Nott What You'd Expected...

The Post to end all Posts..... a Homecoming of sorts...

The only thing more soothing than the "Bum Bum Bum Bum" of the ICE Train station melodic warning or sweet lady Britain's comforting sing song voice on the Nottingham tram is the almost cardiac-ceasing BEEP BOOP that signals a return to our most hallowed of flats, nestled among the still-green grass and mind numbingly dull pale gray sky.

Suffice to say, being 'home' is a relief. If i never see another train or ride another city's underground metro/tram/tube/rail system, it will be too soon. At the risk of sounding too jaded or negative too early in the post, i'll preface this entire post with two important notes: first, fear not reader, there will be pictures. two, after approx. 20+ days away from a homecooked meal, decent sleeping conditions (save for Paris' luxerious accomodations- thanks alex), or privacy.....

While I will always remember my time on the Continent (i know my credit card bills won't soon forget), this return 'home' stands as a very important point in my Nottingham Experience. I now, as I once considered Luther, call this place Home. I had a nervous pit in my stomach for the entire train ride from London this morning, in anticipation and excitement to be back in a city that i've grown to love.... it's not flashy, it's not all that historical, and it's really not all that beautiful.... but the same can be said for most of the US, and i'm really starting to feel the strong Flat connection with the people here and with the place itself....

It was amazing having a friend from home visit... there are certain things that, no matter how much you try to convey about hometowns or high school, people who aren't native DSMers or fellow Urbandalians or friends from the past just won't understand. Cult fast food restaurants, friendly gossip, updates, etc... it was awesome having Alex around, and it seemed like the flat as a whole really opened up and enjoyed his time here as well...
At this point, I'll turn Lifetime off and put down the tissue box.... there are important travels to recount.... I do apoligize for their hazy nature, as i was particularly lazy in detailing my travels into my hardcopy journal, thus making most of the following completely b.s.'ed or based on picture evidence that i am attempting to download as i type....

The last time I checked in, i was staring down the barrel of what could be the most amazing new years celebration in the history of the world. No sarcasm, no hyperbole. Despite my Facebook picture for a few weeks and an overly-hyped tourism council that feels the need to perpetuate the image of a dazzling Eiffel Tower display on New Years, as it turns out, the aforementioned fireworks and elaborate display of French pretention were all put on as a part of a bid to become the site of the 2012 Olympics. Well, London won the bid, and we lost the fireworks...

Our view was amazing- not close enough by some standards, but within site of the tower, the obilisk, the Champs, the arch, the huge ferris wheel..... good enough for me. We were alone on the bridge for awhile, but managed to strike up a convo with a very nice New York couple.. a mother and her brilliant 14 year old daughter... the mom was a ditz, but the daughter knew her Englishy shit.... long story short, i tipsily explained my recent love affair with John Updike's short stories while she told us of her experiences attending the UN school... Anna exchanged facebook info, and we have yet to hear from her...
Our trip was, as was the rest of the break, short and rainy. The hotel was far enough from the central station to make any kind of trip to the city a hazard - that is to say, we almost missed our train to Berlin.... A few Police stops at the border of Germany later (HOW LONG WERE YOU IN HOLLAND, DO YOU HAVE ANY DRUGS?)- something about the angry German accent demands caps lock... A few white gangsters in our car were busted for traffiking (that k looks german, so it's staying...), but otherwise our ride was uneventful.

