Arriving in Frankfurt

I got on the train for Frankfurt to meet my friend from Israel. I will meet up with Paz in Paris on 5th June. When I left the Sheraton lodgings the landlady came to check my room as you have to leave it clean before you check-out, and she started talking about her sister (they are English) who married a Moroccan and is living near Paris. She works for Chanel as a cashier and would like to move to a job in the village she lives in, but work is scarce. After all said the anorexic landlady EVERYONE wants to be a cashier, don't they, there's just not the opportunity!

Now my travels take on a different nature. I left Munich and took an early train to Frankfurt, I had a lot of heavy luggage, including my three pairs of Italian shoes from the Sheraton lost and found. I was also carrying my emancipated liquor.

Paz was fine about my departure, though Paris seemed a bit daunting. I arrived in Frankfurt and checked into the hotel. The room was not as 5 tar as the last time we were here. From my Sheraton job I knew all the signs of VIP treatment and from them we got the bathrobes, free newspaper, turn down service with a bottle of mineral water as well as a rose in the bathroom. I set to work with all my alcohol to make it 5 star. I put a wrapped teddy bear which I had bought my friend on the pillow, put champagne on ice, ordered an extra ice bucket, glasses plus 2 bowls, I put fruit in one and sweets in the other. I had also brought chocolates from Switzerland and Austria. I brought extra coca cola so we wouldn't have to use the exorbitant mini-bar. Then I ordered an iron and ironing board and ironed my skirt. Took a bath, discovered an English TV channel and went to pick my friend up from the airport. The hotel is joined to the airport by a sky ramp. I went to the airport gate and sat there picking away at yesterdays cherry nail polish until my nails were clean. There were several other halves of couples waiting for their other halves, and it was funny watching the different forms of reunions from discrete pecks on the cheek to near intercourse on the concourse!

Reflections

I must write character sketches about some of the people I meet on my travels.

Shazlee - the Egyptian; Antonio-the Italian, Ros and Jill from Scotland and England and our very strange room mate - Rosana - from Sicily, where the mafia come from.

It's funny I am always writing and it's Paz who wants to be the writer. I'm quite proud that I am doing this, as they say "a writer writes"it's as simple as that. I have also come to know Paz much better, she has major hang-ups about her family life, sex life and life in general. She has very little motivation. She wants to be rich but hasn't got past that to HOW do I get rich. She is a victim about her childhood, makes out as if things were impinged on her as a child which have left her scared for life. She has an incredibly vicious streak and will to survive above all others, but a lack of respect for herself. She vacillates from putting herself down in front of people to flaunting her snobbish and empty values about being sublimely superior. She sees men as a totally different race from woman, a race... as for me I'm happy, worship my parents, love life, never have any problems more than enough to make the game of life a game! And modest too!!!

Bought an art pad so will start drawing again.

checking out of the Sheraton

The checking out procedure wasn't as traumatic as I'd expected, just handing in my uniform, getting a couple of signatures. There may be irrelevant tax forms registered post from the Sheraton in the future. The complicated part was the finance. They couldn't pay me until the 30th so Paz is going to stay on till then and I will give her power of attorney at the bank to collect the money for me. She will also put it into traveller's cheques for me. I hate relying on other people to do things for me especially with finances.


I stole 2 bottles of champagne, 2 wine and some small whiskey, vodka and gin bottles to have with my friend from Israel. Sorry I didn't steal them I emancipated them from the mini-bar poor bottles were dying to escape, what could I do turn my back on their pleas for freedom? At least this way they know they'll be drunk and not left to sit on the shelf - like spinsters in a store room.

14 May 1991 - Heart attack in the Sheraton

On my last day in my last room Fiona, a fellow chambermaid came up behind me and gave me a fright. For the next 2 hours I experienced what I have had periodically since I was a child. I have always called it a heart attack although it is obviously not. I get dizzy, sweat, my heart beats very fast making my body shake slightly and it is hard to breath. I had this once in a dance class in University. When I was younger I remember getting milder versions of this when my breathing would get difficult and I would feel like there was a vice around my chest. I remember lying on my tummy on Lulu's couch in her lounge until it went away. So I want to have on the record that it happened on 14.5.91 - hope it doesn't happen again.

