Sunday 17 September 2023

A mid morning flight from Marseille landed me in Frankfurt around noon, where I was met by Rachel and, after checking into my hotel in a not too flash part of Frankfurt, we drove to her flat in the village of Steinbach, about 20 kms from Frankfurt.

Her youngest son, Killian, and wife, Lada, live close by. In the evening her oldest son, Tristan, with his wife, Desere, and young daughter, Fiona, along with Killian and Lada came for a roast diner Rachel had prepared.  We spent the evening catching up on the family events since the last time I had visited a few years ago.

Later that evening Tristan and Desere dropped me back in town at my hotel.

Monday 18 September 2023

I took a stroll around the local area; this is one of the dirtiest cities I have seen for a long time. Not only were the streets cluttered with dirt and rubbish but dirty, untidy, rough-looking people stood around in groups on the footpath obviously with nothing to do. A stroll down to the walkway alongside the Main River was a little tidier but I still had people trying to stop me and extract money. A 7 km circuit took back to the hotel, which considering the area was actually quite nice with friendly nice staff.

Rachel joined me early afternoon and we enjoyed a long lunch at a local, very nice Thai restaurant talking about the many great places we had lived in the South Island of New Zealand during our childhood, among other things. Racheal headed off home later in the afternoon and I spent a quiet evening in the hotel.

Tuesday 19 September 2023

Racheal joined me late morning and we took a stroll down to the river and boarded a boat for a cruise on the river. Like all big cities there is lots of construction going on and many modern buildings. Some old structures such as some old cranes still remain in place. We went up the river for about 30 minutes then turned near a lock before heading downstream for about an hour then back to the start point.

On disembarking the boat we strolled back through the old town, which was rebuilt after the war with the old style buildings in keeping with once what stood here. This part of town is much better with a prominent police presence and no dodgy people hanging about. We stopped at a pleasant outdoor restaurant with good service and enjoyed a nice meal and a good chat. Suddenly the day was over and Rachel headed home to prepare for work tomorrow. We had been lucky that her days off had coincided with my visit.

Wednesday 20 September 2023

My flight was not until the afternoon so I went for a stroll through the massive railway station. Descending several levels, I discovered a metro at one level running east and west and at another level running north and south. It always intrigues me what amazing infrastructure European cities have, much of it built decades ago. In this case it opened in 1968 and carries over 130 million passengers every year. I emerged from the underground into the main railway station. Constructed in 1886 it has 26 platforms. From here one can travel anywhere in Europe on a fast train although strikes are very common on German rail.

After lunch Killian picked me up and ran me to the airport for my flight to Marseille. The airport appeared to be a shambles; we were bussed to the plane but on arrival a tanker refuelling the plane blocked the way.After he moved on we dismounted from the bus and boarded the aircraft. There seemed to be gear and planes everywhere. I am not sure how the driver even located the right aeroplane. It is quite common to be bussed to planes at many airports but I have never seen what looks like such a shambles, however at the end of the day it all worked.