First Impressions

Yesterday, after two days of travel, we successfully arrived at Frankfurt airport. There were three immigration booths open for EU residents and one for non-EU residents. Needless to say there were over 300 people in one queue and only 30 or so in the other three. When the lines for the EU residents emptied, the non-EU line, which curled around the room, were wondering whether or not the booths would open for non-EU residents. The people in the non-EU line (including Rachel and I) behaved exactly like the buffalo in this video. We were two of the first people to swoop on the newly opened booths and luckily got through pretty quickly.

We spent out first night at the Mercure Frankfurt Airport Hotel in order to recover from the gruelling flight before either of us gets behind the wheel. Matt has already demonstrated his inability to speak German on several occasions. The first was waiting in the long immigration line where Matt, intending to impress me, proclaimed "we'll get you to bed before the nicht gets to schweiz." He used only 2 German words and got both wrong saying "we'll get you to bed before not gets to Switzerland" instead of "we'll get you to bed before night gets to black". We both found this hilariously funny, for the simple reason that it was 4:30 am Sydney time, we had just got off a 12 hour flight and had had no sleep on the plane. Oh the joys of flying. Matt has also attempted to thank people three times but on every occasion has said bitte (please) instead of danke (thank you). Seeing as he could not grasp this simple task we have now agreed I will do all the talking in German to save further embarrassment.

After only one meal in Germany I know I am going to struggle with my inability to eat gluten. The buffet breakfast at the Mercure was a spread of breads, pastries, sausages, hams, salamis, cheeses, fruits, yoghurts and every kind of egg. The Germans sure know how to do breakfast. I think I will have to have a day in each country where I eat what ever I want. My day in Germany will be full of beer, pretzels, breads and wurst. I'm salivating at the thought. Hopefully the impact won't be as bad as when I was in Germany on exchange and put on 7kgs in 1 month. Goodness knows what 4 months will do to me!

Now we only have a few hours to wait before we pick up our motorhome. So excited!!