Leaving the Sheraton and other thoughts!

In German subways there are escalators which only move when you step on them, we choose which exit to take from the subway according to where there are escalators.

I really should have kept a record of time from the moment I decide something to the time it occurs just to find out how long it takes. I once decided to have red shoes and yesterday there was a sale in the hotel of all the lost property. I got 2 pairs of Italian red shoes for three marks each. Also got some black shoes, a straw hat and a dress shirt all came to 17 marks. Also one day said to Paz I want some stockings, that afternoon a girl gave us 3 pairs each because her mom had given them to her and she didn't like the color.

Yesterday was my last day working at the Sheraton and I wanted to finish early as there is a long checking-out procedure and I needed to do it that day as I was leaving the next day. So I did all the work that normally took me a whole day by lunch time! That's 12 tower rooms and 8 VIP rooms!

Shopping in Munich for normal life!

Well the experience in Switzerland taught me that I need to throw away my sports shoes, burn my socks and boil my clothes. For 2 weeks I have to live like a normal person, not a traveler, when my friend comes from Israel, so I need to be presentable. I got money out of the bank and went shopping - really should have saved the money but I am a happier person for my purchase - Art Pad 2marks, black stockings 1.95marks, bright green patterned sports shoes 16.50, now I have walking shoes, flat black pumps and these. 3 pairs of cotton socks, so my feet are warmer and don't smell so much 8.00, 4 cotton panties 8.95, my granny nickers served their purpose but they're not exactly alluring. Bra 5.94marks, beautiful feminine non-crease white blouse 25.00, floral to go with black skirt I nicked from Sheraton, green T-shit 5.00. I spoilt myself rotten and loved every minute of it!!

Crossing the Swiss Boarder

Paz made a joke on the road side "Why do we have to do this, we could have done Europe on our backs, but no we have to be moral don't we."Anyway we soon got our next sentimental driver who carried us across the German boarder - we explained that we were South African, which then needed detailed discussion, while the stupid official stood there with our British passports in his hands. We walked over the Swiss boarder (actually we don't know which boarder it was, but at one point I had to ask a driver what country we were in, and yes, it was Switzerland). It was the first time I'd been in three countries in an hour - Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Future Plans for Travel in Europe

Come the 3rd of May we will be back at work, I'm going to resign on the the 3rd so that on the 11th I can buy a Eurorail ticket (600 marks) which will give me 15 days travel over the following three months. The latest idea is that my friend (boy) will meet me in Germany. Then the plan is to go to Brussels via Luxemburg and on down to Paris. Hopefully then spend 2 weeks in France and towards the end of the month Paz, who will have stayed on at the Sheraton will resign and join me in Paris, do some sightseeing. On 31st May my friend will return to Israel and Paz and I will continue down to Italy, across the Riviera to France and into Spain and Portugal and finally arriving in Pampalona on 7th on July for the running of the bulls. We will have very little money as living here has been more expencive than we thought. This means sleeping on trains, hitching, camping and going on a diet! The worst part of this is that we will have to do all our sightseeing with our packs on as we won't have a hostel to leave our packs at. We are planning on not camping in camping grounds, to save money.
On 14th July the Running of the Bulls ends and Paz will probably continue up to through France to the U.K. and some family she has there. I - hopefully with some train ticket days left - will use it to go straight across Europe, back to where we started, and back to Israel. After being in Israel a while I will finally fly home for a visit. After that I will take a deep breath and decide where to settle down.
I have calculated costs and we should just be able to make it through this plan. Paz plans to then sponge off her relatives get a job in the U.K. and settle there. Paz has been a bit depressed lately and resentful of my meeting up with my boyfriend, it is all a lot of pressure. It looks like it can all still work out. I'll be alone a few days between resigning and meeting my friend and I look forward to traveling alone, just to get some space.

