Botticelli's Musings: Frankfurt

Greetings.

The 20 hour flight from Perth to Europe could have been worse, but it was by no means a walk in the park. The plane was chocker block and by the look and feel of the seats was older than me and in desperate need of retirement. Based on this flight experience, Qantas is not in the same league as Air NZ anymore. Fortunately we were able to crash and sleep for about 8 hours so it made the journey more bearable.

Being greeted at Frankfurt at 6.30am by the parents of a friend, Bettina, was an absolute blessing. This was a big effort on the part of Dieter and Evi, especially given it was Sunday morning. Nadine and I are very grateful for this kindness.

Deiter, Bettina's father, must have got the shock of his life when I grabbed the gear stick of the car and put it into drive when he was trying to park! It just seemed such a natural thing to do when sitting in the right-hand front seat of a vehicle. Fortunately for everyone in the car, the steering wheel and pedals were on the other side. It was hilarious!

After breakfast and following a delightful walk with Deiter and Evi through what is a lovely part of Frankfurt, Bettina and her boyfriend, Marco, arrived to take us touring for the day. To provide some history, Bettina and I met in 1995 in Perth while she was there studying English. We have been great friends ever since, spending time together on a least four seperate occasions (once again in Perth, once in NZ and now for a second time in Frankfurt). Marco is Swiss and lives in Zurich. Bettina and Mark see each other most weekends, either in Frankfurt or Zurich. They both work for Accenture Consulting and met at a work function - I am fairly certain it was love at first sight! It is wonderful to see Bettina so happy and in love with a really great guy.

Bettina, Marco and Nadine and I spent the day touring the city of Frankfurt. It is a very green and lush city, with beautiful trees lining most streets and large forrested areas scattered throughout and around the city. Frankfurt is also the financial centre of Germany (and arguably mainland Europe- see the photo of the European Central Bank). This may explain its affluence. What surprised me most about Frankfurt is that it is a city of only 600,000 people. It looks so much bigger than this. From what I now understand, Germany's population is spread quite evenly across the country.

In the evening we went to a traditional German restaurant. Meat is central to the traditional diet. I saw one lady devouring what appeared to be half a cow. Nadine and I eat very little meat but being in Rome we stepped up to the plate and tucked into a hearty meal. The schnitzel was fantastic and the bread dumplings were interesting.

By 7.30pm we were almost asleep at the table, having been up since around 2.00am local time. It was therefore with much relief that we made our way back to Bettina's parents house and then almost immediately to bed (around 8.30pm). We woke up bright and early at 4.00am, ready to start a new day on our exciting travels! Off to Netherlands today and tackling the busy german autobahn (motorway).

Nadine and I are having a Photo of the Day competition. So each day (when we finally work out how to upload the photos) we will post two photos for public judging. In the absence of anyone voting, I will be the judge and therefore the winner! [NB so please please vote to keep David honest].