03 October 2010

Athens - Frankfurt



Our packing was finished fairly late last night so we wouldn’t be rushed his morning for our early rise at 6:30am. We slept in to 7am so on our way down to breakfast at 7:30am we organised a taxi to take us to the airport. Ev was feeling worse than yesterday almost losing her voice. Dan had another full breakfast and Ev only had fruit. We have really loved our stay in Athens and would love to come back for a 2 week holiday, particularly to see the Greek Islands on a clearer day. We have been blown away by the structures and the love and pride the people have for their city. It is definitely a highlight on this trip for us.

Ev took some quick snaps of the fabulous fashion hotel before we raced down to the cab which was a little early. His fare was cheaper than we had expected. Check in was really easy, no queues and customs was also a breeze and we were ready for our 11:25am flight by 9:45am. The departure lounge had free wi-fi so Dan watched the NRL Grand Final while we waited, but half way through connection dropped out. Ev slept for most of the wait after keeping herself and Dan up most of the night coughing.

The flight was really good, as was the in-flight food of chicken and rice and a lemon desert. Ev’s favourite part of the flight was overlooking the scenery below at the small villages around Frankfurt before landing. From the sky they looked like patches of houses placed in multiple groups surrounded by farmland and forest areas. We have a good feeling about Germany and are very excited to organise some day trips. The Luggage collection was a fair distance from the gate but we eventually found our bags and headed for a taxi. We thought of organising a car at the airport but it’s probably best to see the city first on public transport then get a car in a couple of days time. Our cabbie dropped us off to the hotel and we were greeted by a nice girl who was tired of her job. This sounds a little like Rome... We took our bags up to the hotel and took our time to come down. We’ve discovered that the only English speaking channels are MTV and CNN. They have really good movies playing, but they’re dubbed and we can’t work out how to get English subtitles on.

After unpacking a little we went downstairs to look for a supermarket after asking for a map from reception. She said that most of the shops are closed on a Sunday. (What’s with that in European countries?) She then rethought and remembered that this Sunday we might find some open, then sat back down again. Okay?! We headed out in the direction of where she suggested and found ourselves in the mall where hundreds of people were. Frankfurt is having their annual Car Show today, and yes there are lots of shops open. Feeling relieved we had a German hotdog with mustard and ketchup, and it was probably the best sausage we’ve ever had. We walked through the car yard kind of quickly because cars really aren’t our thing, then looked for a supermarket but all we could find were fashion shops. Finally we came to a corner store which had a very limited selection but we got a few supplies and headed home to watch some German TV and read tourist brochures. Turns out that Frankfurt is the Financial capital of Germany and is the 7th most liveable city in the world. It’s a beautiful place if you want to settle down but from what we can see there aren’t many touristy sights. 

We’ve decided that 3 days in Munich just isn’t enough so we’ve booked a place just outside of the city so instead of staying in Frankfurt 4 nights we’ll just be here 2 nights. Tomorrow we’ll do the Frankfurt City Tour then the day after hire out a car and begin our drive along the ‘Romantic Road’ to Munich.
 

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