Wednesday morning I got up at 6 AM, had breakfast in Vienna at the hotel, and played it safe by getting down to the train station around 8 AM for my 9:15 train to Frankfurt.
On the train there was a lady across from me who pecked away, for the most part, on her Mac laptop. Eventually (I'm assuming) a grandmom and her 11-year-old grandson joined us.
I thought this was funny. In case of an emergency, you have to smash both panes of glass with that red contraption:
Around 10 AM I grabbed a double Snickers bar and a bottle of Coke from the dining car. Around 1:30 PM I bought from the dining car a chicken tandoori sandwich and apple juice. Turns out the latter was a seltzer. I don't know if it was the apple juice-seltzer, or a combination of my mid-morning snack, late lunch, lingering jet lag, and the moving train, but around 2 PM I felt really ill. It took a lot of effort to hold my lunch down -- I couldn't even nap.
With the six-and-a-half-hour train ride over, I walked across the street to my hotel. Not nearly as nice as the one in Vienna, as evidenced by my view:
Yes, that's a steel shutter you're seeing, along with barbed wire. According to my travel book, this neighbourhood is the worst one in the city. That would explain all the porn around here. My favourite name of one: The Sex Inn.
After checking in, I took a little nap, since I still wasn't feeling well. I got up around 5 PM and walked around the 'hood for something to eat -- didn't want to spend the night on an empty stomach. I got a avocado pita from a local fast food joint on a street corner. Most of it I didn't eat 'cause it didn't pass the eye test (shredded white lettuce, purple cabbage, and a slice of eggplant that looked like a tongue). I did eat the pita, though.
I spent the rest of the night either watching TV (flipping mainly between 1980s music videos and Al Jazeera . . . their Witness documentary series looked at a remorseful Bosnian war criminal) and wandering around the neighbourhood for Rolaids or Tums. Couldn't find either. I did buy an Oreo ice cream sandwich, which settled my stomach for a while.
I didn't sleep well. With my indigestion and the neighbourhood I was staying in, it was hard to catch any zzzzz's.
I got up around 7:30 AM today (Thursday). I didn't feel like paying $15 at the hotel just for toast, since my stomach still wasn't feeling too hot, so I went across the street to the train station and got a bagel -- couldn't find toast in there.
I hung out in my hotel room until 10 AM, waiting for someone to fix the safe; it was locked. They never showed, so I walked about a half-mile to the Städel Museum. Here's the bridge to get there:
They have an exhibit on Peter Paul Rubens. Good stuff.
I stayed at the museum a little longer than expected because it was raining. Once it cleared up I picked up an avocado sandwich and a lemonade at the train station. I ate in my hotel room and noticed they finally fixed the safe. I threw my laptop in there.
I took a cab to the European Central Bank:
I would've taken a tour, but you need to book it at least four weeks in advance. Funk that!
I then walked about a mile to the city centre, Altstadt. Frankfurt's streets are serpentine like Vienna, but it's harder to get lost here, probably because it's a fairly small city (only 775,000 residents). Anyway, Alstadt is a little touristy. It has a medieval area called Römer:
I then headed back to the hotel and hung out until 5 PM. I walked about to Römer and ate dinner at Haus Wertheym:
I ordered breaded pork schnitzel, which came with fries and salad. It was delicious! And the restaurant had a nice vibe. Tons of German beer mugs decorated the pillars.
The walk back to the hotel was shivering one. Temperature really dropped. Felt like it was 50 degrees. My Philly Union barely kept me warm. Maybe I should've brought my coat. Nah. Too much too lug around on those days when it's a high of 61 degrees.
I got a little lost, but the route was scenic. I was in some outdoor plaza that was pedestrian only.
Around 8 PM I hit the train station for a little ice cream sandwich and spent the rest of the nite writing this. Tomorrow it's off to Dortmund!
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