Left, Jim on Brighton Beach
Below, Donald runs into an old school chum at local pub he and Jim visited.
Day 1 England 23 Sept 2010
Day 2
Day 2 sunset and Day 3 morning at Brighton Beach
Day 4
Day 5 Ferry to Dieppe, France
Took a train from Dieppe to Rouen, arriving in the evening. With no guidebook or map, took a while to book a room. Next day, the train to Paris took longer than I expected. Arrived late in the day, walked a couple of miles to a hostel near the Nord train station - $60 for bed in dorm room!
Next morning took train out to Charles De Gaulle Airport only to find my United flight to Chicago had been canceled. Was flying stand-by and flights the next two days were overbooked. Did not want to spend another night in Paris, so jumped on a train to Brussels, Belgium. Had another late night in a strange city with no guide or map. Did eventually find a hostel, which was fine.Next day, took a train to the airport and managed to get on flight to Chicago. From there, no seats on flights to Portland or Boston, but there was one United flight departing to Ft. Myers leaving shortly. Phoned in a reservation and got wait-listed. At the last minute, was given the one and only empty seat on the plane. Arrived Ft Myers about 9:30PM. Good friends, Linda and Mark Johnson, provided me the sanctuary I desperately needed. Had an excellent visit with them then flew to Boston and trained it back to Maine.
