Frankfurt In 48 Hours

This past weekend, I joined Nuch on her flight to Frankfurt. Similar to our trip to Rome last year, it was a quick trip. 48 hours all together and just a day in Germany. In fact, due to the flight schedule we had only 5 hours of actual time outside of airplanes, airports, or hotel rooms. Fortunately, the flight and hotel were both comfortable and we were able to enjoy a quick afternoon in the Faterland.

Here's a breakdown:

Like my trip to Cambodia, you can click the links to go to the blog page.

Smooth As Silk: 24 hours (in 2 days) on Thai Air




Trains and Small Houses:


Although we flew into Frankfurt, we actually went to a small town called Weisbaden on a recommendation from a friend who had spent some time there.

Smooth As Silk

Since half the trip or roughly 24 hours were spent on an airplane, I thought Thai Air deserved a blog entry of its own.

Although the price was right, the seats in Economy left a lot to be desired - especially, with a full house. You can't see it from this angle, but there is no personal entertainment system on the old 747's, but they did hand out some chalk and a slate board to doodle with.

So, after the first meal I got up and met Nuch in the galley where I spent most of the flight chatting with Nuch and her co-workers and enjoying G&T's

The flight back was a different story, and a close second to the highlight of the trip, which was actually being in Germany. The return flight was not full and the in-flight manager, knowing I was doing a quick turn just to be with Nuch, took pity on me and moved me to Business Class. I'll never sit in Economy again.

My only complaint is that I had so much leg room that I had to unbuckle my seat belt if I wanted to get a magazine from the seat pocket in front of me or operate the touch screen entertainment system.

The food was superb with 4 different courses. Here's the salad and appetizer.


And roast duck for a main course.

This pretty much sums up a flight in Business Class. The blue buttons in the middle operate the built-in massage system.

Trains And Small Houses

You can't spend anytime in Europe without spending at least some time on a train. As it turned out, we spent about 20% of our time outside of the hotel on trains - and that's why you're getting pictures of it because we didn't do much else.

Nuch waiting for the train below the airport.



Enjoying the sites on the way to Weisbaden.





Actually, it was pretty industrial and not a lot to look at besides factories.



We did come across these small houses that would pop up occassionally along the railroad tracks. At first, I thought they were German slums or play houses for children.




Turns out they're rent-a-gardens with a history that goes back hundreds of years.


Apparently, Germans love their gardens and sometime in te 1800's a system of small plots were set up for people to grow plants and vegetables. During WWII they became an important source of food and after the war, houses were built on the plots as most everything else had been destroyed.



This is in the Weisbaden train station.

A Day In Weisbaden

Finally, we arrived in Weisbaden where we spent a short afternoon. To officially count a European city as a place you have visited you have to do at least 3 things. 1) Ride some form of public transportation 2) See and old thing 3) Have a good meal with the local wine or beer

I've showed you the train alread.

Here's the old thing. Don't know what it's called or its significance. Just that it's old and has these freaky trees lining the park out front.

Even with our limited time, we decided to look at a second old thing. Once again, don't know the name or its significance. We didn't have time.

What time we didn't spend investigating old things, we spent having lunch.

Porkchops Are Good...

On the way home from work every Monday, I pass one of the best examples of Bangkok's duplicity - The Butcher of Bangkok Noi.

Being a predominantly Buddhist country, where killing any living creature (including ants, snails, and mosquitoes) is a sin, Thailand somehow finds it acceptable to have a full-on butchers shop on one of the main streets near Nuch's house. Granted, the pigs are already dead and not being slaughtered in front of the rush hour traffic or the innocent passersby, but the carcasses are dropped off by the truckload where guys with no shirts or shoes toss them on to the butcher's table to be cut into bits for everyone to see.

Certainly, when you buy bacon or a ham sandwich at the supermarket, you know that it came from a living creature that is no longer among us, but thankfully, the steps from the slaughterhouse to the meat section are kept hidden from us. Not in Bangkok.
These are two videos that I've spliced together while on the way home from work. While I'm stopped in traffic, you can get a good look at the trucks being unloaded and the buses and cars passing by. As I start to drive off, you can catch a quick glimpse inside - the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comes to mind.