We have been too comfortable here and getting back into the swing of travelling will be hard.

Future plans for switzerland and Berlin

Our future plans looked a little like this: We had gone to our boss and asked for 2 weeks worth of leave together which would be 4 days and she offered us 11 days. So from the 22 April until the 12nd May we would be free. We tried to get ourselves booked into the Zurich Sheraton but they are very small and full, so after one day of staying in bed we decided to set off the next day to Switzerland. The plan is to hitch there and then use our tent for the first time. We want to see all of Switzerland and then hitch halfway across Europe all the way to Berlin for the last couple of days. We actually tried going on the day we spent in bed, but after one ride from a man who dropped us off by the wrong off-ramp, we decided we were too exhausted, so bought bread, Bree and tuna and went to bed for the day.

Funny Irishmen

We have a lot of Irish people working here at the Sheraton and their accents just beg to be imitated. They also have the Irish deadpan obliviousness to their own humor. Two wee anecdotes about our Irish brethren. Peter who was doing his best to help us figure out why we had been given 11 days holiday. We managed to find explanations for most of the holiday days, then Peter says:"well if you resign you know you get your weekend plus an extra day off!" A lot of extra days off if you ask me. These extra days are called "good days". Then the other day James was telling us about a statue in Sendingertor in honor of the National Socialists (Hitler's old party). Also a marble statue with an eternal flame burning on top, which " wasn't lit on the day he went there".

Letter home to mom

Dear Mom
We have got used to lugging our luggage around so we haven't got rid of anything yet, but as summer gets closer we will have to off load some of it as we will be hitching and need lighter bags. Lice are 90% under control, probably cos now we have a place to shower every day. I think I have all the letters you sent me except Greece, and I have sent letters, photos and papers home, they should reach you in about 2-3 weeks. The pictures are the exact size of the envelope so be careful when you open it. I have almost decided to move to Israel once I am finished traveling and been back home for a while. That is regardless of boyfriend, and a visit to you guys together. So what do you think of immigrating with me? I'll have to give you a long lecture of what it is like before you make a decision and start selling things. I'd like to go there and work and study. Not only that but I really think I can do it. I think I can do anything! You get a lot of financial perks if you move to Israel. After I have finished studying Scientology and Judaism and perhaps gotten married, depending on how I feel at the time, I visualize a little study in a house and a word processor and becoming an author through my mother years. How's that! I've noticed that I've always set long term goals. Anyway I've decided you're moving to Israel, but I just thought I should tell you!
Yes shrapnel fell on the house where I stayed in Israel, but no bombs. Sent a letter to Lulu. Tomorrow we are going to Dachau concentration camp. I finally got to change rooms and am now with Paz and a nice Scottish girl called Roz.
Keep up the pottery, soon I'll have a full set.
Love you

Planning for future travels

Sent Easter packages off home, and the postage was 15Marks. I decided to cut down on writing home to save money as the postage in so expensive. I got a 30 Mark tip , not from working hard but from good luck, if fact we hardly see the guests. Paz's room is 39 and I was moved into it, it is much cleaner and cosy. I continue to wage war with lice. MY airfare which I deposited in the German Bank is not gaining interest as the German system doesn't give interest!! Got payed 833 Marks (about $830) and next month we should get 175 more as this month we had to pay a security deposit. Got another spoon of film developed. We really try to live on nothing and save every penny for travel. Unfortunately we couldn't get any other work in the hotel because of our German.

On our day off I sat munching crackers and Paz dyed her hair. At least hitch hiking doesn't cost petrol, but Paz says that it's not fun when it is so hard to survive here, we might as well not be her, as the $10 a day that we have to live on when we are on the road does not go very far.

