Not blog worthy, but we did make the more (if not the "most") of the 12 hour layover in Frankfurt. Overnight flight from DIA left on time after I was chosen for a random hand swab and Barbara was frisked for the zippers in her cargo pants. We sleep on and off in Business Class on the 747. I had a bit of a problem finding a position on the "lie flat but not quite horizontal" seat since the position that would be normally the easiest to sleep was exactly that that irritated my back most. And did I mention that the controls--4 buttons and 3 three-way toggle switches--make no sense and tried to twist me into a very uncomfortable ball. I gave in to taking the anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant pills and managed to sleep for a few hours.
We arrived a little early this morning and found the Lufthansa Business Class lounge. The most officious young lady attendant told us that all the Lufthansa clubs in Terminal C did not have showers unless we were to fly 50,000 miles immediately or invade the Sudetenland and suggested that we go through two more security screenings to get to Terminal A where maybe there were showers. Then she checked our papers again. Really. Oh, did I mention that on the 1st security screening here in Frankfurt, Barbara set off the magnetometer with what she believes is her underwear and had to frisked again.I only had my little bottles read very carefully and my papers thoroughly scrutinized again. We then went on a quest for the elusive baggage lockers so we could leave our carry-on bags at the airport and go into town. This sent us through 4 (four) more paper checks of various kind, including emerging through customs and of course getting our passports thoroughly checked. I frisked Barbara just to save time. But we did find the "Lufthansa Welcome Lounge" where our business class ticket stubs got us free showers and a banana. Then after getting help from various tourist and S-bahn (subway) attendants--who also checked our papers--we checked our bags and took the quite pleasant train to Ochenflugentuchen Platz and found, 1) Frankfurt is a very serious business, mostly banking business, city, and 2) Frankfurt has loads of very pleasant pedestrian squares and a pretty nice riverfront. (By the way, I was able to determine that the river was the "main" river in town but not what its name is. Maybe I was a big confused.)
During our walk to the very nifty cathedral (called, "Dom") and a little church (called, St. Pauls), we boarded one of those red double decker "hop on/hop off" (so to speak) tourist buses and got a very nice guided tour for a hour around the city. The tour started after a dignified gentleman got into an argument with the tour bus driver and other tour company employees. He insisted that the "City Tour" and the "Skyline Tour" were identical and that the money he paid for the second circuit was wasted. They insisted that the two tours were different and that he was wrong. They offered to let him take the route that was about to begin, he offered to call the police, the guide showed the irate gentleman his ID as an off-duty cop, and then when the gentleman ascended the stairs to the upper deck, the guide and driver flipped all the signs over to indicate which route our bus was no going to go on. At that point, most of the dozen or so tourists on the bus hurried off the bus. The guide then explained--if my German translating is correct--that we were going to go on the original route but flipping the signs was necessary all of a sudden. The others got back on and a good time was had by all. Did I mention that it is colder than Germany in January here?
We took the train back to the FRA airport around 4 pm, just in time to wait the remaining six hour for flight. We spent the time finding a few more Lufthansa Lounges and settled for a very nice one with very good chicken and ham sandwiches and nice German beers on tap. Barbara was not frisked going through security, but my bags were all selected for extra screening. I never knew that Germans could be so methodical and overbearing. Wait, I have to climb back on the turnip truck.
About to head to the gate in just an hour more for the hour's wait to take off for Cape Town. Next report I hope will be from summer.
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