Blogs from Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, Europe - page 6

Geo: 50.0924, 8.68195The street the hotel is on was so noisy. I woke up several times because of people coming in late and not caring about making noise, and then the construction down the block started very early.The tour was technically over after breakfast, so John and I went to the Prater this morning. The Prater is Vienna's old amusement park, and it reminds me a lot of the Fun Forest at the Seattle Center, only bigger. I wanted to go because I wanted to ride the Riesenrad, the old Ferris wheel used in Orson Welles's "The Third Man." Even though the park technically opens at 9:00, when we got there shortly afterwards there didn't appear to be anything running at all. But the Riesenrad was, indeed, running; it just runs very slowly. We were the ... read more

ASTEP = Artists Striving to End Poverty ASTEP is a program dedicated to bringing the arts to disadvantaged children throughout the world. They have programs in India, Africa, New York, and Florida. Each program is a little different, with different partners and different target groups. Whatever the target population, though, ASTEP’s belief is that children can gain important life skills through the arts, and that these life skills are especially valuable for students who were born into an impoverished situation. TGF = The George Foundation TGF was started by a man named Abraham George. In short, he spent his early years in India, became very successful in America, and upon a return trip to India realized that he wanted to help the rural people in some way. He has several non-profit projects in the rural areas ... read more

Well the adventure has begun! We arrived at Calgary Airport still nervous about whether they were 'really' going to take our Trike whole. We were just thrilled when the Air Transat fellow walked up to us and said, "so there is the infamous trike"! Air Transat was just fantastic, they welcomed us, chatted with us, reassured us that they were prepped for the trike and readily checked us in via the First Class line up! (It was a straight roll in for the Trike). It was quick and painless in the end. Our bags weighed in at 26 & 33 pounds & then about 6 pounds carry on. It all fits great on the trike and we don't expect any issues around this part of the trip. We are now happily sitting in the Chinook Lounge ... read more

Geo: 50.0924, 8.68195... read more

We awoke at 5am, got ready, and checked out of the Mercure. It was Easter morning and we were pleasantly surprised to find 3 large chocolate bunnies outside our room when we left. All down the halls of the hotel you could see different amounts of chocolate bunnies outside rooms, depending on the number of guests. How cool that the Mercure "Easter Bunny" visited us and was so kind to leave chocolates! We took the shuttle at 6:30am to FRA airport and checked in for our flight. We went to the gate and waited, while having some breakfast snacks. At 9:40am, we were on board Delta flight 143, a 767-400 aircraft to Detroit. Once in the air a lunch was served. I had the rigatoni pasta, which was ok. The appetizers of Thai curry shrimp and ... read more