Getting to Thailand..

Getting to Thailand from Baltimore was an adventure in itself.  After a 7 hour flight from Dulles to Frankfurt, I had a 10 hour layover so I decided to into the city and explore.  Although I only slept about 4 hours on the flight, I was excited to stretch my legs.  From the airport, there was a short 11 minute train ride to the city center that cost about 3 euros.  Once I arrived, I walked a few blocks and consulted the map/guide that I had gotten from the airport.  I knew of a few places that might be interesting to see so I went about trying to find them.  My first stop was Romerberg which is the location of the city hall (since 1405) so it has traditional medieval German architecture.  I looked around that square for a while and then headed to the Dom (the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew) which was the site of the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor for about 300 years.  After exploring the inside of this cathedral for a while, I continued walking to Hauptwache which is considered the city hub because of its central location.  Hauptwache is very modern and has lots of shopping and tourists.  I walked down the main shopping street (Zeil) and found a street market with many different vendors.  At this point, I was very tired from walking and so I went back to a cafe that I had seen closer to the train station and ordered some food.  Most everyone spoke some English so the language barrier was nearly non-existent.  Afterwards, I decided to head back to the airport so that I could nap in the terminal.  I'm really glad I got to spend my long layover exploring because it made the time fly by.  Frankfurt was incredibly modern for the most part but had some beautiful old building stuck right in the middle of all the newer ones (as well as Starbucks every few blocks).  It seemed like every car that drove by was either a VW, BMW, Merecedes, or Audi but I guess that is to be expected in Germany.  Back at the airport, I sat around until my flight boarded.  On the plane, I fell asleep almost immediately and only woke up for dinner and breakfast.  Over the total 10 hour flight, I think I slept about 8 hours which was nice.  Here are a few pictures from my brief time in Germany: 

Romerberg

 

The Dom

Street Market