Made plans to meet up with an Israeli boyfriend in Paris on 20Th May! I was very excited and hoping to be spoilt rotten! So there will be no point getting letters in Munich after the 25th April. After that our letters will collect in Paris up until 14Th May and then it's down to Pampolona for July 1st. All these moves will be very quick so it is hardly worth having the post chase us around Europe, that is why we are going to make our next "postal address" Poste Restante Paris.

A few notes home from Germany

Paz walked into Dr. Legal, the doctor who treated her for chicken pox, at the Sheraton. By chance he is the Doctor who comes to see the staff at the hotel 2x a week, and he also works with her insurance company. If the insurance find out she is working then the policy is null and void. So she is avoiding him when he comes for his hotel visits.

All my clothes were marked and stained , and I was tempted to throw them all away. With the Easter weekend came lots of chocolate. I got an Easter card from mom with $10 in it for buying Easter eggs, but as we had already taken care of the egg situation we kept the money as out last resort, emergency money. I got 2 other letters, one telling me that my gran is sick.

Eating pumpernickel and it's doing wonders to my system!

An evening at "Home"

Spent the next day in bed writing and then went to the post office after having not gone for two weeks. I got a huge card from an admirer in Israel plus a very heavy box. It contained toiletries in a basket with ribbons, Mozart chocolates, other chocolates, caramelized nuts and a bottle of Israeli "Simcha" wine. I was in shock. Although it is not what I would have picked for myself, the weight alone must have made the postage very expensive. I ploughed through the chocolates and used the bath stuff too.
We have an Irish girl called "Mary" staying in our room for a week while Ross, the other one, is away in Scotland. One night a pleasant enough guy who we knew came around and stayed too long, out staying is welcome. In the course of the evening he was systematically insulted by all three of us. I asked him if he spoke German, he said, why, I said, cos' I wanted to know if I said something to Paz in Afrikaans whether he would understand. Then Paz bluntly told him it was her bedtime and he had to leave. He didn't leave then Ross out of the blue said "You're a sarcastic git aren't ya". I couldn't believe my ears. "Why?" he asked. "Ya just are" she replied. I whispered to Ross, please say you didn't mean that. No, he said, she's Scottish, Scots always mean what they say. "Yes they do" she chirped in. Well he left in about 2 minutes, totally red faced. I shat on her and she said he had been winding us up all evening. Choosing not to get into details, I just ignored it, but couldn't get over the rudeness. The guy seemed very sensitive and I will apologize the next time I see him - if he doesn' t jump off a building first.

Political discussion while hitch hiking

Just outside Wurzburg we got a lift all the way to Munich with a very interesting student (28 years) who planned on immigrating to Spain and getting involved in politics. He spoke good English and we cross questioned him about present feelings about WWII. We were both surprised to hear that the Eastern boarder of Germany is still a contentious issue and some still feel that parts of Poland and Chekoslovakia belong to Germany. Also 60% of Germans live alone or are single and the German mentality is one of mere material survival. This guy believes that it is forever the duty of Germany to be an example in history to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. He thinks the sensitivity/tension of the subject will prevent another German Hitler from ever coming to the fore. The issue of whether berlin will ever be the capital again is also a topical subject.

Wurzburg, Germany and a new tent

Wurzburg was nicer than Frankfurt, small with a castle on the overlooking hill. There is a Resedenz, a large building with classical statues on the perimeters. It was home to the bishops during the enlightenment. We were impressed, but the town was bigger than we had expected, we thought it would be a quaint medieval village - this was more like a city.

We were in the process of looking for a tent, and pricing various options. So we spent a lot of time darting into sports shops. There was one ingenious busker - a one man band with every variety of horns, pipe drum, and any percussion you can imagine, he was very good but he didn't like people very much. He had laid a thick cord all around him in a circle and used a big stick to keep pointing it out to people. He allowed no one to overstep the cord. HE also had various signs all around him saying "don't video". We found an advert for a tent shop and went in search of it. We found ourselves on the outskirts of town, and there were two tents we were interested in. One tent was 50 Marks and the other 100, the different was in quality and size. Eventually we went halves and bought the 100 mark one together. At the end of our trip one will buy out the other and keep the tent. So I am now the proud co-owner of a 110 mark Silveretta Igluzelt. My first house! it weighs 3.5 kilo which is not much. Then we hitched out of town on our way back to Munich.

