First day in Germany - June 29

We arrived in Frankfurt at about 1:30 PM. Unlike the US our bags seemed to take forever to come off the belt. We had not planned on checking any but since they were over 10 kilos we were told we had to, though others had bigger ones they brought on. Going through passport control and customs was no problem. We didnt' even have to fill out any paper work. They did comment that it was our first stamp in the passport. Of course we just renewed them this spring before we were supposed to go to Egypt.

Telephones (you know pay phones) don't really exist any longer. We used a phone at the USO to call the hotel for a shuttle pick up. This shuttle pickup is a great deal by the way, only 5 € (Euros). Didn't have to pay the driver and didn't have to give a gratuity either. The cost of the shuttle was added to our hotel bill. The name of the hotel was the Albatross Airport Hotel and I would recommend it.

Check in was really easy. The clerk that was there spoke nearly perfect English. We have found out that most of the population under 35 in the big cities (Frankfurt and Munich) speak English. Got our bags up to the room and checked it out. The furnishings were spartan but adequate. After all we are just going to sleep here. It was quite warm in the room though, not air conditioning. It was clean and comfortable and only 49 € a night. That's a real bargain.

We need to the main train station in Frankfurt to meet a friend for dinner. The shuttle was going back to the airport so the driver took us to the local station, about a mile away, at no charge. We tried to figure out the kiosk for train tickets but were lost. We asked a young lady to help us and she was very kind but he machine would only take 5 and 10 € notes and we didn't have any. So we missed the train. Went to a bar around the corner to see if we could get change or if there was an ATM machine nearby. Turns out there was a bank across the street and we were able to get what we needed. Remembered the procedure to get the tickets and caught the next train into Frankfurt. If you are going to ride the trains to see the town you should get at least a day pass from the station where you are based. If you are not sure ask for help at the information station, they are very useful. A daily pass from our station to the main and other areas was 9.5 € each. We got there about 1630 (4:30) and so had 1.5 hours to kill before me were to meet Luisa. We spent that wandering around the the station and the surrounding area.

At 1800 we got back to the front of the station and hooked up with Luisa. She was a pretty as ever and just a nice. We went to a place called Depot 1899 for dinner and had a very tasty meal and a lot of pleasant conversation. We talked about her studies in school, where she lived and how next time we would have to go up to Berlin to visit her. It was a very fun evening but we were very tired.

Luisa helped us get our tickets for our Friday trip to Munich to meet Mel and Neil. That was a relief to get that taken care of as well.

We took the train back to the main station and parted company with Luisa promising that we would indeed see one another again. Our train tickets were good for the day so we went back to the local station (four stops from the main). We walked the 1.6 km back to the hotel from the station in a light drizzle. When we got back we told the clerk we would be there Thursday night as well and we went up and went to bed.