PiÃ³ro » France

The final leg

Martha Heckman — Fri, 29 Nov 2002 19:55:56 +0000

So the train from Wrocław to Hamburg was dope. 2nd class but we felt like royalty: foot room, free chocolate. Bye-bye bleak East, hello glittery West. Tobi, thanks for letting us crash and disrupt your studies in beautiful Hamburg. Props to the peeps in your flat. The train to Kempten to see Kate was a 14 hour marathon. Bye-bye high speed inter-city, hello discount regional travel. But the seven stop-overs and the cool conversation thanks to Stephan, made time fly. In Kempten we had beer for breakfast (we are told it’s the thing to do), went on day trips to the Alps, and saw some crazy fairytale castles. Kate, thanks for letting us crash. Flo, the food was great and thanks for letting us cook up pictures on your computer. Then it was off to see Michelle in Grenoble, France, a cool little French town in the Alps. It’s a town that breaks all the French stereotypes: the people are friendly and don’t get insulted when you try and speak French to them. Michelle and Andreas, thanks for letting us crash. Props to your peeps. From there, it was Paris for a night and Charles de Gaul Airport in the morning.

Welcome to Paris, Speak English?

Matthew Pioro — Wed, 05 Jun 2002 10:15:33 +0000

So we arrived at the French customs kiosk. I had filled out my Disembarkment papers incorrectly. There was a place that asked for the last airport. I didn’t know if the form wanted the previous airport or my final airport. I chose the latter.

“Sorry, that should be Pittsburgh. Not de Gaule.”

The customs guys sighed heavily and crossed out my entry and wrote in the change. He then held up the card and said in that oh-so Parisian-ified English,

“Eet iz wrutten een Eenglish.”

What could I say?

Peeing in Paris

Martha Heckman — Wed, 05 Jun 2002 10:03:53 +0000

Paris is absolutely small bladder friendly… I give it five flushes.

I got some good rock-out pictures of Pioro in front of some familiar landmarks, just got to figure out how to up-load the photos…

Unfortunately we have to leave in a few hours, and have a 20 hr train ride to Lisbon to look forward to.