GERMANY

Here I am in Frankfurt with  Flywheel

It's been pretty headlong on the trip so far; I'm taking this week to relax, so we haven't been doing much in terms of tourism. It's really good to be with him; I've been looking forward to this for a long while.

I don't have much of a feel for Frankfurt; I can't grasp the character of the city. The whole place was bombed to rubble in the war, and all its physical history, the stories, the atmosphere, the centuries of life that were written in its stones, was erased. Some things have been restored, but even in those areas the contrast with Paris is stark.

So, isolated as I am from the people here, Frankfurt feels a bit lost and sad to me, in spite of all its modern hustle and bustle. And it is a very modern city, with a nice blend of skyscrapers and more human-scale areas. And a lot of the city's interesting areas are accessible by foot, at least for someone like me who doesn't mind walking a mile or two to do something.

The food contrast with Paris is huge too :3 Here I'm eating wieners with mustard, strong dark bread, beans from a can and instant rice.  Flywheel's like an anti-gourmet XD But I'm happy with it. And today I finally experienced the traditional German delicacy, Huge Slab of Meat On A Bun, bought from a street butcher. And man, it was delicious; the slab in question being ham an inch thick with the fat at the edge done to perfect crackling, crunchy and salty as I ate it.

Also today was the Frankfurt Zoo, only 15 mins walk from the apartment and well worth a visit. It's pretty small, but there are some lovely animals there, and I had a lot of fun seeing the birds and reptiles. I took a lot of pictures, which I may soon be able to link to now that I've upgraded my Flickr account...

Anyway, it's time for bed!