brainsplotch

The one somewhat positive development of our delay yesterday was we had to stay over night at the TWA Hotel next to JFK Airport. It was built in 1962 as the TWA Terminal (I think I have that right), and is a masterpiece of mid-century modern architecture. It's like stepping into the Jetsons animated show (which, when you think of it, introduced kids everywhere to the mid-century modern design aesthetic--whether they knew it or not). I wish we'd had more time and energy to enjoy it, but we were fried from our travels from Edinburgh to New York. By the time we got through customs, the entire process of which had to have taken more than an hour after disembarking our plane. We had to walk what felt like a half-mile down a long, wide concourse just to get to customs. Then the process freaks me out. I'm always worried I'll say something stupid and get in trouble--but it was quick and painless. There were so many people that I think the customs folks just wanted to get us thr...

We're standing here at Gate 14 for NYC/JFK because there really is no place to sit. Our flight was delayed three hours, so we'll be spending tonight at, presumably, the 1962 mid-century modern TWA Airport. Then we fly out early tomorrow to, wait for it, Columbus, Ohio where we have a two hour layover until we make our last leg to Detroit. Then the one hour or so drive to Okemos. It's gonna be a long few days of travel. I can't tell if Edinburgh Airport is small and just feels busy because it's Saturday, or if it's always this busy. The place is crawling with people today.

Monday, we took the train from Liverpool to York. I can at least say I passed through Manchester and Leeds on the way to York. York itself is an ancient city with Roman walls still circling it. The walls are accessible for walking and offer a tremendous vantage point. We also toured York Minster, which was incredible. Not that I am any expert on the grand cathedrals of Europe, but York Minster ranks right up there with ones I have seen like Westminster and Notre Dame.  We also walked down the Shambles, a winding street the resembles Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books. It plays up the similarity, with a few Harry Potter/magic-themed shops. It's just a tad touristy. (Like we somehow aren't tourists, too? I really should quit with this elitist attitude). We retired to our hotel, where there was an open mic music event taking place downstairs. The music was, shall we say, of varying quality. (But I respect anyone willing to put themselves out there). We had a few cocktails t...

Every shower in every hotel or airbnb varies in size and to what degree a PhD in engineering is required to either a) turn it on, b) get the hot water to work without giving oneself third degree burns, or c) both. Negotiating how to get to and from every train station and whether walking is an option: this is an adventure. Realizing unequivocally that Europe's public transportation system is a thousand times better than the United States' and that isn't likely to change in my lifetime. The "see it, say it, sorted" public service announcements at the UK train stations will be in my head for awhile. Aside from the first few episodes of Dept. Q on Netflix when we were relaxing in our hotel our first night in London and some of the Isle of Wight festival whilst in Liverpool, we have barely watched any television here. That said, it's gonna drive me nuts if I don't find out if the heart attack victim survived and woke from her coma in the emergency 999 reality ...

Backtracking to London... We had a whirlwind stay in London. Our one full day, we walked across Hyde Park to the Victoria & Albert Museum and spent almost the entire afternoon there. It was the one major museum we didn't make it to in 2023, so it was thrilling to get there this time around. The collection of artwork and sculpture there is astounding, and one can almost feel the presence of ghosts from the Victorian era in the old building, which also still bears the visible scars of the blitz during the Battle of Britain. I wore my Brandi Carlile t-shirt and we bumped into some American Brandi fans at the V&A who were in London primarily for the concert. These fans invited us to a pre-show get-together at the Gloucester Arms. (We considered it, but didn't end up going). After we finished at the V&A, we walked back across Hyde Park to our hotel, charged up our phones a bit, grabbed dinner in the Aubaine Restaurant adjoining the hotel, then trekked back across Hyde Pa...

As I write this in our room at the Hard Day's Night Hotel (don't laugh--it's actually much classier than the name might imply, though does have a definite Beatle theme), we can hear loud dance music pumping outside. It's Saturday night in Liverpool and this place parties louder and harder than any city I've ever experienced. And I mean the entire city centre. Every pub and restaurant blasts music and people are everywhere drinking, singing karaoke, and in some cases wearing dressy, shiny clothes. Glowering bouncers/doormen stand out these places looking menacing. In my first day ever in Liverpool, I'm trying to get a grasp of the place, but am not successful so far. Not to say that this is a bad place at all, but it operates at a frequency that I am not attuned to yet. I'll have to see if it calms down at all tomorrow, which is a Sunday.  After wandering around the area surrounding the hotel and not finding a restaurant that didn't look crowded, insanely...

If you think TSA is stressful, just go through the security checkpoint for the Eurostar from France to England: find Hall 2, present ticket to intimidating, uniformed French authorities, go up escalator to Hall 2, wait in line, scan passport, go through gate, cram all belongings into baggage, scan passport again, send baggage through x-ray, hope you didn't forget to take off your belt with metal buckle (I did), pass through body scanner again and pray. Success! Thank British authority. Take several deep breaths of elation and relief. Then pray you can find all the stuff you hastily crammed in your luggage. When you find them, take several more deep breaths of elation and relief. In conclusion, pretty please with sugar on top: rejoin the EU, UK!

