European Tour - Part I
Thursday, September 18th, 2008So after one week returning from Europe, I am finally feeling that I am back in normalcy. 
For a while it was going to sleep early, waking up early, and just not feeling well syndrome. But now, the feeling is back to normal.
We had an awesome time in Europe. We focused on three major cities, and so I am going to provide details in three parts. 
Neeraj and I left STL on Friday night to meet the parents and Suraj in Morton. Saturday morning (August 30), we got up early and left for Milwaukee. We had a Northwest Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Detroit and then to Frankfurt, Germany. A point that we learned in Milwaukee that is a good to know while flying in this type of scenario: Some airlines are now charging if you check in your first bag. However, if you flying domestic and then international, then the latter rules apply. Keep that in mind. 
It was great - we had reached Detroit ahead of schedule and had enough time to relax before the long 8 and half hour haul to Frankfurt. Unfortunately none of us had anything great to saw about Northwest Airlines. 
Just like many of the other cut-back airlines, not enough space was the biggest problem.
We finally reached Frankfurt at 7am Sunday morning. 
After customs, immigration, getting our bags, it was now time to go get the car. As Neeraj and I planned for this vacation, we decided it was going to be more beneficial for us if we have a car rather than other types of public transportation. We think it ended up being a great idea and hopefully you will see why as well.
So we stopped at the Avis counter, where she provided us with a Mercedes C-220. Psyched I was to drive a Mercedes - only to reach to the car to find out it was a station wagon! 
Oh well, Mercedes is Mercedes.
It had a built in GPS, which at first was hard to handle, but then we got used to it. We headed to the Novotel hotel where we staying for that night. The hotel was nice, but just had a few things that we weren’t too excited about:
none of us understood this one The best part was that its Internet access was free - unlike any of the other Novotels that we stayed at, but that was the interesting part of the whole trip.
Because it was so early in the morning, we had the whole day to roam around Frankfurt. We got in the car and headed for breakfast. Because Neeraj knew Frankfurt well, we decided to head near downtown Frankfurt, closer to its main train station, Hauftbahnhof. There were plenty of places to eat within the station and tons to roam around in.
There was also a tourist inquiry in the train station, so we decided to go there to find out what we could do next. To behold, there was a MuseumFest happening near the Rhine River, walking distance from the train station. So we decided to walk in that direction. Boy was it crowded!!! The weather was also getting hot. 
We ended up walking up one side of the river and down the other. They were having canoeing contests, other games, and lots and lots of food and beer. The majority of the Germans there were eating and drinking. Of course it was Sunday, so everything else was basically closed. So we went around one or two of the museums that were nearby the Rhine River, but mostly just looked at the stalls. Sort of reminded us of P-Fest but not completely.
We spent a good 4 hours there just roaming around and soon became tired. We decided to go home and relax. Then we would come back later and take the sightseeing bus to go around the city of Frankfurt. It was suppose to be an open double decker bus. However because it was Sunday and not a lot of people showed up, we ended up going in this rinky dinky bus, that of course - didn’t have air conditioning!! Now folks - it was hot - we are not talking 70 degree weather, we are talking 90s including humidity! So some type of “air” was needed, and everyone agreed.
Overall Frankfurt was a decent metropolitan city. It wants to become the next New York of Europe, but it still has a lot to grow. What we learned about the Germans was that they were very “free”. The amount of freedom that they are given was very different from even what we have in the US. So for example, prostitution is legal, and its right next to the banking area (maybe 2 streets over). Germans choose how to live their life, the government does not oppose alot of laws and rules on them. You can smoke and drink as much as you want - in fact the tour guide said that most Germans drink more beer than water. I saw a little kid, like 6 or 7 years old, taking sips of beer with his father. For the same reason, they don’t have imposed speed limits on their AutoBahn (highways). You can drive whatever you want, and in fact, they say that they have less accidents than the US does by having it this way! I think their roads and driving is much more sophisticated than the US as well. Lastly of course, we learned about the Germans conserving energy. May it be air conditioning, not only in public places but also in their cars, but also the use of fan or electricity is included. Very different lifestyle than the US.
So that was the end of Frankfurt for now. Next morning we got up and left for Paris.
Alvida. Jai Mata Di.
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The other thing that is a bit tricky and not well known is that USPS Express Mail does not deliver overnight to all locations. Ours is one of those locations, and we found that out on their website just a few minutes ago. 
It takes 2 business days to get it to our place, so now we are waiting. 
Hopefully at the latest on Monday we should receive it otherwise we will call them again (I have already sent the consulate another email stating my dissatisfcation). 
