~If you are obliged to reserve seats on a train, there is a better than 50-50 chance that your designated seats will be backward to the direction that train takes.~
~When preparing for an overseas trip, one can never pack too many dried prunes.~
~It's amazing to note the number of train and plane passengers who shift from laptop to smartphone, and back again...without ever looking up, or even occasionally seeking some other form of diversion. It's as though they would be totally lost in a world without the ability to digitally dabble.~
~ One doesn't need to look at the landscape to know that he or she is in Sweden. All they need to do is look at the women and children. (With apologies to cousin in-law Christian, who is Svenska, through and through). ~Family ties increase in importance with age. In life's winter, they become most important.~
~At the very beginning and ending of a long journey, the experience of a good night's sleep is largely a myth. ~
~When surveying a bistro or brasserie, and we hear the name "Rick Steeves", our first instinct is to make a quick 180 degree turn. Mind you, it's not that we dislike Rick Steeves. In fact, we and some of our closest friends are devotees of his travel books. But "getting away from it all" means that after flying a third of the way around the globe, the last thing we need to hear is the same old dialect we thought we'd left behind.
~If the traveler happens to see a guy on the streets of Paris or Brussells. wearing flower-patterned walking shorts, black socks, and brown loafers, there's a better than 50% chance he's a local citizen, and not another American tourist. However, if he's also wearing a baseball cap, the percentage drops considerably.~
~On the train ride from Malmo to Oslo, a Norwegian fellow traveller remarked, "...gasoline isn't really expensive for those who live here; only for those who don't." The lady, a teacher, wasn't speaking in a self-satisfied, haughty way. Rather, to coin an oft-used Yankee idiom, she was simply "telling it like it is". The "Big Mac Index", which frequently appears in The Economist magazine, is based on the world market value of the dollar, and the global uniformity of ingredients used in preparing that particular sandwich. Norway is the most expensive country in the world for having the pleasure of munching a Big Mac....for those who don't live there. In purely financial terms, it is Switzerland-north. But as a former student of ours points out, "It is a gem". The stellar attraction of Sweden's neighbor to the west is far from the golden arches of Mickey D. Its fjords make one entirely forget about hamburgers.~
~Speaking of comestibles, the American phrase "crash diet" and the French word "patisserie" cannot peacefully co-exist in the same thought sequence; let alone the same sentence. That being said, when told that a buffet in our Paris hotel would fetch 18 euros per person, frugality weighed in heavily, and prompted us to take a ten minute walk and discover a small, 3-table neighborhood bakery. There, for a mere bagatelle of 7.10 euros we had our morning lattes, a shared bottle of o.j. and two french pastries! This was the morning regime for four successive days. When it was all said and done, the charge to "sin in haste, and repent at leisure" seemed to work comfortably for us.*
~"Brussels" is the way those of us in the U.S. are accustomed to reading the name of the capital of Belgium. However, the inhabitants of that fair country spell it "Bruxelles", and pronounce it (broo-SELLS). Correspondingly, we on this side of the "Big Pond" are used to seeing the French city of Chartres pronounced pretty much as it is written. Au contraire, those really in the know say "SHOT-truh" The challenge is to say the "truh" as if you're speaking with a mouth half-full of water.~
~Found in the main square of Brussels is the city's most important museum. On the fourth floor of that museum is a most unusual collection of dolls called "Pis Mannekens", which are replicas of the most photographed fountain in the entire country, and which is located just a few city blocks distant. Created in 1628, the practical purpose of the fountain was to provide a source of drinking water to the town inhabitants, but done so with a wink. The fountain is actually the statue of a very young, very male child, doing "what comes naturally" The museum contains well over 50 look-alikes, all garbed in various modes of dress - from Elvis to a Montreal Canadiens hockey player, and all with the trademark "holding pattern" with the left hand. The "Manneken" has come to symbolize the collective attitude of the towns' citizens; one of liberal perspective, open and accommodating attitudes, and a spirit of celebration. It is seen replicated in museum porcelain, candy shops, posters, and gift shop figurines by the hundreds. What might be given a "parental advisory" rating for this kind of exhibition over here is casually ignored over there.~
~The seating capacity of San Francisco's A.T. & T. ballpark is 41,915. The estimated number of patrons, in a serpentining queue, awaiting entrance to the palace at Versailles on a particularly warm day was 41,915. The question was, "How long would it take to reach the decision to abort this mission?". The answer was, if stretched, 5 minutes. Plan B for the day was to continue the train trip to Chatres, and to see the massive cathedral there; all 110+ meters in length and 176 stained glass windows of it. An added benefit was and is to hear a recital performed on the cathedral's behemoth organ.~
~One adventure must end before the next can begin.~
*(ed note: neither your scribe nor the Bride gained one pound during this trek. HLR)
