on to amsterdam

So that catches us up! This morning, we woke up, got ready and packed, then left for the train station. Sandra took us to a bakery — I really wish we had good ones in America — and we got lots of bread for the train. Sandra is wonderful. I’m enjoying her company a lot. Also, I’m completely envious of her ability to speak (at least) three different languages fluently. I’m really glad she and Henrik are dating. I have not had a chance to interact with any of his other girlfriends, but as far as I could tell, they all had Issues. It’s fascinating to me to watch people interacting in two different languages. The code-switching is really bizarre sometimes. I wish for the bazillionth time that I spoke German, even...

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Posted on 28 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

more hamburg

So that brings us to yesterday! Whew! I am almost caught up! We had another nice breakfast in Sandra’s flat — forgot to take pictures of it but it’s gorgeous and only costs €500 a month. New appliances, hardwood floors, beautiful watercolors on the walls and everything. It really made me want to live in a city again. Anyway, when we got going, it was too late to get to Lübeck. We instead went to the Hauptbahnhof and took a ferry from the harbor to the beach on the Elbe. We walked along the beach and talked and I admired all the cute dogs being walked. It was cold but still beautiful. We wanted to have a cofee at this bar on the beach but it was closed for the off-season. So we tried to figure out where we were and climbed this...

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Posted on 27 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

first days in hamburg

Okay, I really need to catch up now! After Henrik found us at the train station, we took a bus back to his flat. It’s a very cute little brick building and he is on the third floor. His flat is a nice one-bedroom apartment. We decided to have dinner at a pizza place down the street. Henrik’s girlfriend Sandra met us at the restaurant after she got home from work. Ordering was quite tough but Henrik and Sandra were very helpful. I was so exhausted at this point even though I had slept on the train. We ate and went back to the flat and I was asleep before 20:30 (but I checked email first, I think). The next morning, we woke up not too late. Sandra had to work, so it was just the three of us. Henrik laid out a huge breakfast for us, bread and...

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Posted on 26 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

arrival in hamburg

Wow, there doesn’t seem to be any time to write down these adventures. To pick up where I left off: the trains (regional and long-distance [fahr]) were located very close to the arrivals and baggage claim for international flights. We found a telephone card (for €10) and the train number of the fastest one to Hamburg and a public telephone and we called Henrik with the info. Once we figured out how to board the train (after getting our Eurail passes validated), we only had a short wait. Our passes are first-class so we were in a very posh car with a bunch of business-types in suits talking on mobile phones (called “handys” in Germany, which cracks me up way too much). Scott got me a cup of coffee from the dining car but I couldn’t...

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Posted on 26 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

jet lag

Just woke up from attempting to sleep through a night. We checked email first … oops, I am forgetting something major! We arrived in Frankfurt! That’s it! :) The airport is very nice. So much nicer than American ones. Huge and very tourist-friendly. All the signs (which were quite large, thankfully) were also in English so that was helpful.

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Posted on 26 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

still in flight

Wow, this is a huge, full plane. A 747-400, I think. i saw a flight of stairs when we boarded! We are in row 41. There are 10 seats per row. There are many, many rows! I just watched “The Banger Sisters”, which as far as I could tell had no entertainment value whatsoever. But I killed two hours while Scott napped. I think it is very weird that they sell you duty-free items on the plane after dinner. Dinner was quite good, by the way. We each had spinach pasta (linguini) with marinara sauce — lots of eggplant, mushrooms and squash in the sauce — plus bread, tabouleh/chick peas/kidney beans, and a cup of strawberries, melon and pineapple. Lovely vegan meal, aside from the butter. Also, we got some Baci at the duty-free shop in LAX,...

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Posted on 25 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

in flight: LAX to Frankfurt

So, we are on the plane! This morning, all went quite smoothly when we were trying to leave the house on time, even boarding the pets. Midori went first, very crankily so, then Berkeley got dropped off. We left the car in long-term parking close to the airport. Took a shuttle to the airport, checked in, checked out bags, had lunch, cruised the duty-free store, then sat for just a bit after the security checkpoint and it was time to board! I am a mixture of exhaustion and excitement. I would like to be more bubbly right now but I am soaking up each moment very calmly and quietly instead. The Euros are so pretty! I haven’t had much chance to look at them but I will when we are not in public. I got a new mobile phone! Considering how long I have wanted...

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Posted on 24 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

first leg: home to OAK

Wow. I am on my way. I left work early and Martha picked me up at my apartment. Actually, she got lost and freaked out, but she found her way eventually. I was nervous but calmed down as soon as I saw how scared she was. She dropped me off at the transit center and I got on the airport shuttle. We are in major traffic right now so I can write a bit. Dropping Zen off was so saddening. I love her so much and am terrified of losing her. But she will be fine. I have to learn to relinquish control a bit. I had to stop writing on the bus as traffic picked up, so I napped. Considering I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep last night, a nap was just what I needed. I had some contact-lens woes, though, so I took them out at the airport. Now I am at my gate...

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Posted on 21 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

here i go

Because I doubt I’ll remember much of anything before the 24th, let alone to post here, I will inform you of my email travelogue, which you can sign up for on my travel page. See you on March 10th.

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Posted on 19 Feb 2003 | Comments Off

if you do it

If you do it, you do it for yourself, bright and gleaming your-self, shining at your-self in the mirror. Toothpaste in hand, saying, “I’m going to be the star today. Today, I’m going to get everything done.” If you do it, you do it because you cannot stand to see him suffer, you never could, even when you were so angry with him that tears froze into amber drops in your throat, trapping every single word you never wanted to say. They fall out anyway, in time. In time, we all fall out. If you do it, you do it because you want to be loved, really, by everyone, but not sex-love, just the huggy-love, the love that says, “You’re so neat! I love you just because!” Just because you share every single intimate moment with the...

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Posted on 18 Feb 2003 | Comments Off