UK Journal: Germany Side Trip

Welp, here I am on Lufthansa instead of British Airways. Of course the plane was screwed up. It was only about a 40 minute difference between the two flights.

I said whip it!

I hope Richard [my family's former foreign exchange student and probably part of the reason I got to go on this trip to Europe in the first place] and company figure it out so I don't have to go all the way over to Riverview [Hell] and back looking for htem. I actually found my way around Heathrow. I was lucky.

Dude, flying is definitely cold medina [Tone-Loc reference]. I love looking at all the little houses and fields. It'll only take about an hour to get to Dusseldorf when it took 8-9 hours to get to Paris. The miracle of flight.

I hate banks. It's just that simple.

Yuck. Is that breakfast?

England, the food sucks but it's better than France!

I've come to miss the U.S. Not Home, but the U.S. Know what I'm sayin'?

Unlike the flight over, I have very pretty stewardesses. And I love their eye make-up so much [Elvis Hitler reference].

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7/26

Welp, I made it in to Dusseldorf just fine yesterday and Richard and I fund each other only a few minutes after I arrived. Gisela [Richard's mom] seems very cool. She doesn't seem to know what to make of me but seems to like my mom and dad. Yesterday Richard showed me around their house. It is huge and very nice. His subdivision is a bit of The Forest [a subdivision in my home town] put in Iowa but a big town is not too far away. In fact, everything seems very close because of the Autobahn.

We sat around in his back yard and then went to Neuss (pronounced "NOISE") where we looked around and found a record store. No big deal but GREAT posters. A Siouxsie, a Bauhaus, & a Run-DMC/PE. All cool and I want to get at least one. We did go to a store, not unlike Target, where Richard bought be batteries and the "Mary, Mary" 12" by Run-DMC. So far I have only been allowed to pay for one thing.

Today we (Richard, Gisela, and I) went to Wal [sic?] and rode the people mover type thing [it's called a trolley, dipshit] then we went to some huge railroad bridge where this guy was playing a Village People tape -- "In the Navy" and "Macho Man" were heard before we left. Then as we approached this huge church, I kept seeing signs for some "super disco" so I asked Gisela to stop. So now, I have one!

Then we went to a castle - dull but nice - where I had the delicacy of a waffle! More of a crepe. Then, at the church -- it was so cool -- it was more well-lit compared to Notre Dame so it appeared as big or bigger. Then we stopped and met Richard's Grandmother. And then.. and then... and then...

We went to his huge record store in Köln (pronounced "Cologne"). It wasn't as big as Tower records in London but it was still cool. I got an Australian P.i.L. album, a P.i.L. picture disc, a cool oldies album, a Smith's 12" for Andy, and saw MTV Europe again. They played "Planet Z" by the B-52s which I wanted to buy but couldn't find. They also played "What difference does it make" so tell Andy.

Kick the bass for them brothers and let the know what goes on... [Pubic Enemy reference]

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7/27

What goes on...

We went to this HUGE cathedral today. Sacre Cur [sic] has nothing on this baby. The stairs, not just regular, real stairs but widing stairs - a lot of them. But, it was beautiful. Gesila bought me a nice book about it. After that we got some pizza at the Mama Leone. Difference? Knife and fork instead of slices. Avacado? Tuna? etc?

Then we went down the Rhine. Boring? Hmmm... yes, but I've been on the Seine, I've been on the Rhine, and day after tomorrow I'll be on the Thames. Am I a globetrotter or what?

Then we went back towards the car when I chanced out another record store. Worse than Musicland. I want to get Cosmic Thing or at least Planet Z.

Autobahn? Mr. Lee [High School chemistry teacher] "I wonder how fast that guy's going?"

We went to a disco but it was too crowded so I checked out some really cool stores (closed of course) and then we went to a pub. [I'm pretty sure the "we" in this case is Richard and his brothers, not Richard and Gisela!]

[The rest of this notebook contains addresses that my mom wrote down for my Aunts Aggie and Barb. Also for my Grandmothers and Richard. I wrote out addresses for my friends Jeff Dunlap, Leon Chase, Steve Chesney, Andy Feudner, Aimee Chorkey, Tina Rotondo, and even my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Loter.

The very back page is Michelle's number and address in England as well as Leslie's number that they wrote out themselves].