Temporary Escape from a Temporary Hell

My bag was still nowhere to be seen 2 hours after my arrival in De Guale airport.


It was interesting to see the French security forces essentially Teenagers with guns and over sized Jewelery, Piercings and Tattoos. There was also a group of French Soldiers with F1s ( a toy-like automatic rifle) paroling the hallway. The were regarding me suspiciously until they saw an Arab family and turned their suspicions to them. After about twenty minutes of staring them down they decided to move on and get into an elevator. And the last moment one of the women yelled something at them and had them hold the door so they could get their wheelchair bound mother to the 2nd floor. The Soldiers and the Arab family crowded together into the little elevator with mutual wariness.

After checking in with the Air France rep and explaining to her that my bag was basiclly taken by force by a lovely lady in SLC who thought it was too big. (it was not I tested it before)

She gave me here number and I was off. Pretty cute, I wondered if that was her work or home number. While waiting in line for the train to go to downtown Paris I decided to ask how much an ticket to Amsterdam was. 200 Euroes round trip somehow seemed like a good idea, and since I had a day to kill and nowhere to stay yet I got the ticket.

The trip took much longer than the 4 hourse promised and when I got into town I checked my email and found a Hostel in the cute but rainy sea side mixture between Seattle and Time Square, with more sex and legal weed. People were smoking it in the streets. One ugly american with a camoflauged headband and an MMA shirt was dancing about and being obnoxious. (You could spot him a mile away. Now I understand how most of us must look to euros. I felt dirty)

He actually went into a police station on the corner held up his bad of weed and said "I have weed! And you wont arrest me!"

The cops just raised an eyebrow. It was kind of amusing.

Smart people, making vices legal. They would probably be nothing but another fishing village otherwise. And really the streets are clean and people are friendly, everyone is happy and the gov gets their taxes rather than spending millions on a Drug War. The best was that everyone rode bikes. I have never seen traffic congestion consisting of hundreds of bikes before.

Arriving in Paris

The flight to france was a bit disconcerting. 8 hours of staring into cloudly twiglight. The french are a different people for certain. Even their airplane safety video was exceedingly stylish and filled with wierd sexual inuendo.
Wrote a poem in my twilight stateParis

Night Flight
Pallitable expectation settles
over voyager fending of sleep
for what lies ahea dafter endless hours
of cloudy twilight and deep dark oceans
with no horizon in sight
green land peeks over the earth
familiar feeling takes hold
like some dark ancient presence
beckoning to me with a silent voice
your life began here and here will awaken
welcome again to the ancetral source
welcome again to your long parted home

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The plane lands in a dark soupy mist blocking the clear morning sky from viewNothing special just another airport. The earth looks somehow richer and darker but that is all. And yet the world has somehow changed.

Getting Ready

Too many things to do before my trip. My sleep schedule is somehow getting itself worked out and I am now on Europe time to some degree. Hopefully I do not seem to out off it.

A great book called Europe through the Back door has been very helpful. Rick Steves Site is very cool. He has apparently made it his job to travel the world. I bought some of his cool vaccum bags and a 'Hostel Sheet' among other small items. My back pack is packed with tons of room to spare. A rarity for me both in the space and being somewhat prepared ahead of time. Probably be able to stay around the 15 lb mark. Not bad for a month in Europe. I also broke down and invested in some hiking shoes. I came across these reviewed in the airplane catalog. Most comfy and light shoes I have ever had. I want to wear them all the time. They are made of recycled material so my only fear is the will fall apart.
I ordered them in from REI here with the 20% discount.

My brain is still pretty fried so I am trying to make a schedule and not get to distracted. It is 2 am here so noon in France. If it were not for my sun lamp I would probably be going completely insane. Of course they say the insane never know they have become so...