FRIDAY….Turned on the TV in the room, in Port Blair, this morning and found game 6 of the World Series. We both were sitting on the edge of our seats watching the intense game. The game had just tied up in the bottom of the 10th inning when we had to turn it off and catch our pre-arranged auto rickshaw to the airport. Still do not know who won the game.
Going through security at the Port Blair airport was extremely slow, especially for the women. The line-up for the men had two scanners and two friskers so Murray and M got through in minutes. T and I were in line for a minimum 30 minutes because there was one scanner and only one frisker in a curtained enclosure. The guys were starting to wonder what happened to us. We got through and the scanner didn’t like the snub nosed scissors in my bag, so it took another 10 minutes to sort that out. By then our flight was called and we ended up on the stragglers bus out to the airplane.
Once we arrived in Kolkata, we bid T&M goodbye and safe travels home. We are going to stay in touch about our next dive destinations as we all agreed we enjoyed diving with each other. We are now sitting in the international terminal, outside the check in area. We had an expensive but only okay late lunch/early supper in the airport restaurant and will now kill about 7 hours before our flight to Frankfurt.
When we checked in for our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, the agent was a stickler for weight of carry on bags. The weight limit for Lufthansa is 8 kgs, whereas Air Canada’s is 10kgs. We always pack according to Air Canada’s limits. Well, Murray’s bag weighed in at 10.7 kg, so he would not allow it as carry on. My bag weighed 9.0 kg which he allowed to squeak through. So, we ended up checking Murray’s bag. Note to self – pack to the lightest limit of all airlines being utilized on a trip.
SATURDAY…..We are now in Frankfurt after a long flight and a day walking in Frankfurt. It was almost 1:00 am by the time we boarded our flight, so we fell asleep quickly after takeoff. We both, surprisingly, sleep not too bad. 10 hours passed rather quickly.
My Dad used to complain about children on flights. He wanted a separate section of the plane just for children and their parents – preferably sound proof. I used to get annoyed at him for saying stuff like that, but after our flight, I agree with him. There was a mother and 2 children, a boy about 8 or 10 and a small boy about 2 – 3, in the line-up for security. The small boy had a temper tantrum about who knows what, and I just noted it and then tried to ignore the noise. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but they were sitting right behind us on the plane. Fortunately, mom and 2 year old moved into the center section and were then a few more feet away from us. The boy screamed and tantrummed for hours at the start of the flight until he finally fell asleep. When he woke, he started up again. To cope, we turned up the volume on our headphones. We think there was something not quite right with the poor guy. But the whole area of the plane sitting near him suffered with the noise.
We got to the Ibis Hotel, in Kelsterbach, too early to check in, so we put our bags in the storage room and headed into Frankfurt. We both agree that Saturday is a great days to be in Frankfurt. The populace is out shopping and enjoying life. We discovered a large street flea market, a huge and popular food market (the Strathcona Farmers Market on steroids) and pedestrian streets teaming with shoppers. We stopped a few times just to people watch.
Frankfurt Market
We had decided to go to a couple of the museums that are near downtown. Our first stop was the Architecture Museum. It turned out that admission was free. Our next stop was the Museum of Modern Art. It was free too! Frankfurt has a Program from June to November that on the last Saturday of each month, admission to about 15 museums is free. We just happened to hit the last Saturday in October. If you are traveling o Frankfurt, keep this in mind as the museums charge anywhere from 7 to 12 Euros.
We were amazed at how many people were still sitting in the outdoor cafes, drinking café, eating lunch, snacking on ice cream. The temperature was only about 10 C and yet the Frankfurters were enjoying the outdoor scene.
Haagen Das on the Zeil
We stopped for supper at a great little restaurant in Kelsterbach on the way back to the hotel. The Ristorante Pizzeria Dolce Vita is one of several Italian restaurants in Kelsterbach. It was the first one we came to after getting off the train and heading back to the hotel. The pizza was good, the place was slightly classy, (white table clothes, candles and live flowers on the table), and the waiter was super nice. If you are at one of the many airport hotels around the Frankfurt airport Kelsterbach is quite close and this restaurant is worth a try.
We headed back to hotel and once in our room could not keep our eyes open.
SUNDAY…..Last legs of our homeward bound trip today. Frankfurt – Calgary – Edmonton. See all you Edmonton folks soon.