After another late night I was nevertheless up and out for 10.00, feeling reasonably fresh. I wanted to get to the station to sort my train back to Berlin and get some breakfast.
James, Henry and Jamie had had a great evening. They stayed out later than me and there was no response to my messages or phone calls to Jamie this morning . I had no choice but to leave him to lie in. I suspect they were all feeling a bit fragile.
All went well at the station and I caught the train back to Berlin just before midday. The journey was straightforward (if a little expensive!) and I was at the airport with plenty of time to spare. My plan was to chill out, do a bit of duty free shopping (it is only 63 days to Christmas), have some nice food and a drink and then board the plane.
However it is really hard when you’re on your own in these places. I just wanted somewhere where I could sit down, they bring me a menu, I order stuff, food and drink arrive, I ask for the bill which they bring and then I pay and go. It’s called a restaurant I believe. Instead I have to stand in a queue, pay, find a table, wait for my device to buzz and then go and get my food. All while trying to keep an eye on my bags. Not relaxing at all.
Still the food was good – Wiener schnitzel and chips again
To be honest I prefer schnitzel with parsley buttered potatoes which you only seem to get properly in Austria.
I’m not sure which potato variety they are but we’ve never quite managed to find the same ones in the UK. Or maybe it’s just that things taste different when you’re on holiday. Grappa for example seems a perfectly reasonable thing to be offered as a digestif when you are on holiday but if you buy a bottle and bring it home with you it tastes like what I imagine aeroplane fuel tastes like. Rather strangely I do have one friend, Jane, who actually likes grappa even in the UK. Which is handy if you’re trying to get rid of the bottle you now regret buying and bringing home with you.
I digress.
The plane was a little late departing but not too bad. There were a few Liverpool supporters on it who had made the same journey as me. So we had a chat and looked forward to our next away trip which will be to Milan in early December. Everyone is feeling much more positive now, compared with how we felt on the journey home from our last away trip, to Istanbul
So we all had a great time in Frankfurt. It’s a big city with a lot of modern architecture, but also with an old town that is interesting and in stark contrast to the modern part of town. As it happens a lot of the old town is fairly recent- Frankfurt suffered heavy bombing damage in the Second World War and a lot of what look like the “old” buildings have been faithfully reconstructed. The locals were friendly, the policing was low key and respectful, the ground had enough clean ladies toilets and the only hold back we had at the end of the game was of our own making.
So well done Frankfurt, I’m sure we will be back
Pearl Blog 3 