The Circus hostel in Berlin was amazing. Brandon and Mary went to their accomodations, while we wandered the city and checked in. Berlin is a curiosity in that there is no city centre. Because of the Berlin Wall, there are essentially a bunch of districts throughout an urban sprawl, making navigation confusing and taxing. Our second day in the city, Alex and I woke up hours late and missed our meeting with B and M at the Reichstag, the German capital of sorts... In the meantime, Alex and I visited (and i hate to use this word, but it's too perfect) THE ACTUAL SOUP NAZI. The ladies were nice and all, but the place was famous for its soup- the lentil glop i had was great...
From a more scholarly and less gastrological standpoint, Berlin is home to some amazingly diverse and innovative architecture. Much of the huge building work has been done in the last 15 years following the collapse of the USSR, and the Sony Center, Mercedes complex, and huge DB building are just a few of the huge glass and steel edifices that are outnumbered only by the cranes hoping to build more...
We marveled at the Sony gagets and indulged in Brandon's first Beer Garden (sadly lame by HofbraHaus standards), and called it an early and relaxed night....
Day Two in Berlin Alex and I met up with Brandon and Mary at the East Gallery, a portion of the Wall that remains intact and covered in art/graffiti.... there's so much commercializm surrounding the wall- you can buy bits of it, and people write their names and crap on it all the time... it's frustrating but not much you can do about it.
Berlin represents such history- both in its prevalance as a Nazi centre during WW2, but also its lingering importance during the Cold War. There were displays up that recounted in great detail the Nurenburg Trials of the Nazi leaders post surrender in 1945. I was surprised that they would actually support and investigate this part of their nation's not too distant past. It would be like a "Trail of Tears" museum in Washington DC or a "Japanese Internment Camp" exhibit in San Fransisco... maybe they exist, but the overwhelming surge forward is very European, very liberal, very Western leaning...
Brandon had the trip to Berlin well planned- what he wanted to see and what we should do, and it was great. We walked the main strip from a huge statue used in the original City of Angels all the way through an awesome park to a Starbucks waiting at the end like Gold at the end of a rainbow....

By the time our flight out of Schoenfield Airport took off an hour late at 1030pm, I was feeling the effects of 3 weeks of travel. I felt bad for Alex, catching me and the rest of the gang at the low end of our traveling porabola, but after 30 odd trains, 13 or so major cities, and more langauges than i care to hear again, you start to lose your edge.....

Landing in Stanstead 40 miles outside of London, it was great to hear English again. Call me lazy, call me uncultural, but feeling like a minority- culturally and linguistically, starts to get old. It was hilarious in either Paris or Amsterdam (forgive me), when a man trying to sell cheap crap approached a few of the group with english and turned to me a few seconds later and tried to use the native tongue. I felt European, but still confused as hell. I'll call it a wash.

Only my disasterous train ride into Paris could match our horrific attempt to find lodging that night. The tubes shut down at midnight, leaving us in the lurch a few miles from our supposed hostel. A night bus took us to a close enough location, and we wandered in the right direction. Our hostel had been booked a night early, and after we didn't show, they cancelled the whole reservation, leaving us without a room at 2am in london. Joy of Joys. While an English accent may sound intelligent and charming, there's no way to sugar coat 'we cancelled your reservation and you can't sleep here'...

Long story somewhat short, we found a place three blocks away and passed out in what can only be described as a lockerroom disguised as a hostel room. We were literally sleeping in a room of 6 of the stankoniest human beings that have ever slept in a hostel. Mildewy football pad old wet washcloth grandma's basement cellar dog out of a algea fishy pond. Worse than Lucas's shower towel last year.
Feeling like a native, I led Alex on a breathtaking, breakneck tour of London. Westminster, Big Ben, Picadilly Circus, Some random park, West End, and the Tate Modern art museum provided some classic photo opportunities, but unfortunately nary a scarf was found. (that being the main focus of our trip to Picadilly). We met up with Emily and Aaron at Tate and dined in West End at a questionable Chinese buffet. Not "Koln German Chinese Food and Sushi" questionable, but still a little fishy. (not a sushi pun, but funny now that i think about it....)
Sadly, the girls didn't get the note, and after talking to them on the phone about an hour ago, I'm wishing i would have just leaned over the counter and found their room number and ran to their room.... like in the movies.

Today was an early early morning, an 845 train back to Notts, which leads to this very moment. It feels good to be back, but without the flatmates (save for a sleeping Anna, who showed up about an hour after I got here), the place is very empty. We might hit up a movie tonight, keep ourselves busy, but otherwise I have a ton of laundry and picture organization to do....

Up NEXT: an awesome 'Top 5ish Pictures from Each City' post, as soon as i figure out which 50 pictures of the 1084 that i took are worthy....

A quick Parisian preview:

posted by Kevin @ 11:28 AM