I will skip over all the frustration we had gone through to get our airline tickets and the very unpleasant and unhelpful people we were involved with in Germany. What was cool was the trip into the city of Frankfurt.
When the flight landed in Frankfurt, which is one of the largest airports in the world we had to take a shuttle from the plane to the concourse.
From there we took a train into Frankfurt but never really knew where we were at.
We got off in the middle of Frankfurt in a town square. The streets are all cobblestone and narrow and the buildings are all very old and made of stone. The town square had probably the strangest statue I’ve ever seen. It was very large bronze of a man sitting on top of an even larger skull. The strange thing is the expression on the stark face of the man and his hand is firmly between his wide spread legs. It was such an obscene looking thing to be in the middle of downtown in a town square.
We wandered down a couple of streets thinking we might find a nice German café. Then found that most places are closed on Sunday and if the cafes do open it’s for a limited time between noon & 2. We ended up by going into a McDonalds. Most of their food was the same as at home so we got a couple of burgers and water. Beware when in Germany that there is water which is flat and then there is wasser fizzy and costs you money.
After lunch we continued our walk though some of the wonderfully cobblestone streets.
We walked by a castle but the coolest place was a building with a balcony that was held up by 6 or 7 large male statutes. They looked like Greek gods in loin clothes standing on a pillar holding the balcony up with their shoulders. It was awesome.
Then we headed back to the airport via the train. When the trin rolled up the stop we could hear this loud rumbling. Also one of the cars was rocking where the noise was coming from. Looked pretty ominous. Then the car doors opened and from the car behind the rocking car out stepped 4 very big Germans dressed in riot gear. We avoided the scary car and got into the car with the equally scary looking polizai. We were now on a train with either a rugby or soccer team heading to a game or coming from one. Here is another surprise we found: in Germany drinking alcohol on public transit is ok, even drunkenness is ok. The car we were on had some players who were all drinking openly and bottles were everywhere. All the time the polizai just stood by the doors and at each stop would step out, keep their eyes on the car in front and step back on as soon as the bell rang signaling the departure. At each stop the singing/chanting would begin and the car would rock. I was so expecting them to all pile off at the airport and we would be caught in a riot but they continued on at the airport stop Culture shock already.
We got back in plenty of time and headed to our scheduled gate. Here is another interesting thing we noticed here. This airport is so big that bicycles are used by employees to get around the airport. You will see everyone from men and women in suits to custodial types just booking around people in the terminals on their bikes.
By the time our flight left Frankfurt at 5 p.m. we had been awake for over 36 hours. I was so tired waiting for the flight I was dozing off with my eyes open. That was a weird sensation.
We landed in Bordeaux, France at 7:15 pm. and were met by our family. It had been 2 years since we had seen each other. It was great seeing our daughter, Mia, her husband Thierry and our 2 grandsons, Benjamin and Ethan.
We stopped for dinner at McDonalds on the way to their home. We found they have some different foods beside the usual. I had a Le’ M which is on a great bun, had a Swiss cheese and was very good.
We got to their home around 9 or 10 pm. Their house if very old, around 200 to 300 years old and built of stone which has been covered in a kind of concrete. We met Thierry‘s sister, Evelyn, her husband Renny, and their 2 daughters Lulu & Laura. And yes, it is true, everyone in France kisses everyone. Bisous everywhere, young and old.
We finally went to sleep hardly believing we were really in France. I thought I might have trouble sleeping as I was so anxious to see the morning light and more of the town but it came pretty quickly.
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