A Short Stay in Germany

As a result of the strike launched by British Airways, I had been diverted to fly with their alliance, BA Cityflyer instead. Well, whatever, as long as it will take me to my destination fast and safe.

The plane looks small, and I need to go to London City Airport instead of London Heathrow Airport to catch it. Luckily, everything went smooth and the plane departed on time, at 1620.

At around 7.30pm, I arrived Frankfurt am Main Airport. The name of the airport at everywhere has became significant important to me, especially when there are more than 2 airports in the vicinity. Just got to watch out which airport I would land and leave.

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From this airport, I needed to catch the train to go to Mannheim as my hotel for the night is there. The train came on time at 1920, and I arrived Mannheim at 1953. (Germany time is 1 hour earlier than London time, and it's very important for me to tune my watch to local time whenever I arrived at a new place). The hotel in Mannheim isn't hard to find, just 200m outside the train station. Great!

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I felt really hungry after I off loading my burdens at the hotel room. Then I realized I haven't been really eating anything for more than 20 hours, and I haven't been sleeping well for more than 24 hours. Feeling hungry and tired, I just simply bought some foods from a small restaurant opposite my hotel and gobbled it fast in my room. And then, all I wanted to do was just to get some nice, long sleep for the rest of the night....

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I fell asleep very fast, but I was awaken by a sharp and loud siren (could be a police car, ambulance or fire truck) just before dawn. Then, the noise from the trams and the cars started to form increasingly frequent as well. I tried to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't as I felt like I was sleeping by the road side.

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Feeling frustrated, I called the front desk and demanded him to get me changed to the room which is away from the road side. But that guy told me all of the rooms were fully occupied. He did apologize for the noisiness, but he said many hotels in Mannheim are located just by the road side, so they are not the only one. I hang up the phone angrily.

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I stayed awake until 7am, then went to the hotel restaurant to take my breakfast. Breakfast is a pleasant one, except the facial expression of the guests (including me). Maybe the hotel is trying to make up with their frustrated guests, by providing them with at least a decent breakfast?

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The customer I would visit that day is in Stutensee, a small town near a bigger town, Karlsruhe. The most convenient transportation to go there is by train.

The train from Mannheim station to Karlsruhe station departed at 0936. Just a few minutes before 1000, I arrived at Karlsruhe station. (Their train is always so punctual, I like it !)

The fast train (long distance train) that I took, quite fast.

It's great to see my customers were there to pick me, save the troubles to find way to go to their site some more, which is about 30 minutes by driving.

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This was a very pleasant meeting. Both of my customers are from Asia country. One is a local Vietnamese guy, the other is a Vietnamese Chinese girl, who can even speak quite fluent Cantonese with me. There is another Germany guy, but obviously the 3 of us had dominated him.

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After the meeting, they took me to a nearby hotel for lunch. The foods over there are very lovely. It's good we all prefer to chat casually, instead of busines. I felt relax talking with them. *

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The only regret...I was not able to taste the black forest cake from Karlsruhe because I got to rush back to Mannheim soon after lunch. My friend, LY, who live in Germany for many years told me Karlsruhe is very near to Black Forest National Park. The famous delicacy is of course, black forest cake. In fact, Karlsruhe is the origin of black forest cake. What a waste !

I reached Mannheim station at around 1440. The express bus I would need to take to go to my next destination would depart at 1620. Still have a little time left, I decided to walk a bit to see what I could get from there.

The neighbourhood nearby my hotel...

I didn't have time to find out what this place is called...

At around 1515, I went back to the hotel to claim my baggage. The hotel is called Central Hotel, look how near it is from road side. I swear I won't want to check in to this hotel again.

The busy traffic out there...the trams are especially noisy.

From Mannheim, I took the express bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport. The journey had taken me more than 2 hours time. It was quite cold that evening. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long out there for the hotel people to come to pick me.

At around 1900, finally I checked in to this room. The hotel is called "My Place".

This is the cheapest hotel my trip manager had booked for me, cost only €51 per night. But I felt that the quality of this hotel is worth more than this. And the best thing about this hotel is its serenity. I was 100% sure I could get some good sleep for that night.

Feel very homely, just like "My Place"...

Soon after settling down, I went downstairs to its restaurant for dinner. The ambiance in this small restaurant is superb.

The setting of the table is good too...

The food is good too...

This tomato-sauce-spaghetti taste excellent, cheap too, cost only €6.9

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I enjoyed the peaceful moment for quite a while in the restaurant before I went back to my room. Thinking of my friend LY, I gave it another try to call her though I have failed several times before that. This time, she heard the ring. We chatted for a long time, the bill shown 43min. It's really great to talk to her after such a long time (I think 20 years)

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I slept like a dead-pig, at around 10pm that night.

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