Monday through Wednesday...

Early monday morning, we had to go to the airport to pick up the main SG contingent that arrived that day. Some of you have heard my many stories about my experiences in this trip but i'm going to leave it all out in my blog...hahaha...coz really the good stuff is the one worth remembering and really archiving into my blog...

If you wanna hear the stories, I'm always open for a mocha/ ice cream treat...hahaha...
Group pic after they settled their stuff in the exhibition hall. This was close to 12 plus 1pm...Had some problems with the pavilion as usual, but nothing major that was a problem except that they ran out of RUBBISH BINS?!...and couldnt' give us even though we are entitled to it. and they charged us 3.50euro PER SQM for waste removal...duh!?!?

We brought them to Romer where they can jalan and go get thier own lunches.

Ge and i were happy to just get away and hit the shopping street..hahaha...Since we missed it all on Sunday with everything closed mah! but first stop-- German food! Past few days dinner was chinese and boss's extravagant treat for western...so it was time to find a good local meal. (took a pic of the outside so that can remember the place..hahaha)

Quite a mouthful to pronounce eh?...hehehe...the lemon lime drink was sho good!! It had a kick to it once you swallowed! we had two glasses..haha...

I went for the Pork knuckle, and it was served exactly as above..hahaha...ge had her bratwursts...but really it was worth it...don't recall exactly how much but i think it was about 30 odd euros ...=D

The interior was warm, cozy and had all the funny odds and ends..hahaha....credit to ge for finding the place...actually, the rest of the trip God blessed us with good food at good prices! And it was pretty much ge who had the eye for it...hiak hiak...

Surprisingly, the mood to shop wasn't there...i guess lethargy set in...but the only buy was worth it! ge got this 'michellin' man kinda hoodie, that looks real good on her...=) for 19 euro only! =)

We soon headed back and sat outside starbucks while waiting for the tram..hahaha...it was so relaxing and peaceful just things go by (vs in Singapore) I just didn't wanna move when the tram came! hahaha...the checkered bag in her left hand was her shopping spoils...and what drink did we have ah...hmm...yes...caramel macchiatos! Coz it was the first time i was introduced to the 'art' of swiping the caramel on top first! LOL!

This is my boss...he looks super xian coz i kept laughing as i took this pic and he was just so 'game' to let me take it..hehehehe...

We had chinese dinner with the group at Jade Restaurant near the hotel, and thier seats were coloured this yellow and black pattern...ahhhaha...and my boss so happened to wear the exact same coloured shirt lor..hahaha... if he sinks down abit, it looks as though there's just his head lor!Due to the poor exhibition turnout, by 4pm on wednesday afew of us decided to go see the Natural History museum which was a 15min walk from our exhibition hall...dino bones! cools!

Typing this, I'm suddenly reminded of ge 'pushing' me out into the path of an oncoming tram as we wallked there!!!...=S coz she gave me the ''it's ok to cross'' look...hahahaha...*narrows eyes*...what did i do wrong mun!?

Dino: "I'm anorexic 2/3 of the time...but i see no side effects.."

Above pic looks like space ships...but can you believe it, they are single cell organisms?! (fossil of course)

It seemed the group had yet to try their taste for good german food....so...dinner was...you guessed it..hee..but we went to somewhere nearer the hotel and got slightly lost walking there...It's on Baseler Street near the river.. Eck means 'corner'.

Food pics again!top is Pork chop (I think) and mushrooms --- i only remember attacking those mushrooms from ge's plate and mine was a good ol' steak with heavenly onions...*slurp*

Headed back late...but saw an NKOTB poster stating their tour in Jan 09!!!...=(...sniffs...haiz...memories of being a Blockhead came back and we all sang sappy early 90s ballads enroute back to the hotel...*buries face*...I sang tommy page can...goodness!?

Quest for the golden rooster

After lunch i wanted to go back to st bartholomew to have a 'better' look...and we walked the area abit more...

The U-bahn (underground) stop at Romer...but the tram ride is more scenic as we saw this huge Euro monument below and we stopped by on the way back to the hotel for pics...

And's that's me with a bottle on my head (cold weather does things to your brain i tell you...)....

anyway, getting around frankfurt was interesting as you can get off and on, trams and trains without having to scan your ticket! there are no barriers! All you need to do is to show your ticket/pass when you are asked to (which we never were in our few days there) ...interesting huh!...of course, there will be those who try to take advantage of this...but i think its a cool system and shows a society that has 'advanced'...so we got off and on stops to take pics...and simply make a back track when we got lost...

