Diary of a Pilgrimage by Jerome K. Jerome

A Man of Family. -- An Eccentric Train. -- Outrage on an Englishman. -- Alone in Europe. -- Difficulty of Making German Waiters Understand Scandinavian. -- Danger of Knowing Too Many Languages. -- A Wearisome Journey. -- Cologne, Ahoy!

There was a very well-informed Belgian in the carriage, and he told us something interesting about nearly every town through which we passed. I felt that if I could have kept awake, and have listened to that man, and remembered what he said, and not mixed things up, I should have learnt a good deal about the country between Ostend and Cologne.