That night in Reims, I had a nightmare. I was fighting with an evil witch. She turned my friends into rag dolls one by one. I was losing, feeling hopeless; my end was near. Birds signing in the inner courtyard woke me up. Where did that dream come from? Yesterday was a perfect day, I […]
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Laon Reims was going to be my seventh and last city in France to visit. By then, I gained some experience and developed a certain strategy for exploring new places. When the train rolls into a city I, first of all, try to determine on which side of it the city center is. In Europe,
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Amiens I had 3 hours in Laon until the train to Reims. A stopover in Laon was unplanned; I knew nothing about this city and initially was going to have lunch there, then to hang around the station. My modest intentions instantly changed to ambitious when the train approached Laon. Visible from the distance, a
Getting from Rouen to Amiens was easy. There are frequent direct trains between these 2 cities. French trains ran almost empty; I saw 2-3 passengers per car. It’s no wonder that the railway operator SNCF, France’s national state-owned company, does not make enough profit to offset its debt. Earlier this year the current government announced
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The train left Cherbourg at 10.35 am and after a quick transfer in Caen, I arrived in Rouen at 2 pm. The hotel Astrid, shabby from the outside and quite nice inside, was right next to the train station. A single room was €50, breakfast not included, and I did not hesitate to take it.
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Thus, the first stage of my journey, crossing the Atlantic, was over. I was all by myself now which was good and bad at the same time. Good because I was my own master, bad because I could only rely on myself. As it says in the previous post, I had a bus ticket to go
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Portland, UK It was my last day on board of “The Norwegian Jade”. I was required to leave before 4 pm. At 6 pm the ship was departing for the final destination, Southampton, UK. The first stage of my 2018 trip was over. It went very well, I could not wish for a better way
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Brest, France When I woke up we were in Portland. The morning was grey and rainy. The misty Albion, true to its name, greeted us shrouded in thick fog. My excursion to Salisbury and Stonehenge was scheduled for 8 am. The bad weather affected my mood and I thought about not going. On the other
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The Azores After two days at sea, we were in Brest. The “Norwegian Jade” and a small German boat were the only vessels in the port. As many other French cities, Brest suffered from bombing during the World War II. What was left from the medieval times should not take much time to see and
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Departure The weather was overcast with some breaks in the clouds, too cold for swimming, I found a spot protected from the wind on the aft deck with tables and chairs. Breathing in fresh ocean air was revitalizing. A passenger sang accompanying himself with his guitar and others gathered around him to listen. The “Norwegian
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