It's all I've pretty much been up to.
Between my last post in Sheffield and now, I've spent time in London, Brussels, Stuttgart, and now Vienna. Needless to say the past few days of incessant travel has been a bit stressful and is only a sign of what's to come later on with even more travel. But then again, as I get used to it, I think I may end up enjoying the nomadic lifestyle in the end.
First up was the train between London and Brussels. Most Europeans wouldn't see anything special about it, but going through the Chunnel was a huge thing for me. The English Channel Tunnel is regarded as one of the greatest engineering feats ever accomplished. Thus, it would almost be a right of passage for me to travel through it. Only problem; no matter how close of attention you pay to it, you'll never notice you went through it until you come out the other side and see the beautiful farmland of Northern France. This was exactly my case. But then again, perhaps that's another one of the tunnel's most amazing feats. It takes you deep underneath an already-deep channel of water without you ever noticing how far into the Earth's crust you've just gone.
This brings me to my second point: high speed rail is definitely one of the coolest forms of transportation ever. While on the train between Stuttgart and Vienna, the train I was on (the Railjet) was actually just like a jet. A screen displayed where in Europe we were at the time and what speed we were moving at (average of about 185 KPH or 114 MPH). The Eurostar train from London to Brussels was even faster, hitting speeds as high as 186 MPH. The best part is that this speed is barely noticeable unless you're constantly checking your watch (in which case, you'll realize you're crossing Europe in little to no time at all). It's a shame we haven't gotten this in the States.
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