Thomil's Random Ramblings

Yeah, I went with the cheapest available pun for this one. What are you gonna do about it??? May 3rd, 2023 Unlike the previous day, I have literally nothing on my agenda for the day. No must-see sights or museums, or indeed anything else. My feet are adamant about taking it easier this time around, so a bit of retail therapy seems to be the order of the day, with my first choice being Skyline Plaza, a new mall that didn’t even exist when I left Frankfurt. However, despite being framed by the high-rises of the “Messeviertel”, the shopping centre itself is distinctly underwhelming. I get that it forms a vital part of Infrastructure for the new “Europaviertel”, a new district that has been taking shape on the site of the former central goods railway station for the last decade and a half, but you’d have thought that given this importance, there’d be a bit more attention to the stores taking up retail units in that centre. Instead, the selection seems to ape the options in the omnipresent

May 2nd I’m not going to lie, I’m not really looking forward to this particular day. The aim is to head south to Speyer in order to visit the grave of my parents. I hadn’t been down there since that depressing grey day in January 2018, when I had laid my father to rest, that only happening four months after saying goodbye to my mother for the last time. So yeah, this is not going to be an easy trip, not by a long shot. But I owe it to them, especially after nearly six years! Thankfully, the day starts nice and calm, as the hotel is nowhere near as busy as it was on the previous day, and breakfast is a decidedly relaxed affair. Getting to the station is equally relaxed, as the “siege” of the city had been lifted overnight, so trams are operating as normal. The fun starts at Frankfurt Central Station, where getting a ticket turns into a bit of a guessing game as massive queues stretch through the entire station concourse. The reason soon becomes apparent, as May 2nd turns out to be the s

May 1st The same clientele that caused me to hightail it out of the lounge the previous night turns what should be a pretty straightforward, not to mention good breakfast buffet into something akin to a lower mid-range hotel on Mallorca during peak season, with one single queue for everything, despite the fact that the buffet is spread over several physically separate areas. Trying to simply grab a coffee is met with withering stares and to be perfectly honest, I’m surprised that some of the best seats haven’t been blocked with towels yet. Accordingly, I’m out the door pretty quickly, only to find out that I’m very definitely in Germany again. Whether it's St. Paul's Church, the site of the first German parliamentary assembly in 1848... ... the "Römer", Frankfurt's historic city hall,... Or the "Fressgaß", one of the city's main eatery locations, they all seem strangely quiet. You see, May 1st is a nationwide public holiday in Germany. And unlike in