Z was coming over to Germany for a week, to attend the Internationale "Summer School" der Europäischen Schlaganfall Organisation in Heidelberg und Mannheim (international 'summer school' of the European Stroke Organisation in Heidelberg and Mannheim).

He was expected to arrive there on Sunday, 24 July, but the only cheap flight was on Friday, so he decided to get to see a bit of Germany before going to Heidelberg. He asked if I was interested to meet up for lunch or coffee on Saturday, but I said it would be much nicer if he stayed with us for the two days; and so I set out on Friday to meet him at the airport.

Now, Frankfurt airport is confusing at the best of times, but this beat all I've experienced there so far. I eventually found the gate Z should come through after landing, so I positioned myself close to it and watched everybody coming through it. Then I got a text message from Z, saying he was near the taxis. I couldn't imagine how he had gone past me unnoticed. Turned out, since he had had no luggage to claim and had got a bit lost, somebody pointed him to an exit – it was not the exit where I was waiting. I told Z where exactly I was, but it took various more text messages and a few calls until we finally were in the same place. He had asked for the gate where I was waiting, but somebody had pointed him to 'departure', whereas I waited at 'arrivals'.

The journey home and the rest of the evening was uneventful. Z made a nice salad for supper, and I burned his spring rolls in return. He went to bed early, but in how far this was related to the burned supper, I can't possibly tell.

We got up fairly early, had breakfast, and then Z set up Skype for a Skype conference that had been scheduled for 10.30am (EST). I wasn't sure whether my microphone was any good, but he said it worked perfectly well. In the meantime, Trillian's Child had arrived, so we sat in the kitchen, having some tea, waiting for the Skype session to finish.

We took a 42 bus to the underground, then went into the city centre on said underground. The town was full of people, lots of cyclists probably registering for Sunday's Ironman event. The weather was lovely, sunny and neither too hot nor too cold, and there were lots of shoppers and tourists about. We crossed the Eiserner Steg, a pedestrians only bridge crossing the river, just so Z could claim having been in Sachsenhausen.

We wended our way back through the masses of people and went to the Fressgass¹, a part of Frankfurt's shopping mall Zeil (pedestrians only), which is dedicated to food! We found a nice Thai restaurant where we took lunch. The food was yummy, the service great (they even brought the menu in English for Z when they heard him talk), and the prices fair.

After we had had a coffee, we slowly went in direction of the stop for the Ebbelwei Express. A slight detour via a shop was necessary, as Z needed to buy something, but we had plenty of time, so it wasn't a problem.

When the EE arrived, we were told that there was only standing room for seven people. There were a lot more than that waiting at the stop, so I decided we'd take our chances and hope somebody would leave soon so we could have a seat then. After all, there was no guarantee that the situation would be better in the next EE 35 minutes later. TC found a seating relatively soon, but Z and I stood for a while longer. It wasn't too bad, though, as we could watch the driver and everything else going on around us.

The EE goes via Frankfurt Zoo (we decided against a visit), where it stands for a while while the driver and the girl selling the tickets have a short break. I asked the driver to take a photo of the three of us, and he was happy to oblige. He even took a second photo, just in case the first one hadn't worked out. So here we are:

Our tour on the EE was to be the main attraction of the day: ebbelwei, pretzels and schunkel music, what more could we ask for? Well, TC and I knew: we needed the toilet. So we looked for a coffee house with amenities, and ordered a cup of coffee there. There was a brief rain shower while we had our coffee, but we were seated under an awning, so it wasn't too bad.

It was past 5pm by now, so we walked to the main station to drop TC there. her train was only to leave an hour later, but Z and I were invited to a BBQ at friends of mine, and I didn't want to be late. Turned out we were still late, because I had understood 8pm, and my husband said he had told me 6pm.

It was OK, though, the charcoal had only just reached the right temperature, so we weren't late at all. To show just how hospitable we can be, heaven opened its locks and it started pouring down. As Z had told us that this weather was normal for Scotland, we thought he should feel right at home. My friend had set the table inside anyway, so it was only her and my husband getting wet, the rest of us were fine.

We spent a nice evening and only returned home late.

Z had to leave for Heidelberg on Sunday, but due to all roads in the area being closed for traffic, there was no bus going, and our car was of no use, either. Fortunately, he didn't have a lot of luggage, so we walked down the two miles to the underground station. I guess from then on all went according to plan, cause I haven't heard anything to indicate that was not the case.

I trudged the two miles back uphill, and thus ended a fabulous weekend with friends.

Bel

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