Familiar Faces

There are always benefits and drawbacks to traveling alone. It's awesome to be on your own schedule, dealing with mistakes is entirely up to your own resilience, and then there's the Disneyland theory which states that some people go for the shows, others for the rides. When you're traveling solo, you choose. But with the autonomy comes the realization that human beings are social creatures. One grows tired of watching people interact with each other, muttering observations only to oneself, and finally my least favorite thing about traveling alone - eating by yourself. So today, I was thrilled to meet Joyce and Adrienne and begin the social leg of my trip. It's comforting and enjoyable spending time thousands of miles away from home with good people who share a similar reference point.
So, on with the day. Waiting for the train in Koln is quite nice, since you can sit on the steps in the shade of the Dom. Some kids brought an amp and were playing all sorts of pop music and doing sporadic, acrobatic break dance moves. I don't think they were performing for money, but they were pretty good. I have a feeling they were just there to show off for the tourists.

Before I boarded the train, I got a pretzel, and then I went to a kiosk to get something to drink. I asked for a Lipton, and the guy turned around to grab it. Whilst he was there, I saw a soft drink I'd not tried before. So I told him, I wanted the Mezzo Mix instead. The dude threw a fit! "What you want Lipton or Mezzo Mix!?" he spat with a scowl. "You gonna change your mind again?" Maybe, I said. Maybe. He overcharged me 0,15 Euros, but whatever. Someone's probably just having a bad day. I gave him the stink eye as I left.

The ICE train bolted to Frankfurt in less than an hour, and I was with my company before I knew it. Adrienne drove us to her village, Glan Munchweiler. It took about an hour, and we stopped at the US AF base to get gas. The base was huge! They even have their own Burger King, a mall, two gas stations and more stuff I probably didn't even see. I went to a BX store for the first time. It's like a Target for soldiers. Lots of go America and red, white and blue stuff in there. We just got some toothbrushes and chips.

After we got to Adrienne's home, we headed off to a village restaurant/bar where Adrienne knew the owners. So nice to finally share a meal with friends. I had some Cordon Bleu schnitzel and some rosti potatoes (giant tater tots!!!).

After a couple movies that I slept through, mostly, it was time for some sleep. I woke up this morning at about eight, Skyped mom and dad and Mario, then took dad's advice and went to go find breakfast for me and Joyce, who was still sleeping after a long day of traveling. After walking around the quaint village, I stumbled upon a bakery and got a couple of almond pasteries and an apple turnover. The village is pretty cool - I'll let the pictures do the descriptive work.

I'm pretty fortunate to be here. I can always go to a city like Frankfurt, but when would I ever, by my own devices, wander out to a small village in the middle of Germany? Not likely. Today, I think we're off to Trier for some more Doner Kebabs. You know I can't wait for that.