As you may have guessed from the title of this posting, Larna and I are now in Deutschland and we have decided to give ourselves names more appropriate to where we are, so for the duration of our stay in Germany I shall be Klaus and Larna, Hildagaard (actually, just about everyone here assumes Larna is German, launching into conversation with her at just about any opportunity, a bit ironic since I am the one with the German surname and Germanic ancestors).
Speaking of surnames, I noticed a 'Schlesinger Gasse' (lane) on the Frankfurt city map, so will seek it out today.
A little word on where we are staying - we're in a great Hostel called '5 Elements' a block from the main train station and smack bang in the middle of the red light district. This has made for some interesting observations from our second story window, including two guys calmly snorting (I assume cocaine) on the steps across the road and a smorgasbord of down and outs, freaks and tourists tramping up and down the road. It's people watching at its most entertaining.
I also must mention our hostel breakfast - which is an all you can eat buffet, including 'shoko musli' which is 'muesli with chocolate'. This is by far the finest tasting muesli yet to pass my lips. I wake up each morning excited by the prospect of a heaped bowl of the stuff!
A train ride down the Rhine
Speaking of surnames, I noticed a 'Schlesinger Gasse' (lane) on the Frankfurt city map, so will seek it out today.
A little word on where we are staying - we're in a great Hostel called '5 Elements' a block from the main train station and smack bang in the middle of the red light district. This has made for some interesting observations from our second story window, including two guys calmly snorting (I assume cocaine) on the steps across the road and a smorgasbord of down and outs, freaks and tourists tramping up and down the road. It's people watching at its most entertaining.
I also must mention our hostel breakfast - which is an all you can eat buffet, including 'shoko musli' which is 'muesli with chocolate'. This is by far the finest tasting muesli yet to pass my lips. I wake up each morning excited by the prospect of a heaped bowl of the stuff!
A train ride down the Rhine
We spent our first jet-lagged day wandering around Frankfurt, which has some beautiful architecture and a great old town square. Yesterday we decided to take a train to the city of Koblenz, which is on the Rhine.
For most of the two hour train trip (once we were past Wiesbaden) we snaked alongside the Rhine passing cute villages and old ruined (and some restored and lived in) castles on the hillside. Long, low cargo boats made their way down the river as did cruise boats and what looked floating hotels as the train made its rapid progress.
We disembarked at Koblenz and walked to the river. It's a fair size town and on the day we arrived a Bundesliga game was scheduled between Koblenz and Kaiserslauten. All around the station were riot police dressed in army green gear sporting 'robocop' like knee paddings and looking fearsome.
I had to pinch myself when we made it to the river and went for a stroll along the banks. One day we're on a bus from Melaka to Malaysia en route to Singapore with a couple of toothless or tooth-challenged Asians, the next were strolling the banks of the Rhine with castles and gorgeous green hills around us. At one point on our walk, a rainstorm blew in and we huddled up a narrow set of stairs next to the river reading our books waiting for the storm to pass.
On Tuesday we are due to check out and move on. We are not yet sure of our next destination, but will keep you posted. We're waiting to hear from a friend of Larna's who lives in Switzerland, who we are hoping to visit for a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment