 hours in the smallest possible window seat and unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep at 6 PM Houston Time/ 1 AM Frankfurt Time isn't something I'm looking forward to doing again, unsurprisingly. My flight neighbor was quite chatty. A sprightly woman of maybe 50 years, she lived in Austin and planned on visiting her mother in Germany for 10 days. As she scanned through a German magazine, ... read more