Frankfurt - Day 2

So after a bit of a lay in we decided that a Frankfurt walkabout was in order, just a gentle wander about she said!!. So seven, (yes 7) hours later was get back to the hotel, gentle wander my arse!! This is how the day panned out,
We wandered to the reception where I had some nice Assam Tea and Bee had a particularly evil cup of coffee and by evil I do not mean you could see an image of Beelzebub in the cup, Bee’s pupils were the size of pinholes after drinking it, caffeine plus plus! We then set off back to the S bahn station at Messe and got a day travellers tickets and headed back to the city. At this point I should inform you that at no point were the tickets we brought inspected.
We jumped off one stop earlier than yesterday and walked though a green area (if I remember correctly, it’s called a park) and up to the main street, via a Starbucks for a double shot skinny latte. I must point out that I do not really need skinny latte, well I mean tbh what difference does it make!!. We arrived at the market square to find the Italian festival was on again, and all the wonderful pork products were being set-up for sale, but alas, the stalls were not open. As its Sunday, Germany sorts of shuts down and all the shops are shut (snigger). So instead of shopping, we strolled down the entire length of the main strasse (please note the correct use of German) and past the Gay thingy which starting to be set up again, when we got to the end of the strasse the green area (commonly known as a park) started up again, so we bumbled through this until we popped out right next to the Main, which is the river in Frankfurt. As this looked rather spiffing we walked along the riverside with all the German joggers, psychotic cyclists (these Germans are maniacs on pushbikes) and assorted others out for a Sunday morning stroll. Eventually we got to the museum district. Now being used to such impressive buildings as the Science Museum and Nat History building in London, I was too say the least underwhelmed. The Museums we just large houses, ok they were defiantly Germanic and I could imagine Leopold the 15th wandering out in his spiky helmet and handlebar tash, but they did not urge me to visit. However we notice a museum that did interest both Bee and I, the museum of film history, so we crossed the road and headed to the entrance, it was however under renovation, I was a touched miffed we had been walking for nearly 3 hours, and for me that’s close to a lifetime!! So with the lack of anything worth visiting we started to cross the river, at this point we heard the strains of a Saxophone playing in one of the large houses, sorry I mean museums. It was the Liebieghaus, so we decided to take a peek, and there it was.... a Free Jazz festival (definitely worth 3 hours walking!). So we got some tea, coffee and cake and sat back to the strains of contemporary Improv Jazz, all that was missing was a bloke on a high stool with a black roll neck jersey saying ‘nice’. But as soon as we got the drinks the music stopped, oh well the tea, coffee and cake was good.
Short break over, we started wandering again, only this time as far as a tram stop, so we hop on the 21 tram to the HBF or main train station for those hard of German skills, and then on a number 11 toward the city centre again, we then bumbled about some more doing the touristy thing until we both needed some sustenance, we found this nice Italian restaurant in a small cobbled square, and for those who have not been to a German town or city these are commonplace, with nice big parasols all over the place and peeps drink beer, wine and cocktails in the barely warm 16Deg C. Oh yes I forgot the weather report at the top of the page, Its cloudy and overcast and 16-17C ... Brrrrrrrr. Ok back to lunch, as the weather was so nice we sat outside, Bee had a nice Tomato and Mozzarella Salad and I plumped for the Lasagne and a glass of Vino, the food was great and the wine spot on. We sat around at the restaurant for quite a while people watching and reading our matching Kindles (well its better than wearing matching tops!)
Then back out again and we walked straight into a lovely old square near the DOM, here we bimbled some more, in and out of the tourist shops. Now I was told that the Germans don’t really have a sense of Humour, but they must have some as we found postcards with pictures of Frankfurt in 1945, boy did the RAF make a mess of that place!! Of course I purchased one as a long lasting memory of my visit to Frankfurt, I wonder if all German towns have similar postcards? So by this time we were both getting walked out, and we decided to find a nice Cafe to sit, people watch and read some more, this took us about an hour to find one that had a seat, so more bloody walking was done, and where did we end up... in the same damn starbucks where we started the day!!!

Day 1 - Frankfrut

Well day 1.... Well ½ a day really.

First, the hotel.... Hotel Meininger, situated about 20 mins from the airport. The rooms are small, but clean. There are no tea or coffee facilities in the room, but a nice little coffee shop in reception. I am a firm believing in you get what you pay for, and for a cheap hotel it isn’t too bad at all.

So, once our bags were dropped, we jumped on train to the city centre. We picked a good weekend for it, as there were several things going on in town today.

The first point to mention here is that we did not travel in Seat 33B, for those in the know, that’s a very good thing.

As bee mentioned the hotel is clean and tidy, as for the train, its German, so on time clean and quick, however to purchase tickets you do need either euro Shrapnel, a 5 euro note or a 10 euro note, 50’s or 100’s just won’t do. So we had a wander back to the hotel foyer to get some change.

We went to the Haupt-wache station which turns out is the city centre. Lucky for us there were a couple of activities going on. A Italian weekend, which meant beer wine and Italian food in the market place, oh and as this is Germany Wurst and Schwien, lots and lots of lovely Schwien, and beer outside, marvellous.

We wandered down the main drag from the Italian music and found the most amazing geek heaven, a shop that was the entire third floor of a shopping mall,

Saturn was its name it was large by any standard. Whilst there we got some 3 pin to euro adapter sockets as these had been forgotten.

As we walked further on the strains of more live music and people reached our ears, the closer we got the louder the music and more crowded the streets.

By this time I was a touch peckish so a bratwurst was purchased and demolished.

But I thought well it is Germany, as we wandered around all the outside bars and passed the main stage, I notice that this was not just any event but a Gay pride event; I think it was the guy in Adidas 6 Inch heels that finally got the point over. The atmosphere was great though, at one point I thought I saw the two Dave’s but then I know that had to be back in Qatar, they are I mean I’m sure they are.

After that we found a fantastic Pork stall and ordered half a pig in roll, and ate it walking down the road.... wonderful, after that a nice cafe, that bee will tell you about and then back to the hotel.

Enjoy the pictures, I really wanted to get one of the guys in the Adidas heels but it was far too obvious as I only had a camera phone, I think he may have noticed me!!!

For all our friends in Qatar, here is a PC wall paper piccy for you

So where will we be going?

Just in case you were wondering, this is a rough, (and it really is rough, as we are trying hard not to plan too much), route plan.
Only the first few stops are where we will be for sure, Baden Baden (overnight), Triberg and Tittisee (don't Snigger).
After that we will be somewhere(sort of) on this route.
Hopefully free wireless connections in Coffee Shops, Cafes and Campsites on the way will help us keep this Blog updated.


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By Ian Fuller,

So It Begins....

We are 2 days and counting....

Cases are out but not packed.. thankfully, it's incredibly warm at the mo! (around 48) so washing & drying really is not a problem, can get it all done tomorrow.

Talking about tomorrow... we are off for a last "pre-ramadan", "simons birthday next week" and "pre-holiday" Brunch at the Marriott, so as you can see, lots to celebrate!!  A good afternoon to be had... followed by home, pack, sleep, up at 5am... off to airport at 5.45am...Frankfrut here we come.

Watch this space for pictures and random comments