A nicer pic of the Hauptbahnhof station...it's only 4.30pm when we got there..and it is a though its 6 plus pm with the sunset...the really nice photos that ge took....

Platform where the tracks bring you to the longer distances...(we took our paris train here eventually!)

That rounded off saturday and sunday was a semi work day for us. We walked to the exhibition hall to familiarise ourselves should the need arise.... and i took a drawing pic of our Singapore Pavilion!

AIRTEC was the aerospace exhibition we took part in...=)

Then being a sunday and everything was closed including Zeil Street (which is like orchard road-- just imagine orchard road on christmas day and you'll know what i mean)..it was very boring for us...so we tried exploring bit more of romer on our own...and saw this really cute korean cartoon...

And these really cute gulls lined up on a pole on the bridge...hahaha...it's as though they are in discussion...the next pic will show you how cute this really looks in prespective!

more views of the river...we did lotsa walking that day...you can see st bartholomews church on the right side (the brown tower)

And to keep ourselves entertained, we were determined to find the bridge with a golden rooster on it (as said by the guide the prev day)....took us ..hmm...a VERY LONG walk and 3 bridges, but we found it!!

the story goes: long ago, this chief engineer was late in completing the bridge and would have his life should it not be completed. so he made a deal with satan to finish it in time...satan said he's want the life of the first living thing that crossed the bridge...so the engineer agreed and the deal was sealed. So come the opening day, the engineer released a rooster to cross the bridge...so of course, satan had to take the life of the rooster (like it or not!) ....so here was the tribute to the rooster for it's sacrifice!!!!!!!

Further proof that Engineers are smart...tho i do not condone making deals with satan!!

Watching 'Mars Attacks' on TV while posting this...

It's such a brainlessly funny show but the script is creative coz it jsut shows how impossibly shallow we can really be..hiak hiak...the aliens are so lovable though...haha...

Anyway, back to Frankfurt! -- still on the tour on saturday...here's one of the significant bridges we were on...though as usual, you can't recall why its significant..hahaha... Walked through and airconditioned market...Die Kleinmarkthalle...so crowded and colourful! It had all the meats, pastas, frutis and veges...

Mondo blocks of cheese jsut sold on a table display outside the market!

Ok..I've forgetten the name of this tower..it's Eishen--- Turm or somthing lah (latest update:
eschenheimer turm -- provider by ge...how she remember the spelling...I can only say it's God's gift to her!!!!)...but it's where you can catch Movies with english audio...and we watched 007: Quantum of Solace the next day for 7 euro a ticket!

the more historical frankfurt area is surrounded by a 'green crown' you'll see it on a map..really it's a circular arc of a long park, which was nice to walk, with the cool breeze and the autumn leaves...

Goethestrape...the street with the branded goods shops...and we found IE Singapore office right next to the gucci !!!

Finally, we finished the tour at about 1pm. (started at 10am)...this weather doens't really make us hungry, so we had sandwiches and kopi at a streetside cafe.

Frankfurt...whatever i can show for now lah...=)

I didn't bring my really old camera, and no point bringing two too yeah?? So bulk of the pics were taken by ge on her camera!!

Thanks ge! =D

Getting to Frankfurt: We left late Thursday night on the 7th Nov...Moi was late getting to the airport, reached an hour before my 2am scheduled flight. =( long story...but i got there...anyway, even though our seats were confimred beforehand, we got seperated coz the lady beside me in the plane asked for an aisle seat.

She was the animated sort of person, lotsa hand gestures, saliva flying...you'll get what i mean when I tell you she's a speech and drama teacher...once you let them talk, there's no stopping man...not that her topics weren't interesting but it's an 8 hour flight, and she went on for 6...after the first hour, i knew what i was in for and quickly asked where she was heading after the transit -- London...I silently thanked God coz if i was stuck with her for another flight i'd lock myself in the toilet voluntarily!

I was literally cornered as I took the window side of the seat. And she went on and on about literature and books..how she hates mid summer nights dream...the signlish language, and probably intorduced me to a whole list of authors that i never heard of even though I said i'm a science student. (constantly...coz she'll ask, have you read any of ___ books?..No?...OH YOU MUST READ ____)....and no matter what i did to HINT i wanted to stop...ie. put on earphones, take magazine and flip...to was to no avail!

