And here we are, in the US, and here we have been for the past three days, but posts that are just a tad late add spice to life right? We left Tana on Tuesday morning at 12 am on a huge, nice, empty plane that meant everyone got a row to themselves so we actually did sleep a bit. Then there was Paris. I paid for a bathroom for the first time and was quite surprised that such an expensive WC smelled like that... Then there was the purchasing of train tickets for the next day and getting to the hotel via the metro, a grumpy taxi driver, some suitcase toting in the rain, and an almost wipeout in the middle of the metro station on my part. Our hotel room looked out right on the back of the train station, the rows and rows of platforms made a really cool view. The next morning we took a train from Paris to Frankfurt Germany. Most of the seats on this train were in rows, facing one way, however there were the unlucky few of us who were in the sets of four that faced each other with a table in the middle. Mom and dad had a row, I had a table. No one came for the seat next to me so I was at my leisure to lean over and enjoy the great big window. Across from me sat a pretty blond girl, probably in her early 20’s. She seemed nice enough but I couldn’t ever determine if she was French or Germany or if she even spoke English, so there was no conversation to be had. Then, just before departure the seat beside her was filled by a young, towering, handsome, blond haired, blue eyed, German fella. I decided his name was Hans, and since none of us started a conversation with the other two for the whole 5 hr ride, I never had to be disillusioned by the fact that it was not. It was at this point that I decided that the girl needed to be German and planned a brilliant love story for the two of them, I mean, meeting on an international train on the way home from some adventure, what more could you want. They failed to cooperate. They never talked to each other. From what I could see they never even looked at each other. When they both nodded off I thought, Great! Their heads will bump, they will wake up, start talking.... Never happened. Thus love did not bloom on that train, what a shame.
There were times along the ride that the scenery became monotonous when I tried and failed to study Biology or thought about writing out a blog to transcribe later only to decide that that would be too awkward facing to strangers. Hans had a newspaper but asking to see it after he was done would have been futile, since it was in German.
Getting off in Frankfurt City and finding and boarding the train to the airport may have been the hardest part of the trip. Dropping three small-towners into a metro station in a different language with huge suitcases should be the next reality show. But we made it. At the airport we called to hotel we had a reservation for, since our flight to the US wasn’t until the next morning. They sent their shuttle to get us and we had a lovely drive through a suburb of Frankfurt that looked like the set of the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant - a restaurant that came complete with dark wood furniture, stain glass pictures of German beer, and a group of men in the corner having a pint - ‘twas as quintessentially wonderful as can be.
The next day was the flight home. It was so weird walking to get inline with a slew of other Americans after being around quiet Malagasy and reserved Europeans for so long. We are quite a loud culture my countrymen. When we landed and walked into the Charlotte Airport a wall of heat and humidity hit us, welcome home. Then a long trip through international security and a short flight back to Jacksonville sitting next to a kindly old man who told me of his life of traveling and advised me about future travel. Home.
[Over the next few days I will be getting all the pictures up on Facebook and maybe a post or two more summing up what I learned and such. Stay tuned and thanks for reading]
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