Prague-Colmar-Montpellier-London 2008

It's retrospective time! Ten years ago, my family, all four of us, went to Europe for the first time. Ruth had meetings in Prague and I had a meeting in London. In between, we did a little touristing in Alsace, scouted Montpellier for future sabbatical housing, and visited friends in England.

I was back here 7 years later presenting on GeoJSON at IETF 93 and wished I had Arabelle along.

I think I might actually from Alsace, because Colmar really felt like home.

Our first home in the neighborhood of Montpellier was a little vacation trailer during the off season in Clapiers. On two sabbaticals we stayed in the city proper, but if we came back, maybe we'd would stay out in the country next time.

Everybody has mixed feelings about Carnon plage, I think. There's no nature, and the development is kinda gross, but the sand and water is nice, and it's super close to the city. Ruth grew up at the beach in Southern California and felt "meh", but Arabelle and I were more like "waouh!"

Good ole Gare de Lyon. We were just there two months ago. This was Arabelle's first TGV ride. We took an RER from here to Gare du Nord and then went under the channel to St. Pancras in London and then on to Swindon. Trains are the best way to travel.

Bath is very touristy but also quite comfy. My people are not really from Alsace, but from Southwestern Britain, and so I felt right at home in Bath.

Arabelle loved England because we have friends and our friends have cats.

I went to London a few times when I was working at ISAW, but this was my first trip and my favorite. We stayed in a hotel on Drury Lane, and despite not seeing the Muffin Man, had a fun time exploring Covent Garden and Neal's Yard.