First Day In Europe

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I arrived in Frankfurt today around noon local time. The flight took much longer than expected because of a long delay before takeoff, but I got here in one piece, so all will be forgiven. Air India was the company I flew, and that is an interesting story. A good 80% of the plane was Indian and just going to Frankfurt as the connecting airport on their way to Banglor. The other 20% were German who were returning home from business/pleasure in America. I’m not positive on this one, but I do believe I was the only true American on the plane (although some Indian people on the plane lived in America). I had some interesting conversations with some Indian and German people on the plane, but it was generally uncomfortable for 10 hours or so in what is loosely called coach. A caste system also exists on Air India, because that was one tiny area for that many people (probably 350 or so).

Airport Security in Frankfurt was a breeze. A man looked at me for 2 seconds, stamped my passport and said something that I didn’t understand. I grabbed my bag, and customs didn’t seem to care, because they didn’t even want to peek inside, but just waived me right on through. This is where it hit me that I was in a foreign country by myself and that I did not speak the language. I had a vague idea of where my hotel was, but it certainly wouldn’t have helped me to get there. I found an information desk where the woman spoke English and she explained that I could either take a cab to this hotel or the subway… she said that there was no shuttle (of course when I got to the hotel I found out that there was). So, seeing as I knew nothing of the subway system, I thought a cab would be best. I found one who spoke English and gave me a very nice semi tour of the downtown based on the skyline. We arrived at the hotel (roughly 4 miles), and the cost was 22 euros (roughly 35 dollars). My dad gave me about 30 Euros that he had from his last trip to Germany, so the cab ride was on dad.

After checking into the hotel, I noticed something about Germany that is vastly different from what my friends in France have said… German’s are happy people who are very helpful and polite. Everyone I have met has spoke enough English to help me and has had a smile on their face while doing so… if everyone in Germany is like this, then I will have no problems with Germany. My room in Frankfurt is pretty nice, it’s a Courtyard by Marriott (if you don’t know how to use priceline, learn, I have spent more in the 9 hours I’ve been here than this room costs). The shower though is the size of a shower at camp, and that was a bit weird. I slept a little bit when I got here, because the jet lag had definitely set it (it was very difficult to sleep at all on the plane).

When I woke up, I decided to do a bit of exploring. I am on the west side of the downtown of Frankfurt, and it is probably too far to walk there, at least while I am by myself and it was just a few hours until dark. So I went west into the closest village. There were a lot of houses, but very few shops and the shops that I did see were closed… very strange on a Friday night at 8pm I thought, but I know very little about the way things work here. I strolled around for about an hour and a half before I decided that the hotel bar/restaurant was the best place to eat, because I actually knew where it was.

They are having EURO 2008 here, which is a big soccer tournament. Essentially every country in Europe has a team, and your players must be from that team, similar to the World Baseball Championships that they ran a few years ago in baseball. I watched a couple of games down in the restaurant/bar while sampling some of the wares of Germany. No traditional food yet, the bar menu was limited at the hour I went. Soccer is similar to being a baseball fan who only likes homeruns watching a game at Wrigley Field in the bleachers on a day when the wind is blowing in. Everyone is basically happy and enjoying the libations, but very little that would excite people is happening in the game. Occasionally there is a goal scored, but 98% of the time, it’s a social environment instead of a sporting event. In the second match of the day, we had France facing the Netherlands. There were several Dutch businessmen in the bar, as well as an Italian guy (Italy had tied the previous game)… the Dutch guys were getting on the Italian guy in English for tying such a lowly team. The Italian guy didn’t like this so he started chanting 3 time world champs and offered to let them borrow the trophy (world cup). This was fairly amusing to me, especially since all I know of soccer is that it is generally boring and that there are occasional riots. No riot this time, but the Italian went away mad when it because clear that the Netherlands were going to win the game.
The skyline in Frankfurt is rather impressive. Nothing like Chicago, and even a little smaller than Indy, but still quite nice. I took a few day photos, but the night photos aren’t showing up on my camera, so go ahead and use your imagination, but the night skyline looks strangely like Indianapolis in that there are a few tall buildings surrounded by medium sized ones and that they are all lit up. It was rainy in Frankfurt today, but that kept the temp under 65, which was very nice for me considering I sat on a tarmac in Chicago with it over 90 and without the plane engines running. The area does remind me a lot of Indiana in that even though this is a large city, once you get out of downtown, it is much more wooded and quiet. All in all, the first day has gone very well, but I am very tired from the plane. I am hoping to explore some more of the city tomorrow before heading to Cologne on the 15th. I will try to continue to update my travels, but not all the internet in Germany is free, so it will be done on a cost basis I suppose. I hope that all is well for everyone back in the states,
Ryan.

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