Overcast Frankfurt

Joe giving no Bull!
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Today we woke early as our bodies slowly adjust to the jetlag. Decided to make a cup of coffee in the room - very bad idea! Just something not right about that powdered coffee creamer. We had quite a nice hot buffet breakfast in order to build up our energy reserves for the day. On enquiring about the best way to get into the city centre we were advised that a 15 euro taxi ride was best. We didn't have any tourist type info on things to see in Frankfurt and the hotel did not have anything but a plain street map. This left us with just wandering the streets and enjoying the city atmosphere. The day was overcast but luckily the rain held off.

Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce sign - what the?
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On arrival in the city centre I made a bee-line for the first Starbucks we saw. Expresso coffee was much needed and much enjoyed. The area we started in must have been the "top end" of town as we came across a statue of a Bull and Bear which I imagine was related to the stockmarket. We also walked past the Chamber of commerce. I do not know what goes on in that building, but the two plaques, one in english and one in German tickled our fancy. Industrie - und Handelskammer. What the?

No sausage in this Frankfurt

Fern trees in city centre park
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As we wandered around there was a mixture of architechture, from old castle tower looking buildings, to buildings that reminded me of Paris. We found a nice fountain and took the attached photo, then as the wind changed got sprayed by the fountain mist. As we walked through a city park I saw a section of trees that had all different types of ferns trees of varying colours which just looked beautiful. Our wildlife spotting for the day was rewarded with a close encounter with what looked like mallard type ducks. These guys were obviously used to being fed, as when I walked close to the edge they came right up expectantly waiting for some scraps.

Hungry park ducks
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Being a Saturday there did not seem to be as many people around as I would expect there to be in the city. This picked up around lunchtime, and as we found the shopping streets. It was good for people watching and I was surprised to see lots of people riding old-style non-geared bikes through the mall areas of the city. We came across a book store and I suggested to Joe that we buy a german phrase book to help us communicate with the locals during the tour. This book shop was just like Borders - 5 floors of books - and all signs written in German. I also knew now where all the people in the city were - this store was packed. Joe wandered down to where the i-pods were while I went in search of the phrase book. I ended up on the 5th floor and found something that would be useful.

Rained on by this fountain
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Now I was getting tired and hungry and my feet were getting sore from walking around for 4 hours. We found somewhere to get something lite for lunch and then flagged down a taxi and headed back to the hotel for a short rest.

At 6pm we were due to meet our Globus Tour Leader in the lobby then go through to dinner in the hotel restaurant. While waiting in the lobby (with our nametags on as instructed), we introduced ourselves to some other people also waiting - from Oz, Thailand and USA. At first we thought we would be the youngest on the tour, with as expected a higher number of retired couples. Once we took our places at the tables for dinner and a round of introductions were made, our group of 37 was made up of one from Thailand and I think nearly an even split of Aussie and US people. We were given the run-down by our Tour Leader Maria, who was born in Spain and has spent the last 19 years in Germany. She is bright and bubbly which will be good.

Old Tower building in the city
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After our three course dinner of salad, Paprika chicken and macaroni and chocolate walnut brownie for dessert it was time to call it a night and get ready for our wake-up call at 6:15am tomorrow.