Germany Day 1 - Jan 7

Of to Germany I go for several weeks on business.

Flight from Washington to Frankfurt was not too bad. However there were many rough spots so I didn't get much sleep. Plane was packed - not an empty seat on board. Fortunately I had an aisle seat - I'd hate to be in the middle of the five abreast. Getting off we went through first class where each seat was sort of its on little station that must lay out into a bed. Nice if you can afford it.

Frankfurt Airport was fairly organized. First they check your visa. Then you have to cross the unrestricted areas to get to the restricted are where you get your bags and go through customs. So if all you have is carry on luggage, it looks like you could just walk right out. Not that much happened in customs - they just waived most folks right through.

Now I'm ready to get my car. It's like they have a different word for everything in Germany! Well, no problems getting the car - although with the required insurance it came to almost 3 grand for the month. Oh, well, glad it the company not me.

Zip out to the car and ... its not in the right stall. Fortunately, I could see the lights from the clicker not to far off so no problem. Hop in and ... its a six speed manual shift. No problem, I drove one when I was young - just need a little practice. Actually only stalled once the first day, not bad.

Drive down the autobahn was not so bad, but the way some folks drive on the thing you'd think there was no speed limit!! (er, there isn't) Since the trucks can only do 100kph and the Porsches do way more it make for some interesting driving.

Missed the first planned Darmstadt exit. No problem, there are two and I take the second one. Easy enough, I'll just drive through town. Wow - small windy streets with a different name almost every block and drivers actually trying to get to where they are going. After driving in circles three times, I pulled into a parking lot, studied the map, and got to where I needed to be.

Work wasn't too bad - although they tried to code my access badge which caused it to stop working. Quick trip to get another and off I went. Although, the system was down, plans had changed, nothing to do. Great, I'll go check in, get some sleep and tomorrow will be a day trip to Mannheim to get full access and meet the rest of the folks.

Hotel was nice although the parking garage underneath had real small spaces with a lift for every two to get more room. And you have to ask the front desk to open the gate to get in or out. And you have to pay 8 Euros a night. (Yeah, even the money is different over here. And the weights. And the distances. We have only the French to blame.)

Took a walk - nice town - and ate dinner uneventfully at the hotel. So in the German hotel and on the German radio the German announce seem to prefer traditional American music. Not too many songs in German, and even most of the German singers were singing in English. It seems to be oldies here, but they are not oldies. Oh, well, I suppose for a country whose most famous composers died over two hundred year ago, play 10 year old songs is really up-to-date modern stuff.