Book Excerpts from Fish Camping and Sea Shells

France

In the meantime, I open up our ice chest and discover the hideous aroma of a cheese gone bad. I discreetly dispose of the offender on the steps of the front door of a building next to the car. Picturing the resident of the building retrieving his morning paper the next day, first sniffing the air then gasping at the sad remains of the cheese, brings on a general tone of much bemusement for us. I sincerely doubt that another suggestion -- that an animal might come by and eat it -- would come about; no creature is that dumb. Stocked with fresh ice and McFlurries, we make our getaway.

Germany

Weimar: Goethe has been immortalized here, everywhere: on cafe signs, books, posters, lamp posts. I watch a few workmen laying cobblestones and see a banner hanging above them, proclaiming “Look towards the heavens, O human”. I wonder what Goethe would think of this modern era.