(#2) Starting Europe 2018
A few photos of Nova Scotia first before getting on about Europe.
From the outlook looking at Mina's Basin
Lunenburg harbour
Peggy's Harbour
A colourful home
A spot were Prince Albert landed visiting Canada
Halifax Harbour
Well after a relaxing tine back east we finally made our late night flight to Frankfurt which wasn't so bad except for a very young infant who had a very uncomfortable time on trip. Probably the change in pressure and the strange times for its little body. Everytime I just felt like I was falling asleep the little one would let out a holler. Poor parents, I think dad was asleep standing up between the washrooms galley way as it seemed to be the only easy to soothe the tike. We were very fortunate that our room was ready by the time we took a taxi ride into town about 11:00. We both dropped onto the bed and slept solidly for a few hours, & then we took a 1hour tour around the city to get oriented but it really didn't help much. The next day we took a river tour, then walked across the Iron Bridge which was built with public money until the city took it over and removed the tolls. It is for pedestrians only and was the third bridge across the river when built. The trams and underground get you pretty close to places you might want to go so getting around was not too difficult, plus we received public transit passes for the time of our stay from the hotel.
Love locks on the Iron Bridge
The largest Apple Wine Glass (Franfurt is supposedly the apple wine capital)
Frankfurt Palm Garden, one of 3 in the world
Double Coconut, "put the lime in the coconut & drink it all up"
The Iron Bridge
As Frankfurt is banking centre, two of these towers are called 'Credit & Debit'
What can I say about Frankfurt? Well don't rely on Canadian norms for direction to get you around the city. One evening after dinner not far from the hotel more or less left around the corner we decided to walk a bit more. So starting in about a similar direction in relation to the street our hotel is on, our first turn was left from the hotel and that would have made it a rght turn to start waking, off we went for one block, turned right for one block the right again and found ourselves about 180 degrees in the wrong direction from the hotel even though every turn we took looked perpendicular from the direction we just travelled in. In other words the streets do not run in straight lines. The other aspect is I felt like calling Frankfurt the city of sirens and I am not referring to the kind from the sea. I don't think there was a time, except Sunday, when we did not hear sirens for less than 10 minutes at a time. Belin is much quieter but a larger visible police presence.
I thought our train for Berlin left from the Frankfurt main train station but I was wrong it left from the Frankfurt South train station. Glad we arrived at the main station early as I got turn around finding the correct line for the Ubahn not the Sbahn. Thankfully it was only about 10 minutes away and we arrived with plenty of time to spare waiting for the train at the right station. The train voyage was pleasant but we had to change trains, didn't know this until we heard an announcement saying our train did not stop at Berlin Central. Off the first train squeeze onto another train just pulling in and hoping we got the correct one. We did. A quite taxi ride to the hotel for check in and then a quick nap. Purchased a couple of 3 day transit passes because I read online that one ticket eas good for 6 stops but if you transfered you could not be heading back in the direction you started. A bit more expensive but less confusion about trying to figure out your fare. We set off to find a Vodaphone shop because we had bought SIM cards with data but still had no data access. Turned out we had gone to a Vodaphone franchise shop not a proper Vodaphone shop and our set up was wrong. An evening of getting our bearings with some people watching included before finding our way back to the hotel.
I will write about Berlin separately as strange things are happening as I write.
Well after a relaxing tine back east we finally made our late night flight to Frankfurt which wasn't so bad except for a very young infant who had a very uncomfortable time on trip. Probably the change in pressure and the strange times for its little body. Everytime I just felt like I was falling asleep the little one would let out a holler. Poor parents, I think dad was asleep standing up between the washrooms galley way as it seemed to be the only easy to soothe the tike. We were very fortunate that our room was ready by the time we took a taxi ride into town about 11:00. We both dropped onto the bed and slept solidly for a few hours, & then we took a 1hour tour around the city to get oriented but it really didn't help much. The next day we took a river tour, then walked across the Iron Bridge which was built with public money until the city took it over and removed the tolls. It is for pedestrians only and was the third bridge across the river when built. The trams and underground get you pretty close to places you might want to go so getting around was not too difficult, plus we received public transit passes for the time of our stay from the hotel.
What can I say about Frankfurt? Well don't rely on Canadian norms for direction to get you around the city. One evening after dinner not far from the hotel more or less left around the corner we decided to walk a bit more. So starting in about a similar direction in relation to the street our hotel is on, our first turn was left from the hotel and that would have made it a rght turn to start waking, off we went for one block, turned right for one block the right again and found ourselves about 180 degrees in the wrong direction from the hotel even though every turn we took looked perpendicular from the direction we just travelled in. In other words the streets do not run in straight lines. The other aspect is I felt like calling Frankfurt the city of sirens and I am not referring to the kind from the sea. I don't think there was a time, except Sunday, when we did not hear sirens for less than 10 minutes at a time. Belin is much quieter but a larger visible police presence.
I thought our train for Berlin left from the Frankfurt main train station but I was wrong it left from the Frankfurt South train station. Glad we arrived at the main station early as I got turn around finding the correct line for the Ubahn not the Sbahn. Thankfully it was only about 10 minutes away and we arrived with plenty of time to spare waiting for the train at the right station. The train voyage was pleasant but we had to change trains, didn't know this until we heard an announcement saying our train did not stop at Berlin Central. Off the first train squeeze onto another train just pulling in and hoping we got the correct one. We did. A quite taxi ride to the hotel for check in and then a quick nap. Purchased a couple of 3 day transit passes because I read online that one ticket eas good for 6 stops but if you transfered you could not be heading back in the direction you started. A bit more expensive but less confusion about trying to figure out your fare. We set off to find a Vodaphone shop because we had bought SIM cards with data but still had no data access. Turned out we had gone to a Vodaphone franchise shop not a proper Vodaphone shop and our set up was wrong. An evening of getting our bearings with some people watching included before finding our way back to the hotel.
I will write about Berlin separately as strange things are happening as I write.
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