la Vie en Rose

Ok, the title doesn't make a heap of sense, but I was trying to think of a catchy way to use Rose's name haha.

Once I checked into Hotel Europa at 11am, I was extremely tempted to have a nap. However with the advice of certain Wellingtonians, I stayed awake and went exploring instead. So lucky I did! On my way to the Romerberg village place, I decided to follow my nose and ended up being drawn to a patch of greenery, sunlight, and hullo, the river Main! Totally awesome there. Its completely massive and I couldn't believe how much more beautiful and open it is there than the other side of the city. Loads of trees lining these wide paths and plenty of perfect lawns to lie on. Plus there was a ginormous dragon boat festival going on.

I crossed a bridge and there were farmers markets and museums and amazing old buildings all along the other side.
Eventually I got back on route and came to the Romerberg place - easy to find because i just headed in the direction of a cool looking steeple.

The romerberg is great, it actually feels German. Like the building are the proper old feuerwerk houses or whatever they're called. Like with external wooden frames. I'll put a photo up if I can...

At that point it was about 2pm and my breakfast was still holding out, but it was stinking hot and sunny. Got a $10 smoothie and took a trip to the Zeil.

There are some amazing shoe shops. I mean I've never seen stores so big that have only shoes and nothing else. (Nothing like shoe Warehouse, don't worry). They are all around 60-150 Euros. Oh and mum, i saw the EXACT watch i want, you know the white one I've been trying to wish into existance for ages... only 550Euros! woot!

Then I met the beautiful Rose at the main station and it is definitely awesome having a friend here. We headed straight out back to the Romer and got a drink and some food at one of the Biergarten places (thse outdoor patios covered in tables and chairs literally everywhere). They had blankets on the seats which you could use when it got chilly. I have to say that the hamburger meat tasted EXACTLY like luncheon sausage which I happen to not be a fan of, and I have no idea how they managed to make it taste like that when it looked exactly like mince. But anyway, it was a nice place to sit.

Then we spent an night in our beds watching Eurovision contest on our tv, which can I say is ridiculously cheesy - European music never fails to amaze me which the cheese! Especially when English is a second language and they are singing these awful predictable ryhming lyrics. Hahaha. It was a very good night.

Frankfurt update while I wait for Rose..

After it stopped raining yesterday morning I braved the wet and busy world of Frankfurt pedestrians and manned up to my fear of being killed by a tram while trying to cross the road. I didn't get hit by even one!

Struck gold by finding the main shopping district called the Zeil which is a MASSIVE pedestrian zone filled with nothing but malls and shops. I was a bit disappointed that fashion seems to be exactly the same as in NZ. At least, all the shops I saw were re-takes of Just Jeans and Cotton On and Espirit. Teenagers everywhere. Does school not exist here?

Unfortunately I didn't get to stay super long there because the place I went to for lunch then told me that I wasn't allowed to eat in the restaurant... I'd ordered a noodle box (got passed off to 3 people before getting someone who could understand me) and apparently the rule is you can't eat them in the restaurant. I was a bit bummed and realised later that I didn't have any utensils so thought I'd wander back to the hotel to eat it there. (I thought I would have lost my appetitite with jet lag and travelling etc, but it turns out I'm extremely starving ALL the time. I can't fight it). Turned out there were no utensils hidden in my rooms either. I was bit stumped at first but then I thought, hey if Indians can do it, so can I. And dug in with my fingers. POssibly the best noodles I have ever eaten in my life. Too bad about the shocking service and the yellow curry stains!

Today I discovered buried treasures in the breakfast buffet. All the while I'd been disappointed about the lack of peanut butter (the only breakfast food that keeps me full) and how there was only a massive selection of bread, cheeses, hams, and wierd stuff like slivered almonds which just burn right up when i eat them..but today I discovered there right under my nose, hidden beneath some metal lids were mountains of scrambled eggs, bacon, meatballs, green beans and other cooked food! I topped up and figured now I won't need to eat until this afternoon.

Checked out of hotel and crossed undiscovered terrain that is the South side of the main station. The world is so much better on this side of the station! There are actually people around, and apartments and shops and buildings in German style with flower boxes in the windows. There are buildings and streets out my window, instead of empty construction sites. Its a proper hotel and I can't beleive its only $50 a night, and we booked it off a Hostel/backpackers site.

Rose is arriving from the UK today, so fun times ahead. If I could just stay awake later than 8pm we might actually be able to do something this evening.

