Wie geht's, Frankfurt.

So we were in Frankfurt today. I had a good time, but at a certain point cities are cities. There are some interesting historical things about Frankfurt, but I didn't have too much time to goof around.
I had pastry from the local bakery this morning and it was good. I'm not much of a pastry person, but a cherry strudel will put your day on a good track.
I know it's cliche to talk about, but the trains in Germany are cool. They are on time and so quiet. Really really quiet. They arrive with a whoosh and leave with no sound at all.
Frankfurt was good. I''m really happy with this picture, but unless you click on it an make it bigger and turn your head to look at it, you probably won't appreciate it. This was on the main shopping area in Frankfurt am Main. It was pleasant but cold. there's an Adidas flagship-type store there with a few items but great positioning and lighting. I was impressed.
We walked over the Rhine. I'd never done that before. It was cold, but hey it's winter. Whatever.
Then we went to a grocery store (Einzer-A) for some candy and things. This was in a whole aisle of potted meat products. this is separate from the row of processed sliced meat producte (with all sorts of foods mixed in) and the two long cooler-aisles full of sausages and various wursts with different foods mixed in. Meat. I also saw a whole rabbit, wrapped and packaged like we buy a chicken. By the way, Laura Geesaman (my gracious hostess) told me Shicken (that's just phonetic-- I don't get German spelling and I'm not here long enough to learn) is how they say ham. "Speck" is bacon. "Bitte" is "please", and Ausfahrt (that's spelled correctly) is "exit", but there's a big joke among anglophones that people who just get here are always looking for a town called Ausfahrt, because every time you get off the highway you're heading for Ausfahrt. Maybe that joke doesn't translate, but it's funny as hell when you're living it.

I'm getting used to the time change here. Good for now, but I'll probably pay hell for it when I get back. Waste of two days of vacation, but I'll have a lot of memories for the rest of my life.

Auf wiederzein. (sp?)