We had an uneventful drive on paved roads down to Windhoek, where we drove to our hotel from the first night in hopes of just picking up the old wi-fi. It didn’t work, so we ended up getting lunch at a place nearby with wi-fi and just booking a room at the same place again to make it easier. We spent an hour or two sitting out in the hotel’s courtyard getting caught up on all things internet-related. I requested an update to the Condor Airlines flight loads and it had gone down from 6 seats to 1 with no indication of standbys. Nicole and I both felt that we would probably still get on, but it wouldn’t likely be together, and if we didn’t get on, it would cause a whole slew of other issues. As a result, we decided that evening that we would change our flight to British Airways to Johannesburg, change planes there to Lufthansa, and get to Frankfurt that way.
The Johannesburg Airport was much much larger than Windhoek’s, which was basically two doorways for gates. We got our steps in walking to our next flight. The process was surprisingly smooth, much unlike Heathrow. The only snag was security taking my nail trimmers. It was only a matter of time, though the rules are so inconsistently applied (even within the same country), one never knows when the trimmers will disappear. We were only in Johannesburg airport for about two hours. Then we went from Johannesburg (a city known most for its high crime statistics) to Frankfurt (a city known for having a major international airport nearby). We got seats together, but we were row 42 on a 747-800. It wasn’t great, and once the gentleman in front of me decided to recline for the rest of the flight, there was basically no chance of getting comfortable. Some 10 and a half hours later, we arrived in Frankfurt around 5:30am. We shot through customs, booked a hotel, got on a train, walked to the hotel, and miraculously managed to check into our room at 7:30am. We napped until about 11 and went out to explore Frankfurt.
Again, Frankfurt isn’t really known for . . .much of anything, other than having a massive airport, but we also didn’t want to spend the whole day in the hotel. The lobby had some umbrellas that they lent to us, which was highly necessary because rain was in the forecast for the entire day, only dropping to a 50% chance sometime near midnight. It was also fairly cold, so the combination of cold and rain made it kind of unpleasant conditions for a stroll around the city, but we attempted to make the best of it. We walked to an area known as Romerberg, which is the older part of the city. It had a nice square with traditional German buildings with various cafes and shops. Surprisingly, some people had chosen to eat outside. Sure there were umbrellas covering some of the tables, but it was still only 45 degrees and raining. Anyway, we elected to find some food and a hot tea at an older German-style restaurant a few blocks away. I had a mushroom soup and peppermint tea and Nicole had some schnitzel with potatoes. We split an apple strudel afterward. Our warmup in the restaurant made the return to the outdoors that much worse. The rain was going strong and the wind had some bite to it as well. We walked down to the river for about a minute before circling back to the square, where Nicole added to her pin collection on her camera bag. After this, we elected to just walk back to the hotel to thaw. For Frankfurt in October, this is considered normal weather, but for two kids who just came from the deserts of southern Africa, this was a cruel shock to our bodies.
We made one last trip outside to get some pizza at a nearby pizzeria. I’d be curious to know the statistics on how many of our trips end with a pizza dinner, as I’m sure it’s quite staggering. In any event, we returned to the hotel to relax for (hopefully) our final night abroad. We have a long flight to Los Angeles tomorrow and perhaps a reflections essay will be authored during that time. Stay tuned.
The Johannesburg Airport was much much larger than Windhoek’s, which was basically two doorways for gates. We got our steps in walking to our next flight. The process was surprisingly smooth, much unlike Heathrow. The only snag was security taking my nail trimmers. It was only a matter of time, though the rules are so inconsistently applied (even within the same country), one never knows when the trimmers will disappear. We were only in Johannesburg airport for about two hours. Then we went from Johannesburg (a city known most for its high crime statistics) to Frankfurt (a city known for having a major international airport nearby). We got seats together, but we were row 42 on a 747-800. It wasn’t great, and once the gentleman in front of me decided to recline for the rest of the flight, there was basically no chance of getting comfortable. Some 10 and a half hours later, we arrived in Frankfurt around 5:30am. We shot through customs, booked a hotel, got on a train, walked to the hotel, and miraculously managed to check into our room at 7:30am. We napped until about 11 and went out to explore Frankfurt.
Again, Frankfurt isn’t really known for . . .much of anything, other than having a massive airport, but we also didn’t want to spend the whole day in the hotel. The lobby had some umbrellas that they lent to us, which was highly necessary because rain was in the forecast for the entire day, only dropping to a 50% chance sometime near midnight. It was also fairly cold, so the combination of cold and rain made it kind of unpleasant conditions for a stroll around the city, but we attempted to make the best of it. We walked to an area known as Romerberg, which is the older part of the city. It had a nice square with traditional German buildings with various cafes and shops. Surprisingly, some people had chosen to eat outside. Sure there were umbrellas covering some of the tables, but it was still only 45 degrees and raining. Anyway, we elected to find some food and a hot tea at an older German-style restaurant a few blocks away. I had a mushroom soup and peppermint tea and Nicole had some schnitzel with potatoes. We split an apple strudel afterward. Our warmup in the restaurant made the return to the outdoors that much worse. The rain was going strong and the wind had some bite to it as well. We walked down to the river for about a minute before circling back to the square, where Nicole added to her pin collection on her camera bag. After this, we elected to just walk back to the hotel to thaw. For Frankfurt in October, this is considered normal weather, but for two kids who just came from the deserts of southern Africa, this was a cruel shock to our bodies.
We made one last trip outside to get some pizza at a nearby pizzeria. I’d be curious to know the statistics on how many of our trips end with a pizza dinner, as I’m sure it’s quite staggering. In any event, we returned to the hotel to relax for (hopefully) our final night abroad. We have a long flight to Los Angeles tomorrow and perhaps a reflections essay will be authored during that time. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment