On to Germany

Our flight left Mumbai around 2:00a.m., Friday, April 3, and arrived non-stop in Frankfurt around 9:00a.m. Customs and immigration were amazingly smooth. They just looked at my U.S. passport and passed me along with a wish for a good visit. When I got to the "customs" area, the sign indicated if I had anything to declare I was to go one way, down another hallway. If I had nothing to declare, I was to go straight ahead. Well, I thought briefly about declaring something profound. But nothing came to mind. So I went straight ahead. No one was there to ask me anything. I expect there was some kind of electronic surveillance that scanned my luggage for anything suspect. But no one came forward to ask me anything about what I was bringing into their country.

So I proceded into the receiving area. Ate Beth (BW's sister) and Stephanie (niece) were nowhere to be seen. That was okay, because I was still wearing my Indian clothing, i.e., warm weather gear. Actually, I had already changed into casual slacks. But my feet still wore no socks and still enjoyed the freedom of open sandals. But now it was time to change into warmer footwear. While I was getting my socks and tennis shoes on, Beth and Stephanie surprised me from behind. By then, I was ready to go and we headed into the parking garage and out into Germany. Beth and Stephanie rarely get into Frankfurt. So both on this trip out of the airport as well as the next day coming back in to see the cathedral, we got lost. That was fine because I really didn't care. :)

You have probably heard about driving on the autobahn. So I won't go into that much except to say that I was quite impressed. Stephanie was driving and she is a great driver. We cruised at speeds between 120 and 160kmh, which I think translates to about 75-100mph. And cars kept zooming past us. But the autobahn is designed to handle these speeds with relative safety. Amazingly the drivers consistently stay to the right unless they intend to pass. This makes it safer for everyone. This is one way the states would do well to emulate Europe. The other comment is to debunk a myth I had heard: As soon as we were on the autobahn, Stephanie turned on the radio. I commented that I had heard that drivers were not allowed to be distracted by anything in the car, specifically not to listen to the radio while driving. She just smirked.

Above, is a street scene in the town near Altena where we stopped for my cash.

Since I was penniless, rupeeless and euroless, we stopped in a town near our destination where I withdrew some euros from an ATM. Then we headed on. I didn't film any of our time on the autobahn. Nothing I would have shown would give the sense of what was going on. It would have just looked like freeway driving--which it is not.

This was my introduction to Altena, starting to climb up the hills.

Altena is a relatively small community in the hills about 2 hours north of Frankfurt. In fact, both the airline people and the immigration man did not know there was an "Altena" near Frankfurt. They "knew" of one in the southern part of the country. I'm sure they thought I was confused.

Here we're rounding the last few corners approaching their apartment. As you watch this video, notice how narrow the street is. YES, it is TWO WAY! I didn't take any videos of our going downhill. Beth was driving when we left the apartment and I was hanging on for dear life! LOL

Above and below: Buildings along the way in Altena.

Street scene. Town's name is pronounced : ALL ten uh

View stepping out of the apartment building. My impression is that all of these you see are comprised of apartments.

I've shared these videos and pics mostly to show the architecture and the narrow streets. The houses you can see along these streets are consistent with all the buildings I saw there. Nothing remarkable I suppose. But clearly different from the sprawling houses the middle class in the US works so hard to obtain.

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