tiger & panda in our living room

brussels

photo by Frances Dixon

We arrived sleepy and happy into Brussels and perhaps we were caught off guard by the complicated (was it complicated) layout of the station. We got stressed out. In the end, a friendly man helped us back to Brussels Midi. We got a taxi to the hostel instead and things picked up from there.

We changed out of our two night old clothes, had showers and went to the bar for a beer. We walked around the block and had chips with mayonnaise next to the church. I can see the church out of the window now. I can't believe we've made it this far. I know it's not far really but it's the farthest I have traveled on my own planning and I'm pleased it has worked out.

It was a long day but we are on the train home and I am thinking about what a good time we had. It was so good to be with Frances on this big adventure. I have had some of the best experiences of my whole life and that's not even an exaggeration and I'm so happy I could share them with Frances.

lindau

photo by Frances Dixon

maybe this photo was by Frances?

photo by Frances Dixon

It is raining like the last time we left Berlin. We give Ana a text as she had recently moved to the city. It is nice to see all of Berlin one last time on our train ride to the station.

We are on the bottom bunks of a couchette to Munich. We tuck ourselves onto little shelves and lie on our backs in the dark compartment as lights all manner of colours and shapes flicker on the ceiling from the night through the crack in the curtains. It is like a zoetrope. It is a beautiful riot of noise and light but its frequency is hypnotic and I sleep well, though lightly.

We have a tea and a coffee in Munich and head straight back out in the direction of Lindau. Spindly legged conifers gather densely around a river, mist still collecting on its surface. The train crosses a little bridge and there is water all around.

When we get out the town is very quiet and the air is slightly bitter like it gets when winter is coming. Out at the edge of the harbour is a gate guarded by a lion and a lighthouse. Beyond them are the Alps. 

The alps are pitch black and mist hangs about them, the only thing defining them in three dimensions.

berlin

We go back to the train station and reserve couchettes for the train to Munich on Sunday. Then we have enormous  pastries for breakfast. We should have just shared one. There is a quick train to Unter Den Linden and we wander past old buildings and museums. We have lunch from a stand under the U-bahn. It has been a good morning after a strange start.

There are lots of dogs around town, which Frances especially enjoys. She would like an ice cream and in the morning we visit the Stasi Mueum. The atmosphere is bleak and overbearing around the complex that was the Secret Police headquarters

We head to Samaritestrasse to visit the record store from last time. They have so many good things but I won't buy anything this time. 

Frances noticed the sky was grey in three separate layers. We watched the opening of Oktoberfest on television. It looks crazy. I enjoyed walking through Alexanderplatz this evening with the TV tower all lit up.

hamburg

Things are far apart and dark in between. We start to worry about money and the fact that we were spending two nights here but I think it was because we are tired and have had a bad first impression of the city. Our room is actually nice and large and quiet and I am beginning to like the city I see out of the window.


The newspapers are clipped in wooden frames. I noticed this in Copenhagen as well. We both have croissants with butter and jam and unexpectedly large cups of coffee. We take our time with breakfast.

There are many bakeries around and we meet a kind man in a dog supplies shop who gives us lollies.


I am nervous about renting a rowing boat but know that I would regret missing it.The lake is very beautiful but there is no time to appreciate it while rowing. Frances rows first and is the better of the two of us. It occurs to me afterwards that it was strange that no one else was using these boats. The swell on the water is greater than we had expected. Frances laughs nervously as I struggle and Struggle against it. We eventually find that a team rowing effort is the best.

copenhagen & ferry

 photo by France Dixon

 photo by Frances Dixon

Bicycles are lent in every available space and copper spires turning brown to turquoise are all around. I had a pastry for breakfast and Frances had a boiled egg. She had a nice little loaf of bread with it. We wander about and there are many cobbles and ruddy brick buildings and green streaked copper roofs that billow at the bottom.


We are sitting in the quiet carriage and people around us a speaking softly in German and a mixture of Scandinavian languages. I will miss the softness and the understatement and the rest. We can see the sea on either side of the train and rain water is running across the windows. It is all grey and blue. 

We are unexpectedly on a ferry between Denmark and Germany! We go outside and are blown about. I can feel the salt in my hair. Everything is blue plastic and wet. We hold onto each other to approach the rail. The ferry churns the water and huge white plumes burst on the black surface. In the distance, the sky blurs into the sea.

sweden

It is all cloudy and rainy. I have spilt lemonade on myself. We are on a train all afternoon and early evening. The houses in Sweden are a variety of pastel shades and they sit in among hills and trees, placed with great care. The land becomes flatter. We are trying to take photos out of the window.

oslo

We walked around the edge of the harbour and saw the masts of many ships and hilly forrests across the horizon and we walked down some of the streets and enjoyed the statues.


We made pancakes on a hotplate and had them with coffee and strawberry jam.