filling in the lines (part 2)

What a busy week, I FINALLY get to finish this........ok, so the I was travelling back to Zgierz, we got back pretty late, about 10:30PM. The next morning I caught a train very very early in the morning. It was a beautiful ride out from the station. My cabin was facing east, so I got to think, reflect, and watch the sunrise over the horizon as I began my journey back to Berlin. It was amazing to think that so many crazy memorable experiences could be packed into 3 1/2 days, but I would take the trip again if I had the choice in the same situation. One thing that sticks in my mind is the ride from Zgierz to Kutno, besides the beautiful sunrise, the only other person to get on at Zgierz shared the cabin with me, we greeted eachother and said nothing until we politely bid eachother farewell. She was a middle age woman, not too wealthy, but reserved, contemplative, and at times officious, and yet, there was an unspoken shared experience of travelling, heading away from the familiar to the new, both having our silent ideas about the people and lanscape flying by our window to the world. There is a special bond in a shared experience.....So that afternoon I arrived back at home base in Zoologischer garten station, threw my stuff in a locker, checked my email, ate my special lunch, checked out the old bombed out church, watched a street break dancing performance and then went to meet jen at the hakeschermarkt starbucks. Turns out that starbucks is MORE expensive in europe and the sizes are smaller. I guess that's America's only way to get back at the high euro. So, jenn gave me a whirlwind tour of berlin, we got apfel streudel at the Einstein Cafe (best streudel I've ever had by the way)then went to the Gedamnmarkt square where most of the main concert halls are, the shopped Laffeyette and got some awesome chocolate (the most expensive I've ever bought), saw check point charlie, caught up on old times, and finally had an awesome moraccan dinner (and it was cheap too!) It was nice to end the trip with one more familiar face. That night I got my stuff from the train station locker and then found a hostel there by the station. I had seen avertisements, and well, it lived up to what I had feared, it was clean enough I suppose, but when you have to share the room with 5 other guys whose personal hygienne isn't high on their priority list...well you get the scent. Then, to top it all off, the next morning, affter a pleasant taxi ride, I realized that I had read the wrong time to catch my flight out of berlin, and ended up missing it. Well, this worried me a bit since I had already taken 2 personal days and didn't want to have to take another one because I missed my flight! So, they put me one the next flight to london, and then once I got to london, they got it straightend out for me. Thank goodness for airline helper desk ladies who smile and blush at a cute teacher in need of help. lol So, I ended up being rerouted london to chicago, then chicago to norfolk. It all worked out, but what a loooooooooong day of travelling. Although it did give plenty of time to reflect on the trip. And as I think back even now, it was all worth, and it fact I needed it in many ways, some of which I'm still realizing. At that's how my trips usually are, experience and memory-filled, most of which I never in my wildest dreams could have anticipated. Perhaps that is part of the romance of travel. Ans as I look back on this whole trip, I can't help but look forward to the next one.