Frankfurt May 6-12/09

Leaving Nepal was uneventful, fortunately no "bandh" (strike).

After a 3 hour hop to Bankok, 5 hour wait in airport (chatting with an older woman from Copenhagen) and a long flight to Frankfurt I arrive around 6AM. I catch the train to the hostel (historic old building)which is conveniently located across the street from the train station.






In the afternoon I sign up for the free city tour. Along the way there are historic buildings, sculpture and the river. Peter arrives safely the next day. I meet him at the aiport and cry when I see him.







Getting my bike is an all day affair. First waiting for it to arrive, then finding out that we have to pick it up at the cargo depot instead of at the airport...taking the train then a couple buses. Unexpectedly I have to pay 19 EU (Customs Clearance). From the cargo office we walk close to a kilometer to Customs fortunately they don't inspect it which would cost 53EU.

We walk back to the cargo office then over to the warehouse. The fellows look at us when we tell them we don't have a car as the box weighs 45kg (approximately 100lbs). We think that we have to wait 2 hours for the next bus, we start carrying the box however one of the fellows takes the box via a forklift to the bus stop and tells us that the bus is in 3 minutes.

The hardest part is carrying and dragging the box across the street from the train station to the hostel...we stop several times to rest. I put my bike together (while Peter naps) and spend about an hour scraping tar off my rear wheel (from New Zealand).

We look into options to get to Italy. Ryanair is cheap but with the bikes and our luggage we expect that it won't be so cheap. Although expennsive, we end up booking the train to Munich then overnight to Florence for 238EU ($380Cdn).

Although the hostel includes a breakfast which sometimes includes museli, yogurt, toast or buns, coffee or tea and boiled eggs and cold cuts cheese, it is expensive 20EU ($32Cdn) (dorm) and 48EU ($76Cdn)(private)(compared to Nepal) for our budget.




The art museum in Frankfurt has some portraits from the 16th century with amazing skin tones. Peter picks up a couple maps and a guide book for Italy.