Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 968

Our flight to Cape Town from Phoenix had a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt - pretty much from 9am to 9pm so we went out on the Metro to take a look at the city. We didn't find too much to interest our jet-lagged brains, the museum was closed and that was probably a blessing unless they had very comfy furniture. We walked across the river and sat down in a church for a while until some Germans (in Frankfurt - imagine that) told us that the church was closed and the front door was only open to let the builders in. We dragged ourselves out and back across the river where we found a nice cafe for some lunch. Pretty tired we headed back to the airport and slept for a while. The nice people ... read more

I was stationed in Germany three times. Once when I was single from 1983 to 1984 at Schwienfurt. The second time in Wiesbaden with my brand new family from 1990 to 1993. And the last time was from 1996 to 2003 at a small town of Hanau, about 15 miles south of Frankfurt. Fleigerhorst Kaserne used to be a German Air force base during the second World War. It survived the war because the Allies could not pinpoint the air base from the sky and therefore could not bomb it. The secret was water. The Germans would pump about two inches of water into the airfield when an attack is imminent. From the sky it appears to be a lake. Germany has a lot of history, castles medieval fest and beerfest. On weekends we would drive ... read more

There is no doubt that he's Italian. At first sight, he could be an important business man with his nice suit and greasy hair. Turns out he is not. He's on vacation from his job as a truck driver. He has visited his girlfriend in Denmark over the Christmas holidays. A girlfriend who lives in Sweden, due to bad politics in Denmark...!?! Wonder if he got that right... But again, wonder what is the language of communication between him and the girlfriend, considering his English is still pretty early in the developing stage. Nicholas offers me a piece of his orange. I decline the offer. He won't take no for an answer. Late orange dinner it is. Learning practical stuff seems to have had a low priority in his life. Like finding the way to the ... read more

Saturday (Temp. 8deg. Rainy) (No hairdryer!) Had breakfast in nice breakfast room after terrible sleep, too hot & saggy bed. Walked to Marienplatz, saw Glockenspiel at 11am in old town hall, very cool. Went into big, very busy book store, no English books. Went into little cuckoo clock shop, lots of markets again, like Strasbourg & Lyon. Found an Australia 'Ned Kelly' Bar. Too many people out, very busy shopping. Back to hotel for awhile. Went back to Aust. Bar for lunch, very Australian, great to be in a 'familiar' surrounding & have a hot meal. Barman was Aussie. Looked for English movie cinema, couldn't find it, back to hotel. Down to hotel bar for coffee, too hard to order food again, back to room about 6:45pm. A bit bored, watching winter sports again.... read more

Phew!!!! The only real way to descrýbe the last couple of weeks. Apologýes ýn advance for the poor typýng......Turkýsh keyboards are a lýttle dýfferent. OK......so sýnce leavýng Securýcor (whých was only 11 days ago) so many thýngs have happened. Fýrstly I have to thank everyone who made ýt to my goýng away drýnks at ONeýls ýn Shep Bush......great nýght......of course you all dýd your best to ensure that Shan and I dýdnt sleep and sure enough we ended up at a frýends house at 2:00 am......the bus to Stansted left at 3:00am...so no týme for sleep straýght from house to bus to aýrport to plane to Salzburg whých I can hoýnestly say was a very rude awakenýng.....I admýt I felt rough very rough......We wýsely decýded that there was no possýble way I could drýnk any more ... read more