brainsplotch

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.