Strange Encounters Abroad
My mom and I had decided to head over to Cologne for the day. We had a wonderful time strolling around the city, shopping, and looking at the sites. Cologne has a marvelous cathedral which rivals Notre Dame. There's old fashioned cafes, cobble stone streets, and old men playing guitars (When it's hot, they play barefoot with their feet dangling in the fountains.)
Speaking of which my mom and I were walking along the Rhein when this little old man came up and latched on to us. Somehow, he felt it was his job to give us a tour of the city. He was friendly enough, but he was taking us off the beaten track. Plus he kept trying to hold my arm which I didn't like. My mom and I tried to lose him by going into a chapel (He said he couldn't go inside.) but when we came out again he was still there. So we told him we had to leave and doubled back to the train station.
We decided to drop by Amsterdam on the way home. Granted, we had just traveled 4 hrs from my apartment in north western Germany to get to Cologne. Amsterdam is in another country, 4 hrs further and not quite on the way home. But my mom absolutely wanted to see Amsterdam so... we left.
The only people I know who actually want to see Amsterdam specifically go there to smoke pot. Most people told me not to go there since they know that I don't smoke pot and that I have a horror of stumbling onto red light districts. I was a little nervous to begin with.
Anyways, there was a black man and a white woman on the train that got on at different stations. I noticed that after a time they started talking briefly to each other. The man carried a small black bag. To be honest, I really wasn't paying much attention at all. But when I made a comment to my mom about something, she didn't answer. Finally, she signaled the two people to me. Later I noticed that the woman now had the bag. I didn't think too much of it. I mean it really wasn't any of my buisness. But then, all of a sudden, my mother turned to the man and made this strange comment, almost like she was criticizing him. She mentioned something from the Bible which I could understand, but it was very cryptic. I nearly lost it. I mean, we're on a train to Amsterdam. These two people act like they don't know each other, but then casually exchange a small bag containing who knows what. We definitely do not know them, but somehow my mom decides to open communication with them by a secret code type statement! The man just looked startled and soon got off the train. The woman stayed until we got to the Amsterdam main station. She seemed annoyed and kept looking at us with a confused expression on her face.
When we did land in Amsterdam, it was nightfall and we hadn't a clue of where to go. My mom wasn't worried about the encounter, but now I realized that the only thing risky about going to Amsterdam was going with my mom. I thought it would be best to leave. But no night trains go from Amsterdam to Germany. So in the end, we bought a ticket to Paris...
Cherio!
If you see suspicious characters on trains to places like Amsterdam - look the other way.
This is my favorite picture from Paris. It's small here, but I hope you can see the lights twinkling. I guess this is how most people imagine Paris - the glamorous city of lights. I wish I could say that my visit there was as glitzy or romantic as this picture hints at. But actually, it was just hot and sweaty. Lying in my hotel bed that night - I've never been more miserable. 4,000 people died during that heat spell. I felt like I was going to be one of them!
The leaves in this picture remind me of autumn. This is Notre Dame. I didn't see anything like a hunchback, but there was an enormously tall priest in a red cloak and sneakers.
