this is where i arrived, and how

Instead, I watch the rain from a warm tile floor, sipping coffee as trees lean from the wind.

I drove here with friends after tea. We walked through the weather to our van.

Beforehand, we window shopped. Televisions flickered red, mannequins donned lingerie. Today's latest appliances. Men stared or poked their heads into shops to see the game.

The new moon hid away and swans gathered with geese among ducks. Vacant boats hardly shifted along the canal walls.

Bicycles rang by with bells, or didn't, and nearly hit people a lot of the time.

Thomas guided Sasha into a parallel spot to let us out, and we stopped in at Dennins' place for a bite to tie us through the night. We didn't eat any more than snacks in our long day from a to b to c.

Previously, 80 minutes to find our cabins, two two story flats with bare walls but broad floors, then we unloaded our things.

The final stretch of the journey felt the longest as we sat in traffic and crept for one of the three hours of our trip. The roads grew dark after leaves tumbled between lanes.

Before leaving, we stopped in at a Brussels museum for a tour, but a group of guys joined me in the camera room and we took pictures in front of a green screen.

We visited the European Parliament, a famous bar, and a restaurant for lunch. On the way to the bar, I spoke with Celine and JB. At the bar I broke out, everyone lightened their moods, and we cut up cracking jokes and telling about ourselves.

We arrived to Brussels just before lunch time, after a long ride, about 6 hours, from Angers in 1a.m. We piled our bags into 2 vans, then our bodies, and drove off, listening to road-trip music, through the wet empty streets of Angers and onward toward Brussels.

I found a ride to Amsterdam but nowhere to sleep. From Angers, I gathered myself for the trip, nervously preparing to sleep on the streets of foreign and strange Amsterdam.