Geo: 50.0599, 7.76593I didn't sleep too badly. Only heard the train going by a couple of times while I still trying to fallasleep. The room does shake a bit, however.The water pressure in the shower this morning was acceptable, but I had to turn the handle all the way to the left to get any hot water. I'd been in there for maybe two minutes and was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when suddenly the water turned stone cold. I think I screamed a little. Usually when that happens, the water will warm up again fairly quickly. Not this time. Oh. My. God. I was shivering so badly that I could hardly dry myself off. I ended up feeling kind of scungy for the rest of the day.I checked with Fatima, one of the ... read more

Geo: 52.3738, 4.89095I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and never did get back to sleep. Classic second-night syndrome.Breakfast consisted of meats and cheeses, bacon, eggs, rice, fruit, yogurt, croissants and other rolls, and cereal. Not a bad spread. No Nutella, but there was some chocolaty spread for the croissant, so I was reasonably happy.We were out of the hotel at 8:00, walking to the train station to catch the 8:16 to Amsterdam. The train was there when we walked onto the platform, so we all piled on and rode 20 minutes into the big city. It's been four years since I was last in A'dam, but it really feels like yesterday. There's still all kinds of construction in front of Centraal Station, and the Rijksmuseum is still covered in scaffolding. The city was a lot dirtier ... read more

Geo: 52.3795, 4.63772SeaTac Airport has free wi-fi! Of course, I had nothing to blog about at SeaTac, having only been dropped off by John 45 minutes before I discovered the free wi-fi. In that short time, the only interesting things that happened to me were: (1) a TSA officer made some Russian people get out of my way; (2) I got a chai latte at Starbucks; and (3) there were way too many small children waiting at gate S10, and most of them were coughing or sneezing and just generally spreading germs. Not terribly blog-worthy (clearly, however, I've just blogged it, so ...).The flight to Heathrow was mostly uneventful and, even though the Captain or whoever it is that yammers over the loudspeakers said it was a full flight, the seat between me and the girl ... read more

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097The hotel we've been in the last two nights does not have top sheets on the beds. There's a bedspread and then a fluffy duvet. The duvet is nice and cozy, but I wonder if that's what has given me such bizarre dreams the last couple of nights.We left Bayeux at 8:15 this morning for the drive to Giverny. Claude Monet first rented and then purchased the house and gardens at Giverny for his second wife and eight children in 1883, and he lived there until his death in 1926. The house, while not terribly interesting, is painted in soft colors and is full of light. The gardens, even at this time of year, are lovely and have been planted to look as they would have to Monet, who took great interest in the ... read more

Geo: 49.2764, -0.705529Well, my little prefab shower room didn't work so well. The room must have been tilted just enough because the water from the showerhead would land on the rim of the tub and then cascade over the side, even though I kept turning it toward the wall. When I was done with my shower, the bath mat was a sodden mess, and the floor was completely covered in water. After Ifinished using the bath towel I put it down on the floor, and it took about four seconds for it to be completely soaked. I was too scared to use the hair dryer after that, so I was finally glad that I've been hauling around my travel dryer all this time.I walked downhill to the main hotel building for breakfast. There was a pretty ... read more