My Frankfurt

I have some time to kill before my next flight and wanted to give an update of my morning. The flight from DC was uneventful. I flew on United Airlines, nothing sectacular there, standard, standard, "no sir, we already served juice, you'll have to wait", typical US airline.

I arrived in Germany at approximately 6:30 am, cleared immigration and took the train downtown, nothing has changed, except the ticket machines are now touchscreen, but it all came back to me!  I decided to get out at the Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) and walk, it was only 7:30 and I forgot that nothing opens until at least 9:00 here. No problem, I had plenty of time to walk around and see the city. I was posted here as an Embassy Marine in 1995-1996, in my opinion, those were my definitive years. I had already been a Marine for 2 and a half yars, but this was different. I had more freedom, more money, and a schedule. I lived here with nine other Marines, in a house, just north of the downtown. We worked, worked out, and partied hard, and met some great people, friends for life, as you may have seen from some of my postings.

Though we may not see eachother for years on end, there is no doubt that we pick up where we left off once we meet. For many of us, Frankfurt has an attraction that we can't shake. Most Germans will tell you that it is a horrible place, and not the "real Germany", but for those of us that lived here, it was like home. Whenever I come here, I am comfortable, I know my way around, and I feel attached to it.

This morning I walked to many of my old places; the pedestrian shopping quarter (Zeil), the Roemer Platz (where the city hall is), and various places that I was fond of. You saw many of these pictures online, on my facebook page. I sill log into web radio stations from Frankfurt, and listen to the traffic report and know exactly where they are talking about or read the online newspaper from the city, and know what the reporter means. It is strange, but there is a kindred spirit here. Unbeknownst to me at the time I lived here, but my Great Grandfather came from a town just north of Frankfurt, Oberursel. Ironically, during my time in Frankfurt, I would visit this town many times a week to see someone that I was dating here. I walked past a cemetary each evening, that most likely had my family in it, and never knew it. Maybe there was some strange force at work, telling me that I had made it home.

Or maybe it's the fact that I haven't slept in over 23 hours that I'm carrying on like this, who knows? I suspect that some of you reading this have a similar feeling about some place special as well. This should not be ignored, but explored, think about it.