Wednesday, January 6, 2016

FRANKFURT - SECOND TIME AROUND

The second stay in Frankfurt was very brief: two nights only but because Excelsior Hotel was directly across the road from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, accessibilty both coming and going with heavier wheelie bags was sign ificantly less frazzled. With an early check in we were able to book in to a ‘Free Walking Tour of ‘Alternative’ Frankfurt  in the afternoon. This, amongst other things took us to the seedier parts of Frankfurt in the newer part of the city, before wending our way through sidestreets and Kaiserstrasse to the Old Town. There in Romerplatz was a huge sculpture of ‘the little green man’ covering almost the entriety of the square  and celebrating the 25th anniversary of east-west Germany unity since reunification in 1990 following 1989 collapse and tearing down of the berlin Wall. A trip up to the roof top of a nearby shopping centre gave us viuews over the city and a last chance, almost, to feel the chilling of the European autumn air.
The second day we spent in brilliant sunshine [again!] and took a trip on the river boat cruise along the Main. It was pleasant basking in the sun but despite the warmth and the chance to relax there really seemed to be nothing new for us to do/see in Frankfurt. We had been to the museums we wanted to see on the first vixit here three months previously, and because it was a Monday, the history museum was shut. Not sure if we really wanted to go here or not or whether we were going to use it as a time filler. However, we managed to fill the day just enjoying the last European [ever?] experience.
On the morning of our flight out we walked the green belt of Frankfurt. In eaerlier times, this green belt hd been the fortress walls of the early city and while there is only one small part of the wall still existing, the remainder has been turned into parks and green space. A long walk and pleasant amongst the growing skyline of Germany’s financial centre.
An early exit to the airport was very quick. S9 [or S8] to the airport took less time than we expected and we madw our way to Terminal 2 from Terminal 1 more quickly via the Sky Train than we had anticipated.[On the way in to Frankfurt earlier we had to catch a bus between the airports which was significanlty slower.] All up, it meant another long airport wait – another chance to read, up-date photos, people watch …… and the same over and over.

So from Frankfurt we headed to Thailand and Phuket in particular.  

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