Frankfurt

We took the bus out to a small airport called Treviso outside of Venice. This would be our first time flying with Ryan Air, the European discount airline we have heard so much about. We got our flights from Venice to Frankfurt for 24 euros each, with the tax it came to about 45 euros each, that's about $65 Canadian. We could have got them cheaper if we booked earlier. If you book early enough then you can get the 1 cent fares and just pay the tax.

a stack of beer kegs, we must be in Germany

We landed in Frankfurt at about 6pm. We called a hotel that was advertised in the airport. They picked us up within about 10 minutes. Ryan air doesn't fly into the mainstream airports, I think this helps keep their costs down. This airport used to be an old military airport and is out in the middle of nowhere, mostly farming communities around. So bizarre to be moving around countries so quickly in the last few weeks. This morning we were in Italy, now we are in Germany. Our heads can hardly keep up with the changes. Last week we were in Greece, then shortly before that, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing. Our heads were spinning, and now people were speaking German.

flower garden

The hotel was only 2 kms away from the airport, which was a good thing since we had to be back at 5am to check in for our next flight. We turned off the main road into the cutest little village. It was so strange for us to see actual individual houses with yards. It has been a long time. Steep pitched roofs were something we hadn't seen for a while too. Some of the houses were done in typical Bavarian style design, beautiful flower gardens and nicely manicured yards. There were a couple of pubs along one side of the road. Jack had noticed that the traffic signs seemed to be the exact same as home. This seemed strange to him and he made a bit of a fool of himself. He asked the driver why the stop signs were written in english. The drver simply said that " Shtop is shtop" ! We had thought it was something like halt.

house

Our hotel was great. It was a large old building. The place specialized in guests needing to stay over for connecting flights for the airport. They have everything you could need. The room was large and very comfortable. They also had free internet. There is a large sitting room with free coffee and tea. They don't have a restaurant but serve breakfast for a few euros each. They will take you out to a nearby restaurant and pick you up again when you are ready.

We settled into our room and then decided to go for a bit of a walk while it was still light out. There wasn't too far to walk, the village really had only one road and it wasn't very long, if you kept going you would end up into miles of farm land. We looked at everything that seemed different to us. How peoples houses looked, etc. We laughed when we saw street signs with really long German names that we wouldn't even attempt to pronounce. We thought it was quite comical to see a sign posted on the street stating there was a kindergarten. I don't know why we thought it was so funny, I guess you grow up knowing these names but don't really think about where they come from. Then when you actually get to that place it really makes you think about it.

house 2

We finished up our walk and then had one of the Guest house staff take us to the restaurant for dinner, we were starving. It was so bizarre to hear people speaking German now instead of Italian. We were just starting to get used to the Italian and pick up some words. Jack is pretty good at remembering some German he took in high school. He can say a few of the basics and surprisingly understands quite a few words others are saying.

We were wondering what kind of food would be on the menu. We had nightmares of nothing but huge wiener schnitzels. We ended up getting a stuffed bake potato with sour cream and what they called white salmon, but we think it was more like haddock, it was quite tasty. We also had a nice plate of salad. Jack was so happy to order a big glass of dark German beer, he has been dreaming of this. It was almost black in colour it was so dark. He also had a German specialty Jagermeister, can't come to Germany without having some of that. It is supposed to help aid with digestion after your meal, it is some kind of liquor and has a lot of herbs in it. I can't stand the stuff it tastes like Scope mouthwash if you ask me, yuck!

Jack enjoying his dark German beer

We finished up our meal and then had the guy from the hotel called to pick us up. When we got back to the hotel we went to get tea in the sitting room. A gentlemen was sitting in there and started to chat with us. He is originally from England but has been living in France for the last 5 years. It was a coincidence he was an engineer for Ryan air and was in Germany to do some work for a few days. He told us a bit about the company. He said they don't care or intend to make any money off their actual flights. They make the money off everything else they deal with. Like charging you $4 for a coffee of drink on board. Their in flight shopping and the car rental and hotel deals you can book through them.

long street name

We tried to get as much sleep as possible but when the alarm went of at 4:30am it was just ugly no matter how you look at it. We quickly got ready and then had the hotel driver take us back to the airport.

Next stop, Porto, Portugal

main street of the village

main street of the village 2

more street signs

street vendor wagon