Planes, Trains & Automobiles

I landed in Madrid Wednesday afternoon and with my three bags in tow, had a very adventurous time navigating the metro. My arms were so sore yesterday morning from the carrying of some 60kg/125lbs of luggage up and down various flights of stairs and in and out of trains. In San Francisco, the MUNI trains have a small platform that pops up to cover the gap between the platform and the train making it easy to step without peril from one to the other. Europeans don’t believe in such frivolities although they do spend countless dollars on signage indicating stepping in the forbidden zone may lead to a loss of life or limb. This brings me …

A couple of days of warm but beautiful weather in Rome have passed. I “took the day off” yesterday and lounged around mostly to recover from a long weekend as well as give my left foot a rest. Since Bay to Breakers 2003 it has been an injury that won’t fully heal. That’s something I really enjoy about slow traveling: the chance to take a break now and then.

As a result, I’ve watched a fair bit of TV here, specifically MTV. I saw a video from a new female artist named Jojo called “leave”. It was a pretty standard pop song with heart-wrenching lyrics about lies, cheating and breaking up. When I …