The rain has gone and the sun has come out, but I'm a bit miffed about why the sky doesn't seem to ever be blue in Frankfurt...

Frankfurt... city of... dunno?

I'm here in Frankfurt and I don't have much to say about it yet... I think my first hour in this city pretty much sums it up so far:

- View from plane: large piles of dirt, cranes, diggers, scaffolding, holes in the ground

- Train from airport: Crowded, busy, not in English, disorientating, literally just followed people because if i followed the signs i would be in a suburb in the middle of nowhere right now...

- Main train station: Like a maze from one of those mirror maze places. Seriously just end up going round and round trying to find a patch of daylight as its all underground and the signs are confusing. Got out eventually. Phew

- Walk from station to hotel: a tiny bit dodgey. Lots of construction workers shall we say.

- Hotel: crappy on the outside, nice on the inside.

- Room: TINY. But nice. :) Literally I didn't know that "single" rooms actually can be just single rooms. i.e one single bed and a strip of floor to walk alongside it. Oh and the stripey carpet reminds me of a hat from Doctor Suess...

- Area around hotel: Makes me wonder if I came to the right country. I didn't see many Germans. Lots of Italians and Somalians. Actually someone said "Ciao Bella" to me when I walked past. Not many shops. Kinda a wierd industrial area but not..
I just did some research on the net and aparrently this is the "most exciting" block in Frankfurt. Due to all the cultures. Oh and probably the trams. They are all over the place like a rash. Scared of getting run down. Why do trains and tram and cars all have to go on the road at once??

- Breakfast: great once I realised there is a nice breakfast room that is NOT in the dodgey smokey bar (which was filled with foreign men at 6.30am. why is that?). Tonnes of gourmet breakfast food that I probably wasn't supposed to have with my room-type but hey, I didn't know the protocol, and only speaking broken German and English to the staff really helps. Let the poor kiwi girl eat all the smoked salmon and mozerella tomatoes she wants. :)

Fat babies and useful Germans

Ok so I:m in Osaka and I`m writing this because I have time to kill and no Japanese money and credit card fee is 7.50 plus some more on top of that. And all I want is a bottle of water...

The flight here was amazingly different than my disgusting experience a few years back of flying to Sweden....

for a start this is the first time on this trip that I:ve actually had time to kill, I haven:t been early for any flights so far (nearly missed the boarding for the flight here from Auckland, somehow).

And for seconds I didn:t cry when i left. I thuoght I would because my previous airport farewells have been teary occassions which i HATE so this was good. I mean its only 2 months　I just was a bit apprehensive about that based on last time.

For thirds I ended up sitting next to this German traveller who miraculously is getting all the same connecting flights as me, and knows exactly what he:s doing. I wouldnt have found these computers (keyboard A bit funny but we;ll live) and i also would have missed the train between osaka terminals　（didnt have a clue there was a train, i dont know how everyone knew exactly where to go and where to get off...i just followed this guy and all the rest of the herd).

FOr fourths, there was this fat japaense baby up in front of me on the flight, i mean seriously, i know i am partial towards fat things anyway, but he had was just great, with this awesome long black spikey hair sticking out all over his tiny head, and fat rolls aruond his wrists like little pudgey bracelets. And he thought me and the guy next to me were there solely to entertain him, sat there grinning away and laughing at us as if we were doing anything　（i was minding my own business, German was nodding his head in time to headphones).

For fifths I have these new flight socks which are amazing. If you think 50 bucks for socks is too much, its NOT. I didn]t get pins n needles or the usual intense calf pain that i get. I wasnt designed for sitting still so i was bracing myself for the usual kind of hell sitting still for 11 hours but it was actually ok.

For sixths I actually fell asleep, i mean properly asleep. Not for more than 2 hours but still. I woke up thinking i was at home in bed having a wierd dream about airplane engines and people coughing.For sevenths Japanese airline food is actually ok. Teriyake salmon and chicken even for breakfast, and sushi and tea and other fun things.

NOT so great is the Lufthansa flight I:m about to get on. Another 12 or 13 hours in a rather crappy and old plane, with no exit row this time, shared tv screen overhead, and hopefully not too many screaming babies.

I can:t access gmail or facebook here for some reason. Hence the random blogging instead.

Erm I'm leaving tomorrow and I haven't packed yet. Probably because it completely doesn't feel like I'm actually leaving. Wierd