Dave on the ICE train...going 200mph!
Friday July 25, 2008, Schneckenhausen, Germany
Hi everyone, Yesterday afternoon we left our hotel in Paris (out in the new business district called La Defense), traveled by line 1 to Palais Musee Louvre, changed to Line 7 to Gare de L'Est (East Train Station) for our train to Kaiserslautern. We had a 7pm (so i thought) departure. Hmm....I saw a 19:05 departure to Frankfurt....but the train was number 9559, not 9551....so I FINALLY found an Accueil (my new favorite word to say) to show our ticket....oh, look....your train left at 7AM today!!! You'd think I'd have remembered military time after all these years...Since I'd purchased a 'special price' ticket over the internet (87 euros for all three of us) it was not refundable or exchangeable (I stood nervously in a new line to get fresh tickets...while the minutes slipped away for our departure, the LAST train out of Paris for our direction). I feel a bit idiotic. We COULD have caught the early morning train, and, as many times as I looked at the ticket, the time-thang just didn't click. (We need to switch 100% to military time, that's all there is to it!) Ok, so the new tickets cost 75 euros each (225 total). Bit spendy, but we are safely arrived in Schneckenhausen and loving the hugs from Wesley and Tommy (Anna is warming up to the new invaders). I think we triggered a passport search, the train stopped just prior to Saarbrucken, two passport control officers boarded our car and asked everyone to show their passport, then got off a few minutes later. (they only seemed to check us and the people seated nearby)Our trip/tour with 38 students and parents from West Linn High School was amazing, wonderful, exhausting. I will try to write a more detailed account of the tour in another email. Let's just say my legs have never been so trashed. Seriously, there were times when I think the muscle fibers went on strike and I was waddling on wooden legs up the Champs D'Elysees. No one got lost (for very long) and no one got sick. We had such a good time, and bonded together, I hope we have a meal together back home soon.We leave tomorrow for Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled, well preserved village that I last visited in October 1967, then to Prague for two nights, a country-ish town in Poland for two nights, and Berlin for two nights.Weather in Paris was mild, sunny, breezy. Resting under the Eiffel Tower and looking up at it was one of my favorite moments, as well as haning out at the top of Montmartre, looking at the Sacre Couer, and people watching everywhere!Parisian fashion has historically been a hot topic, and still is...I noticed many 'gamine' looks of layered clothing, belts and scarves. The 'hot' colors are muted lavendar, cocoa, slate, black, white. Pretty much any style you can invent 'goes' as long as it is the right look for you and not someone else.I LOVED practiced pronouncing the names of the metro stops, some favorites are Pont de Neuilly, Concorde, Charles De Gaulle Etoile, Champs D'Elysees Clemenceau, Porte Maillot, Franklin Roosevelt (oh yes, must say it softly like the metro voice lady says it) I felt very comfortable asking for things in French...such as "do you have the leggings in the window?" and "Please I would like to buy two carnet of metro tickets" and "I would like to buy a crepe with jambon, oeuf and fromage, s'il vous plait".
Hi everyone, Yesterday afternoon we left our hotel in Paris (out in the new business district called La Defense), traveled by line 1 to Palais Musee Louvre, changed to Line 7 to Gare de L'Est (East Train Station) for our train to Kaiserslautern. We had a 7pm (so i thought) departure. Hmm....I saw a 19:05 departure to Frankfurt....but the train was number 9559, not 9551....so I FINALLY found an Accueil (my new favorite word to say) to show our ticket....oh, look....your train left at 7AM today!!! You'd think I'd have remembered military time after all these years...Since I'd purchased a 'special price' ticket over the internet (87 euros for all three of us) it was not refundable or exchangeable (I stood nervously in a new line to get fresh tickets...while the minutes slipped away for our departure, the LAST train out of Paris for our direction). I feel a bit idiotic. We COULD have caught the early morning train, and, as many times as I looked at the ticket, the time-thang just didn't click. (We need to switch 100% to military time, that's all there is to it!) Ok, so the new tickets cost 75 euros each (225 total). Bit spendy, but we are safely arrived in Schneckenhausen and loving the hugs from Wesley and Tommy (Anna is warming up to the new invaders). I think we triggered a passport search, the train stopped just prior to Saarbrucken, two passport control officers boarded our car and asked everyone to show their passport, then got off a few minutes later. (they only seemed to check us and the people seated nearby)Our trip/tour with 38 students and parents from West Linn High School was amazing, wonderful, exhausting. I will try to write a more detailed account of the tour in another email. Let's just say my legs have never been so trashed. Seriously, there were times when I think the muscle fibers went on strike and I was waddling on wooden legs up the Champs D'Elysees. No one got lost (for very long) and no one got sick. We had such a good time, and bonded together, I hope we have a meal together back home soon.We leave tomorrow for Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled, well preserved village that I last visited in October 1967, then to Prague for two nights, a country-ish town in Poland for two nights, and Berlin for two nights.Weather in Paris was mild, sunny, breezy. Resting under the Eiffel Tower and looking up at it was one of my favorite moments, as well as haning out at the top of Montmartre, looking at the Sacre Couer, and people watching everywhere!Parisian fashion has historically been a hot topic, and still is...I noticed many 'gamine' looks of layered clothing, belts and scarves. The 'hot' colors are muted lavendar, cocoa, slate, black, white. Pretty much any style you can invent 'goes' as long as it is the right look for you and not someone else.I LOVED practiced pronouncing the names of the metro stops, some favorites are Pont de Neuilly, Concorde, Charles De Gaulle Etoile, Champs D'Elysees Clemenceau, Porte Maillot, Franklin Roosevelt (oh yes, must say it softly like the metro voice lady says it) I felt very comfortable asking for things in French...such as "do you have the leggings in the window?" and "Please I would like to buy two carnet of metro tickets" and "I would like to buy a crepe with jambon, oeuf and fromage, s'il vous plait".
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