Photo from wikimedia by Ronaldino

Leaving Frankfurt

We awoke in pitch darkness as the curtains were so good! We forced ourselves out of bed later than we had intended and went to breakfast. We found a newspaper hanging on our door! The breakfast was buffet - too much to describe. I had coffee, orange juice, a bowl of berries, kiwi fruit, muesli, yogurt, scrambled eggs, hash browns,sausages and then flapjacks and hot black cherries! We sat reading our free newspaper, then wobbled out of the dinning room and took one last look around before leaving a 4 mark tip with a note saying thank you to the chambermaid.

We went to check out and while everyone was paying we just handed in our keys - it had cost us nothing and normally would have cost about $500. We took all the fruit from our fruit bowl.

We bought tickets!!! and went into town. We wandered around and basically we had no more energy and just wanted to get home. Frankfurt is a dirty metropolis with tramps, prostitutes and people thrown all over the place. We got out of Frankfurt and headed for Wurzburg. a little town with a castle. On our way while getting rides with truck drivers, Paz and I both had trouble with truck drivers who "couldn't find the gear stick" if you know what I mean.

Photo by Roomman

Frankfurt, not a night out.

In the evening after our baths we dressed in black slinky dresses and went down to the lobby, but there was no where we could actually go without buying a drink. Even the complementary champagne we had in the bed room was listed on the menu as 8 Marks a glass. We asked after a night club which was in the airport. So after an awkward parade through the airport, with our heels clicking, we found the club closed, so headed back to the hotel. We walked around the hotel a bit and then returned to our room and sunk into our crisp white linen beds.

Frankfurt Sheraton

We doned our bathrobes, and put on our highheels, and holding our glasses of champagine we went off to the guest swimming pool. We seem to break rules without even thinking about it. We were giggling to ourselves, thinking O.K. where is the office ( the place where they keep supplies for the chambermaids on each floor). "What could we take?" So we tottered around the hotel in our robes, went swimming, sat on the poolside and ate complementary sweets and chips. Then we had a 5 minute sauna and went back upstairs.

We found the staff elevator( by now we were dressed) and asked our way to the staff canteen. there we had a great meal for 2.50 Marks Their sea food salad was especially good, and their desserts.

Then it was up stairs again to really get the most of our bathroom. Two hours each in the bathroom we thought was the maximum. Paz went first while I ate, drank and was generally merry. When we had returned from dinner we had received the "turn down service" where they place a chocolate on your pillow and a mineral water on the side table - only people paying a lot get this! I watched a dirty movie in 4 minute snatches, as it was pay T.V. and in German.

Once in the bathroom I lolled in the bath, sipped champagne. We had only had showers since we arrived in Europe, so the bath was special. I used all the toiletries I had received as a present from overseas, and came out smelling fresh and scrubbed!

The Frankfurt Sheraton - perfect!

The Frankfurt Sheraton is linked to the airport and tube station by walkways and lifts. We sauntered up to reception with our backpacks on. I plonked the "Lets Go" book down on the counter and announced our arrival. They knew we were from the Munich Sheraton and gave us big grins. Armed with our computer keys we made our way to the top floor in the public lift - which we could never use in the Munich Sheraton. They only have 9 floors because of low flying airplanes. Having inserted the key - without having first said "housekeeping" we went in. Our jaws dropped, and we started jumping up and down - a strange sight, but we were justified as we were faced with complementary champagne, biscuits, fruit and luxury bath robes - all of which only VIPs get. We toasted ourselves and relished all the mod-cons of first class travel. The windows are sound proof because of the airport proximity, and everything was perfect!

Photo by Andred