Travel and Arrival

Traveling:

The morning of our drive down to Boston, we slept the night prior at my father's place in Searsport, Maine, we raced about doing a few last minute packing of items... this was primarily Forest as I was finished... several times Forest nearly hyper ventilated because he couldn't find his clear, clamshell contacts case... turns out it was in his toiletries bag, ha! Suzanne drove us down to Boston a fairly straight forward drive as Logan Airport route is much better marked than it used to be.

So Forest and I got through everything without a hitch and we waited for multiple hours for our flight but it left on time without any real delays and we were airborne.

Aer Lingus is a decent carrier I would say. I think we flew on an Airbus 332 should anyone be curious. They are minimalist in their serving but for the price we paid for the tickets it is understandable. I had a nice meal of rice, steamed veggies, braised tofu, cheddar cheese, crackers, a roll, black tea with milk, and "cheese cake". The tofu was unseasoned, so it was rather odd but I ate it and didn't really mind.

I stayed awake during the flight as it was only a 5 and a half hour journey to our layover and watched: an episode of "The History of Football, Brazil," Invictus, Daybreakers, and Youth in Revolt. All okay, Invictus definitely the best of them, but little surprise there.

The Dublin layover was kind of fun because things were ultra relaxed, we walked through a couple of areas to get to our next flight that looked as though they were private offices or the inner bowels of an factory :)

The second flight was short and we were in an Airbus 221 flight was decent but a little turbulence sent the drink and snack serving to an abrupt end.

Frankfurt: Day 1:

Upon arrival at the Frankfurt International Airport we went through the usual rigamarole, however we didn't have any customs stuff to deal with or visas so that was nice. We grabbed the check luggage and proceeded to the Bahnhof, train.

We rode the train it was here that I could really tell that my German language skills are not sufficient for the task of communicating anywhere near fluently with people as a nice gentleman offered to have us put our packs on the seat next to him. I spoke with him a little and it was obvious we would have had a friendly conversation if either of us were skilled in the others language to do so.

Looking out the train window we flew by stands of trees, Cedar was prolific enough for me to pick out from the forested groves and also some spruce. Little community gardens boardering tiny houses in small common styled areas dotted the landscape occasionally and large glass towers reared above the landscape.

As we were both tired we weren't paying attention and missed the main station stop, but we simply got off at the subsequent one and went back the previous way. In the main station Forest being extremely hungry bought a wrap, shocking me as there were many giant wieners right next to it, then we walked from the main station about 4 blocks to the hostel.

Our hostel is the Five Elements Hostel in the Red Light district. The erotica and casinos scattered about sets a humorous and colorful backdrop for our wanderings. However, this red light district is not what one might expect, while yes there is junkies getting their fix of both the chemical and physical varieties, there is also high end living establishments, turkish restaurants, vodafone shops, jewelry stores, and hostels/hotels all within the area, some even being neighbors to places like "Eros' Den" and "Erotika Shoppe".

Also little more that a block away is a series of plaza open spaces, corporate buildings and the green swaths of parks.

Forest and I, after buying beds in the hostel and locking our stuff up in safe-boxes, wandered around this lively area. Forest took his camera and I took my video camera and we both chronicled our wanderings. We found a small grocery store were we bought some food items and then found our way to a plaza were we sat out in the sunlight and ate the dense and absolutely amazing Ankorn bread we had bought with bree.

We made our way back to the hostel after wandering some more and stashed our groceries. I went up to speak with the woman at the front desk so that I might find a few things and she pointed them out on a map. I decided we had better buy the stuff we need today as tomorrow, Thursday the third, is a national holiday and all stores will be closed such as a phone (01520 8429392, give me a call) and converter for our electronics.

We went out again and by this time it is 2 o'clock, three maybe, and we wandered to the park system that rings the water front area. Forest and I goofed off doing handstands and the like on the walls and seating of the plaza spaces. Then wandering on found our way to the Frankfurt Opera house, unfortunately they won't be doing a Faust opera till later in the month by which time we will have travelled on.

After the parks we found the Main that flows through Frankfurt. It has nice pathways and seating areas along it promoting lots of use by people of all ages. I sat there for probably an hour enjoying the atmosphere, taking the occasional photo, and resisting the sweet embrace of sleep, Forest succumbed and I let him sleep for a good 45 minutes.

We walked back towards the hostel taking a different path and chanced upon a pakistani restaurant where we both ate our fill, I had a channa masala and 2 naans and a mango lassi, all for only 7e. After getting back to the hostel we both crashed and I awoke to do some work, such as this, around the midnight hour.

I am now getting famished as I write this so I will stop here so that I may eat then read then again sleep, tschuss!