The start of a very long day.

Writing from on-board an ICE train from Aachen to Frankfurt (original source Brussels), I am currently beginning the first leg of a trip to San Francisco. What surprises me is that even though there’s a nine-hour time difference, the flight is only eleven hours long. This means that, by the clock, I will get to San Francisco just two hours after taking off from Frankfurt. The downside of this is that today will be a 33-hour day. (This also leaves me wondering two more things:

• exactly how far north the great circle route between Frankfurt and San Francisco really is, and
• when everybody jokes about wishing for a longer day, would this be an approved way of getting it?)

As for the ICE trains, they’re a rather interesting way to travel between cities in Germany. They’re the equivalent of the Amtrak and Acela trains in the US, but with better customer service and reliability. The “reservation system” is a little different as well. You can get a reserved seat, but it’s not reserved by name--only by starting and ending points. You get a seat designation with your ticket, but there’s no guarantee that someone else won’t have taken your seat by the time you find it!