Half they time i tried to peer over to ge's seat hoping she'd be awake and i'd be saved! (apparently she was...but she was so still, i thot she was asleep...=S)

She knew Pastor and his wife (same youth grp last time apparently) and had some views, OK lah, nothing new i haven't heard eh?...but i'm always happy to talk about pastor. Anyway, she still believes in God and attends church...

She also talked about her past abusive family etc..that she said she doens't tell many and was sorry that I had to hear it...she started talking about forgiveness, and tearing etc. =S so I did what I could encouraged her with God's word and promises and reminded her that her life is never a waste and she has to live it to the fullest -- it is never too late to realise it and start. And to just let it be the past...(FYI this is 4.30am SG time...thank god i'm a night owl)

Ironicially, at one point she 'fessed that she's the kind of person that is actually very quiet with strangers, but dunno why with me so open and chatty. *faints*....i said it was ok, that i'm a quiet person toos, but truth be told i seem to encounter this quite often --BIG HINT...still didn't catch it...haiz...for a drama and english expert, she doens't get it eh?..hahaha...

We took Qatar which I would recommend for affordable economy flights with the comfort you need. =) the In flight entertainment was gootch! We had to do a stopover in Doha after the first 8 hour flight leg. And because it was a long flight they gave otu these real cute stickers you're suppose to put on your chair to let the flight attendant know what to do if they found you asleep during meal service...

ge and me had a good laugh over what the flight attendant would do if we pasted the two stickers above! I just think the smiley face is so cute!

So at Doha, in the 3 hour transit (that later became 4), we spotted and A&W! Man...super crave for a root beer float (above)...now in singapore if you EVER complain about high prices, this root bear float cost me S$8 ok!

Boarding the next 8 hour flight, our passport got checked like 4 times prior and ge was asked to cough out her identification card which is like !?!?! and the lady at the gate insisted that we have to carry an IC in singapore right?!....duh...doesn't the passport superseed the IC?!

ge gave her a !?!? look that could've hauled us into security!..HAHAHA...kidding lah...but still it was a =S request...

Took us some time to figure it out, and alot of hauling of luggage up and down the train...but we reached our hotel that is super conveniently located beside the main train station - Haupbahnhof...it was about late afternoon on a Friday.
Once we checked in... i had to do some work to make sure everything was ok for early Monday morning when the rest of the SG grp arrived. (coz the germans dont' work on weekends)

we swiped the gummi bears given free in the hotel before deciding to explore the area. Winter time over there so it was dark by ard 5pm. For a start, we went to go see where the infamous red-light district (that was supposedly really near the train station was..and we heard stories about it...)

It was near lah...but on a parallel street behind..(pic below you can't see it, but its near here..hahaha)

Dinner was shared coz the qty was so much, we had the Oriental Teller: Kebab meat with rice and veges (yums!)...ate at the Haupbahnhof (where you can find almost everything) ...cost us 7 euros (SGD 14)Next day we took really worthwhile halfday tour on foot with a guide that was an ex american airforce soldier and had travelled the world extensively for 20 years and had settled in frankfurt for the last 6 (to settle down). He spoke many languages as he had stints in japan and SE Asia.

he thought we were students! hahaha...anyway, it cost us 10 euros each.

As commented in an older post, there's really nothing in Frankfurt and the tour covered it in that half day! So the nicest place to go really was about 3 tramstops from our hotel, known as Romerberg or Romer (Ru-mer)

So above you can see the main square of the restored 'old town' as all this was flattened due to the 2nd world war...

This metal cobblestone is a project by someone who goes around europe placing them as markings where jews formerly lived and were taken from thier homes in the war. (it's still going on) Some people welcome them, some don't.

In the middle of the square is a memorial marker where books were burned once...

The only original half-timber house that survived the war...the rest in the square are restored.

Went past a Jewish museum that had a very long wall in memory of the german jews that were taken from their homes...their ashes are not here of course, but it is in memory of them. There are records of which camp they were sent to ...thier birth date...but when they died there is no record...

ge spotted this on above that had actually an entire family listed...

Above is St Bartholomew's church. Only the tower was left standing after the war...so everything else inside was restored..we were reminded in the tour, that bartholomew was skinned alive for his faith...*hair stand*....