Frankfurt, Germany Day 18

Day 18, September 18

At 3:40 we checked out, grabbed some free Scandic Marski pens, and waited for our 25 euro/$35 relatively cheap cab. Arriving a few minutes late while the high priced cabs sat out front, I double checked the price with the recent eastern immigrant, and we left listening to twangy irritating Indian music. I sat in the first row while Lee sat behind in the next. With absolutely no traffic we wound around some back streets and stopped in front of an apartment building. Someone else had also booked the cab. The driver exited and looked in the locked front door, no one. He knocked, no one. He paced, no one. He came back to the cab and called with his cell phone, no one. Finally, five minutes after arrival an Indian woman came out with enough suitcases for a month long family of 7 vacation. I moved over in the seat, bounced on a hard separation between the seat cushions, and Lee moved up with me. The butt breaker bruised my tail which still hurts two weeks later when I sit down.
Twenty minutes later we hit the airport, boarded Air Berlin at 5:30, landed in Dusseldorf, jumped the S Bahn to the train station, switched to an ICE/Inter City Express train, and arrived at Frankfurt airport. We checked the Air India flight for tomorrow and walked to the free bus shuttle for the 4 star Steigenberger Hotel, Frankfurt-Langen $73 on Hotels.com. At the calling station a guy showed me the code and the hotel indicated a half hour wait for the bus. Our room was "not cleaned" yet, so we sat in the well worn chairs in the lobby. While I napped, Lee fumed as two other people checked in and got rooms immediately. The room had no air conditioning but did have comfortable beds, nice TV, and separated bathroom. We walked a mile to Tengelmann Grocery Store for chips, Coke, fruit, pudding, and donuts, 8 euros/$12, cheaper than fast food which we did not see close by. I used my college German and said, "Danke"/thank you as we departed. Either my pronunciation left something to be desired, the ugly check out woman hated tourists, or she was deaf as no "bitte"/you're welcome followed. I heard nothing when my head hit the pillow. Lee said the crowd went nuts in the courtyard below starting at 10 pm.

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