Day 8

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Day 8 – The flight to Dubai where we transited to Frankfurt was at least 30 minutes early and the scheduled departure 20 minutes later so we were left with over 3 hours to kill at Dubai airport. However it is so strung out it took a good half an hour to get to our gate via lifts, escalators, a train and more lifts and added to that a break for a coffee and snack the time didn’t drag too much. However, given we had no more than 30 minutes sleep on the flight to Dubai we were both feeling pretty jaded by the time we boarded the Frankfurt-bound flight at 3 am. The flight to Frankfurt was very smooth – although we ended up with an exit row seat which was great for legroom it was close to utility area so Julie found it hard to sleep – John did better. Frankfurt Airport needs a wake-up. Talk about German efficiency, well it certainly wasn’t evident there. Hundreds of passengers off at least three planes and four passport officers equalled a queue of several hundred people for the entire time we took to go through, and what’s more, our bags were still coming off the conveyor when we got to baggage claim at least 40 minutes later! We were lucky our driver was patient enough to wait over 30 minutes for us. We arrived at our hotel only to find that the room wasn’t ready (but given it was only around 9:30, hardly surprising). However Tatania on the desk took pity on the poor jet-lagged Kiwis and had a room available in half an hour. John found that we didn’t have an adapter that fitted so went out to find one whilst Julie showered and rested-up – she was knackered! Once John had also showered we ventured out to see old Frankfurt which was very close to our hotel. John had already seen much of the CBD and liked what he saw, open streets, little traffic, little bars and coffee places arranged in market-place style through several blocks, with plenty of open areas and tree-lined boulevards. The ‘old town’ was also very picturesque and being next to the river added to the nice feel to it. We had a quick bite to eat at a riverside café (spoiled a little by constant attention from wasps) then did a wander over the old iron bridge, a river walk and then a 50 minute river cruise which was very relaxing. After that we ventured into the CBD to look for glass frames for Julie at a shop John had spotted and she found what she was looking for so that task was ticked off. Then back to the hotel for as drink and then a quick snooze. We had an Indian meal across the road from the Hotel and hit the sack before 9pm – both a pretty weary! Just before we went to bed there was a major prang just below is two cars collided and one took row of markers out and ended up against a pole just below our room - what a horrendous noise. Now every rescue vehicle in town is on the street below us - a bit of drama to end the day...

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