I literally have not had a second until now to write anything in here about Paris. Where to begin? It was I who sprung the idea of staying in Montmartre, based solely on its history of being a bohemian artist enclave and its association with Toulouse-Lautrec, the Moulin Rouge, and other luminaries such as Picasso. But I never gave much thought to the geography of the place or where it was situated in relation to the rest of Paris. I really didn't know or never registered that it lies on the northern edge of Paris and is separated geographically and even psychically by an incredibly steep bluff that is only accessed by hundreds of steps (or a funicular, if the steps are too daunting).  Montmartre is a funky, vibrant place full of winding, narrow cobblestone streets. Some parts are more touristy than others. Our little apartment is at 6 Rue Poulbot, three floors above a tiny restaurant called Chez Plumeau. We can hear talking, laughing, and the clacking of cutlery until well into the...

We are sitting at a seat that is divided from the other seat by a table, so there are awkward glances at the people in front of us. I figure they don't want to be bothered with conversation from a complete stranger, so I'll leave them alone.  Most people are entertained by their phones these days, anyway--including me. [Just west of Reims, now]. This is the fastest train I have ever been on. I am trying to imagine if Amtrak was this fast. It would be amazing. But that would require the U.S. to actually invest in infrastructure and public transportation. Arrived in Paris and took a wild taxi ride from the train station to our little place in Montmartre. I even attempted French with the cab driver, which I suppose he appreciated even though he could tell by rusty-ass French was awful. But he got us here and we have a stunning view of the city.

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't posted any pictures here. I'm never sure how they'll translate from my phone to the blog--as in, will they be too enormous in size--so I don't do it. I might try when we get home. Busy day yesterday: took the train from Halle to Leipzig to Chemnitz. Avery's class had a field trip to the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (SMAC) that I keep wanting to call "SLAM" for some reason. We had permission from his professor to tag along, and we tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. We got to meet some of Avery's friends/classmates, including Lena (or Lena 2 or dark-haired Lena, as I now think of her) and the very talkative and deeply philosophical Oskar (not entirely sure of the spelling) who bears more than a passing resemblance to a young, 1969/1970 Elton John--not that this is a bad thing. (I have to say that German college students dress much more smartly than their American counterparts. Nice to see Doc Martens and...

It's such a relief not to be in the U.S. and to be able to miss Trump's banana republic-level, wasteful military parade.  I am trying to avoid world news, in general. But it's hard when it just pops up on my phone. I was fascinated by a five-story empty building across from our tram stop on Merseberger Straße, in which the upper level appeared to be occupied exclusively by pigeons, who flew in and out of the open windows. Avery took us to a university building--the uni seems to have buildings scattered throughout the city at various locations--that has a room on the lower level that is basically a student hangout and (sort of) crash pad. It has a printer that Avery and other students use, a few sofas that look as if they were salvaged from the sidewalk, various drinks that can be taken in an "on your honor" monetary donation. The whole crazy quilt set-up made me nostalgic for the days of being a carefree young student.

[On the train to Chemnitz with a gaggle of archaeology students]. After sleeping until 9 AM and lazing about in the airbnb, we eventually took the tram up to the main (?) MLU campus in Halle. Met up with Avery and wandered a bit, looking at various university buildings. Avery went to class and L. and I went to our favorite Halle coffee shop, 7 Gram, which happens to be directly across the street from B12 Musics, which is a excellent record shop. So we drank iced lattes and then, on my request, popped into B12. I bought Siouxsie & the Banshees' Kaleidoscope (on CD), which was a fortuitous find since I have been in a S&tB mood recently. B12 had so much good stuff that I could have easily gone crazy, but resisted the temptation. The clerk who rang me up was the same guy as 2023, the one who enthused over my Namanlos purchase. Good to see he's still there. I assume he owns the place. Avery met up with us shortly thereafter and we wandered further north into the city and sa...

No more Halle puns, I promise. I just slept 11 hours, which I desperately needed, in this lovely little airbnb on Huttenstraße on the south side of the city. Yesterday, Avery guided us through the cemetery across the street, which fascinatingly contains a section of Soviets who died, or at least were buried, in the aftermath of World War II. The all have the hammer and sickle on their grave stones. In fact, we spent most of our first day here walking, which helped prevent falling asleep and further throwing off our sleep schedule. It's hard, but I've learned you have to do it. We finished off the evening by looking at some of the Martin Luther University campus and then dining at Avery's favorite Middle Eastern restaurant.

Bear with me, because I'm running on fumes. We landed in Frankfurt without incident, but then had a mini-adventure when we discovered we couldn't take the train to Halle directly from the airport, but instead had to take train from the airport to the Frankfurt hauptbahnhof, and THEN transfer to another train that would stop in Halle on its way to its final destination, Berlin. This all added an extra level of intrigue, but we got it done.  I am completely demolished right now, having barely any sleep for the better part of 30 hours, so I'll continue tomorrow.

We just boarded our plane from Detroit to Frankfurt. So far, everything has gone smoothly. All in all, it seems like a calm day at DTW. We did have a mom and dad with a young child in front of us who somehow it would be okay to put a small child's bed in front of the emergency exit. No bueno. Looks like the flight attendant was able to have them trade seats with somebody else. Problem solved. And with that, I will sign off for now.