Hauptbahnhof

Why a German word, you might wonder. As part of our stay in Brussels, we are taking advantage of being in Europe by visiting a few other places. We'll no doubt take a plethora of day trips around Belgium and into neighboring lands. We also have at least two longer weekends in the works, maybe more.

The first such journey we're planning now is a visit to Frankfurt, Germany (more precisely the town of Butzbach and I think a smaller section called Pohl-Gohns), where we'll stay with the Imig family: Michael, a friend and former colleague from AAMC, his lovely wife Silke, and their three children. The girls had met their oldest son a couple of years ago when they visited Maryland and DC; they were charmed by his German accent and suitably impressed by his fluent English.

We'll spend three plus days with them, and I understand there will be lots of great outdoor explorations. We'll have to learn a few words of German too, to put forth a good effort for our hosts. I recall how to say "I speak little German" from visiting there 20 plus years ago, and maybe how to count close to 10, goodbye, good evening, thank you. I now know how to say train station - bahnhof. There seem to be some fairly direct trains from Brussels to Frankfurt from my search online.

Speaking of foreign language practice, our French practice has stalled a bit. The girls seem a little intimidated so I think we'll pause for a couple of days. Or I'll go the opposite direction and buy a CD so we can learn during long drives back and forth to tennis camp in College Park, MD, this week.

Bonsoir and guten nacht.