So, more than two weeks ago we departed for a ten day tour of Western Europe. The educational seminars were by and large better than the ones on the other trip, however the hotels (and their continental breakfasts’) were generally worse.

Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg

Thursday, November 3rd we loaded our crap onto the bus bright and early at 8am. We arrived in Strasbourg an hour and a half later. We had been to Strasbourg several times already, and were only staying for a single presentation, so this was not very exciting. We left Strasbourg for Frankfurt at 11:30, and we arrived in Frankfurt by three. We had a meeting, and then had the rest of the night off.

In Frankfurt we stayed at a youth hostel. But it was probably one of the nicest youth hostels known to man. There were only four beds per room, and it was a generally clean place, with decent furniture, brightly lit, a good shower. And so on.

We only had one night to spend in Frankfurt, so we had to use it wisely. I set off in a group to the area nearby the hostel which supposedly had a lot of restaurants, and also to try some of the “apple wine” that is apparently a local concoction (for the record? It was alright. Nothing I would want to get drunk off of, but a glass or two with dinner? Acceptable). I split off of the main group at the earliest opportunity, and ate at a very good Thai place with a few others. Why Thai? I had not eaten Thai since arriving in Europe; it was a pretty clean, decent-looking establishment; and it was relatively cheap. The restaurants were expensive in Frankfurt.

It was very good Thai.

After that, two of us hooked up with another small group who were going to see a play (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). I was sort of interested, but not entirely in the mood. The price (12 euro from scalpers) was the deciding factor, and I passed on the chance. Instead, I headed into the downtown area with two Americans, and a German that one of them knew. We went to a few bars, drank a few rounds. Generally nothing to write home about. It was a good time though. I got back at around half past eleven though, and all three of my roommates were asleep.

Err… whoops? No, waitasecond. Why the hell were they sleeping so early?

The next morning, Friday the 4th, we packed our stuff onto the bus, then headed to the European Central Bank, where we had a presentation. It was alright. Again — nothing spectacular. I also began feeling sort of rotten this day, something which continued through most of the trip. It had nothing to do with drinking, I believe it was rather the result of a shoddy diet (I ate mostly cheese on baguettes during this trip, because, guess what? The French do not make vegetarian food). Any time I drank coffee, I would get indigestion, and I was generally in a sour mood.

We left Frankfurt at twelve, and arrived in Paris at around eight in the evening. We had the evening free in Paris. Gai Paris, eh? *shrug*