Sunday, June 17, 2018: Venice and Frankfurt

I got up around 6:30 and got ready for the day, had some breakfast, then sat and waited for my ‘color’ Sand to be called to disembark. It was supposed to be around 9:20. I sat in an area where I could hear and also see a TV with the colors being called. Well, I never heard or saw Sand and then they said all colors had been called. I looked at the screen and saw Brown so I assume Sand was part of Brown. It was no biggie but weird.

Sunrise in VeniceA bus took me to the airport and I got there around 10:15. My flight wasn’t until 2:45 and they won’t let you check in or drop bags until 3 hours before flight time. There were very few seats and they were all taken so I stood close to the Lufthansa desk until 11:30. I had checked in online and had my boarding pass.

While waiting I went back online to check a bag since for some reason my flight to Frankfurt wasn’t business class so I had to pay for a checked bag. Something went wrong with that so I had to pay at the counter and it was almost twice as much as what I thought I paid online. The agent told me it was cheaper to do it online.

Then I went through security and got something for lunch and sat, and sat, and sat. The plane was over 30 minutes late boarding. The flight was uneventful except a bit of turbulence getting into Frankfurt and a hard landing.

Frankie had arranged a ride to the hotel from the airport and after waiting much longer than the 20 minutes Alaska Airlines has for luggage arrival, I got my bags and met my driver. Thankfully he was there according to my flight arrival because the document said it would be a 6:00 pickup. It was around 5:00 at this time and I didn’t want to for another hour in another airport!

I saw lots of old homes that probably had been one family homes at one time but were apartments now. Lots of trees and greenery everywhere.

We were sitting at a stop light and I had my window down and heard some exclamations from a bunch of people outside a cafe on the sidewalk. I asked the driver if Germany was playing in the World Cup and he said, yes. He didn’t seem to be much of a fan so I looked online and saw they were playing Mexico and the score was 0-0. I noticed many more sidewalks full of people watching screens set up outside the cafes.

World Cup watchers

I was booked into the Lindner Hotel and Residences near the Main River in the Sachsenhausen district. The room was large and had a couch and two chairs, a desk and also a small kitchen area. It had two large windows that looked out onto a plaza, the river and some large modern building.

View of the Main and some tall buildingThe plaza with a water feature. Later in the evening there were kids playing in it.

Don lived near Frankfurt when he was in the service and had told me about a restaurant in the area where they had German food and was a lot of fun. The Dauth-Schneider hotel was started by a farmer who started making his own apple wine and cleared out his living room to serve it to customers. It is around 150 years old now.

I was worried it might be packed because of the World Cup but took off around 7:00 to find it. It was not packed inside. There were a few people outside watching the game and in their courtyard but the inside tables were pretty deserted.

Dauth-Schneider courtyardInside tables

By this time, Germany had lost the match and the announcers were interviewing a lot of very sad looking players and coach.

I ordered a sausage platter with blood pudding, liver sausage, liver dumpling and pickled pork loin. It came with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I expected just a couple sausages and a piece of pork. I got a huge plate full of food. I barely touched the potatoes, ate about half the pork and most of the sausages with a little sauerkraut.

I guess it is a traditional apple wine restaurant but I didn’t know that until after I had ordered their summer special wine, Vinho Verde, from Portugal. Not sure I would have liked the apple wine but it might have gone well with the sausages.

Frankfurter Schlachtplatte, Blood pudding, Liver Sausage, Pickled Pork Loin, Liver Dumpling

When I arrived back at the hotel, I turned on the TV and watched part of the US Open golf match. I got packed again and ready for bed. It was about 9:30 by this time and I was tired. A driver was picking me up at 7:00 AM to take me to the airport so I was going to have to get up early

Outside of the hotel building. I thought it was pretty cool. Hard to tell but there are lights at the top

The sun was just setting and I could see it’s reflection in the large building and windows of a smaller building nearby. Quite pretty.

Frankfurt sunset reflectionSunset in the windows

The bed was comfortable but only had two pillows, I usually use around 4. And it was made up different than any I have been in. It was a queen bed with two duvets folded and placed where you would sleep. At first I thought it was like a pillow top for the mattress then realized what it was. I knew Europe didn’t use top sheets but had not stayed anywhere without before. I wish I had taken a picture but I forgot. It was so warm in the room that I slept without anything over me, however.