Day one of my journey is sort of over. Really, instead of "day" it should be called "amorphous day-like period of time in which the sun plays torture games with my mind." I'm referring of course to jet lag. As expected I got absolutely no sleep on the overnight flight. I really can't sleep in vehicles.
The journey started out on public transit in Madison, one bus to catch another bus, this one that went all the way to Chicago O'Hare. Three hours later the plane took off for London. I flew Virgin Atlantic and I have to say it was a really pleasant trip, I was about 8 hours in flight. Heathrow was of course under construction, but it was relatively painless to catch the quick connection to Frankfurt. Frankfurt airport was also under construction. One thing that is great about airports is that typically you get off the plane and then a herd of passengers wanders tunnel after tunnel and somehow eventually ends up exactly where they are supposed to be.
By the time I figured out how to buy a train ticket to get into town, I had been up for a full 24 hours. I found my hotel without too much fuss. It is basically what I expected, a very tiny room with a bathroom down the hall (which I briefly locked myself into). That's what you get for 45 euros a night in the middle of a major European city. And this is the view that comes with it
The room and the bathroom are very clean though, which is apparently a hallmark of all German hotels, regardless of price. I took a 2 hour nap, and I'm going to try to make it the rest of the way and go to sleep at a proper hour to get on the local schedule. I turned on the TV to see what I could find. Much to my horror, "According to Jim" (to which my blog title has absolutely no relation) was on, dubbed in German of course. Who let this crap beyond the US borders? I always hoped it was just a secret national shame that the show existed, but now I know that the world is all too aware of what our culture has wrought. Luckily, "Die Simpsons" were playing on another channel, which makes me feel much better.
Finally, given my lack of sleep and exposure to an international panaloply of viruses, place your bets in the comments as to a) when I will get sick, b) what will the symptoms be, and c) how much of my trip it will ruin. The winner gets a postcard.
1 comment:
Hey, I didn't know you were going abroad! Perhaps I would, if I ever, you know. Wrote or called. Like folks do at times. I'm actually not going to put my money on "sick," as what I presume to be your imminent exposure to more sauerkraut than you'd be wise to shake stick at should keep die kleinen Dämonen well at bay. Rather, I predict you'll soon be driven to fever by the American tourists coming up and asking, "Entschuldigung, können Sie mir sagen, wo sich die nächste Mc Donald's ist?" Be strong.
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