Frankfurt -> Bangkok

Sun 30 Apr

In Germany, Sunday means shops are closed, as well as on public holidays - like May Day tomorrow. However, there's still plenty of bars open and other places to cater for tourists.

We had a day on a bus tour to Heidelberg - about 6 hours all up. Heidelberg is a university city with an old town and market area, a Gothic church that was originally Catholic but Protestant after the Reformation and another church, Catholic again.

View over Heidelberg

The uni is a major part of the town, old and new. When we arrived there was a foot race of some kind going on around the old part of the city. We had a quick orientation by our guide before joining the throng of sightseers heading to the funicular to climb to the Schloss above the city.  The Schloss is a mixture of architecture from different periods and has a renowned garden and the SECOND BIGGEST wine barrel in the world. We took the very steep walk back down to the town to further explore the old city (now that the runners had disappeared) as well as the weir and lock on the river.

Facade of the Schloss at Heidelberg

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Mon 1 May

A damp morning in Frankfurt that only got damper as the day progressed. We packed our bags and took the train to the airport. We had a long wait before our flight at 22:00h.
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Tue 2 May

Landed in Bangkok on time at 14:10h after a flight of 11h 10m. There was a fairly easy flow through customs and immigration, then found a taxi to take us to the hotel; it's quite a distance and he got us there by 16:30h. We were hit by the heat and humidity but we're pleased by the location of our hotel right on the river, straight across from Wat Arun.

View across the river to Wat Arun - undergoing maintenance

We showered, changed, and went out for a walk around the local streets. We are very near the royal palace where up to 20 000 people visit each day to pay their respects to the dead king. We noticed the stream of people leaving at closing time.

Back to our hotel for another quick shower before dinner on the deck overlooking the river. Disturbed sleep through the night - got to get the body clock sorted out.