Wine & Cheese, Fish & Chips, Beer & Sausages
My voyage overseas was quite frankly one of the best times of my life... Here, back home as I reflect, I feel like it was one of those really "real" dreams you wake up with. Slightly blurry, too good to be true, and too quickly gone. Our first days post-Europe were spent at my parents home (my parents made us a late holiday turkey dinner), waking up early, taking the dog for long walks and to the park, renting old films, going out to lunch, long naps, grocery shopping and cooking. Those days. Following the hurricane of drama and excitment seem to be the precious ones.
As soon as we arrived in Paris we were already a little uneasy, fatigued and jetlegged. To top that off I had no cash and the cash machine wasn't accepting my card, I had no idea where we were staying or how we would leave the airport. We ended up jumping on a random bus, getting off at the Arc d'Triomph and settling on the first hotel we saw a block away. It all fell right into place. Paris was my favorite part of the trip, I tried to sell it to A.S. as much as I could. We spent Christmas on the Eiffel Tower; saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Musee d'Air et Espace, the Musee d'Orsay, Versailles, the Arc d'Triomph, and La Defense.
Then we took a train to London with again no idea where to stay, where to leave the train station to, etc. But, it all just kind of fell into place. The stereotype about the Brits being friendly beings panned out to be true. We were lost one morning and a random gentleman was like "Where to Love?" and held an umbrella over my head to my destination. We saw, Big Ben, Parliment, the Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe, the Palace, ate fish and chips, and rode a double decker bus. On New Years Eve A.S. ended up getting really sick, but insisted on me going out. Feeling independent and gutsy I decided to take his offer. I found the most expensive looking restaurant I could find. When the waiters asked how many would need seating I said "One." The whole restaurant was like "WHAT!?" "One?" "How can this be?" It was quite interesting. I ordered the most expensive meal and wine the place offered and it felt quite liberating. One of the waiters told the manager my "dilemma" and he came over gave me free dessert and wrote down a list of night clubs I could go to. When I left he whispered in my ear "I hope you find your prince charming tonight." I said "Thank you, he's actually sleeping at the hotel."
After London, we took a night train to Berlin. We were packed like sardines in these tiny beds. A.S. got to sleep inbetween two young gals, and I got to sleep under a fat German man and on top of an old Russian lady who snored like you wouldn't believe. It was such a fun little experience whispering to eachother with our little night lights on, across bunks like we were at summer camp. In Berlin we saw the Brandenburg Gates, Reichstag, the Victory Tower, Check Point Charlie and parts of the wall. I was amazed at the (still) evident difference between east and west Germany. We splurged and got a nice four star hotel and while A.S. still battled his illness I took advantage of the mini bar. One night while sharing a bottle of wine with myself I was out on the balcony and I heard a bomb go off. The next night A.S. heard gun shots. And what would a European vacation be like without getting busted by the police, err polizei. Three German officers busted us for using expired bahn tickets. Oops? They took away our passports and gave us a scare, but no harm done. I'm telling you strong German authoritative voices are scary....
Our last few days we went to Leipzig to stay with some friends of A.S. They had this amazing house and darling little baby boy. They took us to military sites, this exhibition of Rome, and were extremely hospitable. It was fun playing "grown-ups." We went out to a pub and drank dark beer and smoked with them. (When in Rome do as the Romans.) I even got to babysit the baby and hold, kiss, and play with him as much as I wanted. Our very last day Andrew and I got to go off and do some exploring on our own. We went to the largest train station in Germany, the opera house, ate lunch in city hall and went to St. Thomas church. Our last night we went out to a pub in the city and I don't think it really hit either of us that our trip was coming to a close. I chatted a lot with the husband we stayed with and mentioned A.S. wanting to possibly work for a German bank or something of that nature and he said he'd look into the Commerce school in Leipzig. I was so excited for him.
After all the trains, planes and automobiles, all the stress that comes with long vacations, and the thousands of dollars spent one would hypothesize we would need a vacation from vacationing. But in all truthfulness, the day after we arrived home to the States we were looking at flights to Italy and Greece...
As soon as we arrived in Paris we were already a little uneasy, fatigued and jetlegged. To top that off I had no cash and the cash machine wasn't accepting my card, I had no idea where we were staying or how we would leave the airport. We ended up jumping on a random bus, getting off at the Arc d'Triomph and settling on the first hotel we saw a block away. It all fell right into place. Paris was my favorite part of the trip, I tried to sell it to A.S. as much as I could. We spent Christmas on the Eiffel Tower; saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Musee d'Air et Espace, the Musee d'Orsay, Versailles, the Arc d'Triomph, and La Defense.
Then we took a train to London with again no idea where to stay, where to leave the train station to, etc. But, it all just kind of fell into place. The stereotype about the Brits being friendly beings panned out to be true. We were lost one morning and a random gentleman was like "Where to Love?" and held an umbrella over my head to my destination. We saw, Big Ben, Parliment, the Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe, the Palace, ate fish and chips, and rode a double decker bus. On New Years Eve A.S. ended up getting really sick, but insisted on me going out. Feeling independent and gutsy I decided to take his offer. I found the most expensive looking restaurant I could find. When the waiters asked how many would need seating I said "One." The whole restaurant was like "WHAT!?" "One?" "How can this be?" It was quite interesting. I ordered the most expensive meal and wine the place offered and it felt quite liberating. One of the waiters told the manager my "dilemma" and he came over gave me free dessert and wrote down a list of night clubs I could go to. When I left he whispered in my ear "I hope you find your prince charming tonight." I said "Thank you, he's actually sleeping at the hotel."
After London, we took a night train to Berlin. We were packed like sardines in these tiny beds. A.S. got to sleep inbetween two young gals, and I got to sleep under a fat German man and on top of an old Russian lady who snored like you wouldn't believe. It was such a fun little experience whispering to eachother with our little night lights on, across bunks like we were at summer camp. In Berlin we saw the Brandenburg Gates, Reichstag, the Victory Tower, Check Point Charlie and parts of the wall. I was amazed at the (still) evident difference between east and west Germany. We splurged and got a nice four star hotel and while A.S. still battled his illness I took advantage of the mini bar. One night while sharing a bottle of wine with myself I was out on the balcony and I heard a bomb go off. The next night A.S. heard gun shots. And what would a European vacation be like without getting busted by the police, err polizei. Three German officers busted us for using expired bahn tickets. Oops? They took away our passports and gave us a scare, but no harm done. I'm telling you strong German authoritative voices are scary....
Our last few days we went to Leipzig to stay with some friends of A.S. They had this amazing house and darling little baby boy. They took us to military sites, this exhibition of Rome, and were extremely hospitable. It was fun playing "grown-ups." We went out to a pub and drank dark beer and smoked with them. (When in Rome do as the Romans.) I even got to babysit the baby and hold, kiss, and play with him as much as I wanted. Our very last day Andrew and I got to go off and do some exploring on our own. We went to the largest train station in Germany, the opera house, ate lunch in city hall and went to St. Thomas church. Our last night we went out to a pub in the city and I don't think it really hit either of us that our trip was coming to a close. I chatted a lot with the husband we stayed with and mentioned A.S. wanting to possibly work for a German bank or something of that nature and he said he'd look into the Commerce school in Leipzig. I was so excited for him.
After all the trains, planes and automobiles, all the stress that comes with long vacations, and the thousands of dollars spent one would hypothesize we would need a vacation from vacationing. But in all truthfulness, the day after we arrived home to the States we were looking at flights to Italy and Greece...
posted by Angela Nicole Gray at 3:27 PM
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