Five days in Germany

April has gone away without no post, and that breaks my custom of posting something at least once a month. Well, I could always do the tricky thing of re-arranging the date, but well, this time I prefer to be fair, shame on me!

It seems that some of my fans were starting to get sick of this thing of the Tibetant conspirancy on the post before (it has been on top quite a long time, hehehe), and asking urgely for some new stuff to feed their minds. Well, finally it seems that the Chinese government is willing to sit down in conversations with the Dalai Lama (I am afraid to think is just facade), which is always great news, but more importantly I had spent the last five days visiting Servando in Frankfurt...which are even much better news xD.

I got to Frankfurt on Thursday afternoon, via Oporto. My flight was early in the morning, and that forced me to get up even earlier. Never had driven to Oporto airport - Sa Carneiro -, so I preferred to be plenty of time, just in case. Actually, it was easier than I expected. The trip takes around 1:30 (130 km), it is all highway down to Oporto, and the toll is around 7,50 €. The signals to the airport are very clear all along the highway.

I was flying with Ryanair, and as everybody knows Ryanair tends to lean for second-line airports (lower taxes, lower fares). My destination was Hans, in Hesse region, from there take a bus down to Frankfurt. The trip costs 12 € and takes 1:45 min. The tickets can be bought at the very end of the terminal in a small counter, or outside, right beside the bus stop.

The bus drop me at the train station, and after a while Servando came to find me. We had a nice time, walking the shopping streets of Frankfurt, enjoying the sights of the skyline and having a stroll, back and forth, along the riverside.

Me and Servando on a brige over the river Main

On my second day I was very much surprised I had already seen it all. To be honest, Frankfurt's old town, which is what tourists are more curious about, is rather small and can be seen in a single day. I skipped the museums, there are more than 40 in Frankfurt, and that would have taken me a very long time xD.

The market plaza, at the very city-core of Frankfurt

Frankfurt is, alike Hong Kong, a financial hub. There you can find the buildings for the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, and many representative offices and some headquarters of the most well-known financial and industrial brands in the world. I think is rather difficult a skyscraper could really impress you when you had visited or lived in Hong Kong, but is always nice to walk around them, that is something I enjoyed much.

Today Frankfurt is a word-class financial center
At the background, the Commerce Bank, the tallest building in Europe

On the weekend Servando got a plan for me, having party at Cocoon, spending Saturday at Aschaffenburg invited by her cheerful workmate Elena who kindly show us this almost unknown beautiful little town from North-West Bavaria. It really touched my heart and I would fearlessly say it was the best place I visited on this trip, apart from the lively atmosphere and the glad company of her other workmates from Nintendo. I also met her workmate Kitty, born to Hong-Kong parents, I got a chance to put in practice the little and bad-spoken Cantonese I can still remember. Lovely!

The next day, back to Frankfurt and then head for Mainz, walk along the Rhin, had a coffe, chat, make jokes, bitch at times. It was quite relaxed.

The last day I spent it at Heidelberg, regarded as one of the most impressive places of Germany, a must see. Well, it was nice indeed but perhaps I expected more. The ruined castle it really worths a visit on its own, thats true. If you happened to be around the area, I think it is worth.

So in the end, there were five great days to fill up my batteries, see Servando again, which is always worth, and meet wonderful people. I am eager for my next trip!