This was written 09 September 04, whilst on the train.
Excited
I’ve mentioned briefly, before, that my Father is coming to visit me in Europe, and now that I have settled most (but not all) of our transportation details, I am getting excited about that trip, as well as the one next March.
For my travel lists, I will get to add two new airports to my list (ERF and LCY) and one new airline (VLM). I will also visit Brugge for the first time (and I snagged a hotel for £66 a night in the middle of the city!), as well as return visits to London (V&A, here I come!), and The Netherlands (which, of course, I am visiting today). Father wants to see some of the fabulous art museums in The Netherlands-and I will happily oblige. Hopefully he will be willing to go see Theatre in London with me-something I want to do since one can get half price tickets and have a plethora of choices.
I’m also looking forward to MT’s visit next March-it will add one new airport (CGN) and one new airline (GermanWings). She and I will be visiting Berlin and Prague. We haven’t made decisions about where to stay in either Berlin or Köln but we will be staying at the Arco Guest House in Prague, a nice gay hotel in Prague for (at current exchange rates) €50 a night. We’re staying in room 4, which, as you will note, has its own balcony.
And, with any luck, one of MT and my ICE (InterCity Express) trains will break the 300km/h mark-something that I think will thrill MT. If we do not do it between Frankfurt and Berlin, we should certainly do it between Kölnand Frankfurt, where one traverses 191km in an hour.
I would like to visit Prague sometime this fall, but due to my impending German course (starting 4 October), I am planning to restrict my travel plans for the duration. I had restructured the trip I am taking today in order to accommodate the class-which, the day after I had requested the changes, was postponed. I suspect I may take a whirlwind tour of the frozen Prague sometime in December.
Borders
I am either in, or going to be in, The Netherlands in short order. In the modern Europe there are no border checks so one is rarely aware of the exact time that one crosses from one nation to another. (Although after examining the signs of the station we just passed through, we are clearly still in Germany.)
Randomly, I have a 12 minute connection in Utrecht. I hope this is enough time to grab something to eat. It’s supremely amusing to me that this is my first time in Utrecht. I have been to the Netherlands more times than I can count and by rights I should have been to Utrecht. Utrecht is the Netherlands’s equivalent of the Southeast US’s Atlanta, only in terms of trains: in other words, it is a transportation hub.
And oh yes, I have to be in the Netherlands in 11 minutes at the next station. I suspect that means we are already there. No clues right here through?
WOW!!!
I love a good, fast train. 😉
Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs… …Don’t do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the signs?
I guess they have not picked up the habit of marking the borders in the European Union yet, but then again, the probably do on the roads. I guess that’s an advantage of the US and a common language… you can post signs at the state borders.
Though right now where I drive every day you wouldn’t know you’ve crossed into Virginia from North Carolina since the sign blew over in the tornado a month ago. I’d think VDOT would have put it back up by now.