August 2 turned out to be a welcome transition day after the intensity of the two previous ones. We had planned to spend it in nearby Metz with a person whom we’d last seen 37 years ago, the best friend of our son in grade 4 while we lived in Claremont CA. After reading a recent autobiography by his mom, we’d connected by email and learned that he’d moved to France and lived on an off-grid organic farm with his wife and two children. We were eager to see each other, but shortly before the planned visit an unfortunate circumstance required its cancellation.
After a slow morning we arrived by train in Metz stayed in the least expensive hotel near the railroad station we could find, and next day continued on getting a taste of local transport by switching trains in Luxemborg and Brussels.
We arrived late in the afternoon at our destination, another vast nineteenth century monument to the railroad, Amsterdam Central Station.
Crossing the bridge over the wide canal crowded with boat traffic that fronted it, we found the hotel that Jan had selected online, a small-scale tribute to the rail transportation system that continued to thrill me. (more…)
