Sarah and Kate's Excellent European Adventure

SARAH CAME TO VISIT AT LAST! Our reunion at the airport in Frankfurt was definitely of film quality--VERY dramatic and exciting.

We didn't waste any time; as soon as Sarah arrived, we hopped on a train headed for Paris! She filled me in on all the gossip from our family and from the United States in general, and then we began the long process of Catching Up On Each Others' Lives--an enjoyable task, helped along by countless cups of coffee and hot chocolate.

In Paris, we made all the routine stops, and then some. We even got cheap, last-minute tickets to the ballet at the beautiful Opéra Garnier (I think they were so cheap because we could only see half the stage!). The atmostphere alone was worth the seven euros. Our only regret was that we had no pretty clothes to help us attempt to disguise ourselves as hoity-toity opera-goers. Our tennis shoes were dead giveaways.

I was proud of Sarah for packing light, but nonetheless, after two days, she was ready to mail a few things home rather than lug them around to a few other countries. As I was helping her prepare her bag to send back to Illinois, I reached into a zipper compartment and pulled out a couple of highlighters. "Sarah, what the heck ... " I began, as I proceeded to unearth ELEVEN highlighters, a container of extra pencil lead, and a CALCULATOR from her bag. "A

calculator????" I asked incredulously. "You don't even LIKE math!" Despite her best efforts to pack sparingly, Sarah had made a vital mistake: She had neglected to clean out her old school

backpack before taking it on her trip.

After Paris, we made our way to Arras (which, much to Sarah's chagrin, does NOT rhyme with "Paris"). My guidebook called Arras the "prettiest town in Northern France," but it wasn't quite pretty enough to tempt us to stay the night. Instead, we made our way to Brugge, the most chocolatey and romantical city in Belgium, and quite possibly in the world.

Our first night in Brugge was a little bit of a shock for Sarah: After reserving our cozy private room in Paris, I had booked a 14-bed mixed dorm hostel for 11 euros a night in Brugge, expressly to give Sarah the full experience of backpacking on a budget. Having stayed in countless hostels myself, I have learned to sleep in a room with five or seven or even thirteen people without a second thought, and I am used to sharing questionable showers with complete strangers. I had forgotten that this could, potentially, be considered weird. Sarah was shocked to the point of tears at first, but after a couple phone calls home, she toughened her resolve and dealt with the situation valiantly.

Though the Brugge portion of our trip got off to a rocky start, the charming little city more than made up for the less-than-luxurious lodging. We spent hours wandering down the cobblestoned streets, ambling over swan-ful canals, and drooling at the windows of every chocolate shop we passed. And, of course, as no trip to Belgium would be complete without beer, we took a tour at a small local brewery, where they treated us with free samples afterwards.

To reward ourselves for surviving the 14-bed hostel experience, we stayed the next two nights in Rotterdam, with my friend Stijn. Since Rotterdam is only an hour's train ride from Amsterdam, we simply went to Amsterdam for the day, and returned to Stijn's at night. In Amsterdam, we went to two excellent museums: the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House. We also wandered unwittingly into the redlight district, which wasn't quite as classy but was equally informative.

Finally fed up with being tourists, we spent the last night and day tagging along with Stijn and his friends. Stijn cooked us one of his delicious homemade meals, drove us to the beach at Hoek van Holland, and took us out dancing on Friday night. On Saturday, we accompanied him on his weekly trip to the farmer's market, after which we ate apple pie for breakfast and went with him to pick up a friend from the airport.

Throughout our trip, Sarah's astute observations ("Europe isn't a very handicapped-accessible country") and keen interest in what each city had to offer ("Oooo, can we go to the Prostitution Information Center?! It sounds really neat!") showed that she was certainly learning a lot abroad.

On the train ride back to the Frankfurt airport, Sarah and I decided to make a list of the highs and lows of our trip. We decided to start with lows. After thinking for a few minutes, Sarah finally said, "Well ... there was wind." I think this is indication enough that our trip was a success.

Enfin, ma famille m'a rendu visite!

And my family came at last! I met them at the airport, and our first greetings were exchanged from opposite sides of a glass wall in baggage claim, as they waited for Anne's missing suitcase (which, in the end, didn't come until the next day). We decided it was good that Anne's bag got lost rather than anyone else's, since she is by far the most laid-back, and since Dad would look kind of weird borrowing our clothes for a few days.

Paris was CROWDED. We tried to hit the main attractions--like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Montmartre--in spite of the throngs of people who had flocked to the city for the New Year's festivities. Since we all know that food is a vital part of vacation, we sought out cafés and pastry shops in the mornings and switched to bars and little restaurants at night. On New Year's, half the restaurants were closed (hey, even waiters and chefs want to go out partying!), and the remaining places had jacked up their prices so that everything was about three times as expensive as normal ... so we brought carry-out Vietnamese food and a couple bottles of wine back to our hotel room. Just as Mom and Dad started thinking about staying in and letting midnight slip by tranquillement, Anne and I convinced them to put on their go-out clothes and come with us in search of a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower. We found it, and began our year by watching the tower sparkle and the Parisians pop bottles of champagne.

After Paris, we made our way over to northwestern France, where I showed my family what the heck I've been doing all these months. We visited Metz (so nice to be back in a friendly, smaller town), Thionville (one evening sufficed for here!), and Verdun (Dad could barely contain his excitement--or his droning historical narratives). In Verdun, we visited the battlefields, the ossuary, and the cathedral, where we searched unsuccessfully for the initials of Mom's grandfather, who had fought at Verdun during World War I.

Last stop: Germany! In Leipzig, Julie and her mom whisked us off the train and gave us a warm welcome into their home. The next day, they paraded us around town, showing us all the main sights and treating us to unique Leipziger food and drink specialties. It was so fun to see Julie's OTHER home! After a couple of days, we said goodbye to Manuela and borrowed Julie for a day to visit Berlin and learn all about East and West German history.

Watching my family ride off to the airport was the ONLY low point of the entire trip. The only thing that could soften the blow would be if someone could send a cousin over here to keep me company for a while ...