My original itinerary looked quite different when I began crafting it 3 years ago. It’s shrunk, expanded, shifted, and is still being altered by the day. But there were some alterations that were hard to let go of. In all…
Beautiful Krakow and the Lessons of Auschwitz
It didn’t make logical sense to go to Krakow. Michael was meeting me just two days later in Budapest, and I was conveniently a two-hour train ride from there. The route to Krakow was particularly inconvenient and out of the…
Night Train Nightmare and Bratislava, Slovakia, to the Rescue
I had such a romantic idea of my first night train. Probably there would be a little lamp by my bed where I could write as night fell. I’d undoubtedly be sharing my bunk car with a couple of fascinating…
Italian Summer and First Loves (Cinque Terre, Lake Como, and Venice)
I visited Italy for the first time 11 years ago in what felt like the culmination of a decade of incessant determination, serendipity, blind faith, and unbelievable luck. The program director for a summer program for high school students somehow…
My tumultuous relationship with Switzerland
I’m going to admit a thing that I feel some guilt about and that might cause people to hate me. And I’m truly so sorry for this, but I can’t deny hard truths. Here it is—I really didn’t care for…
Strasbourg and unexpected wonder
I decided to go to Strasbourg for a couple of reasons. First, it made sense for my route through Switzerland, and second, because I knew I wanted to see small towns in France, and Strasbourg is a good base for…
