Frankfurtion Excursion

Touristy things I did yesterday:

Run out of cash

Make a detour to my bank to get more

Miss a train to Frankfurt by a few minutes

Notice the atm for the same bank across the station

Miss another train because I was writing in my journal on the wrong platform

Wear a money belt

Eat Häagen Daas for lunch

Went to the zoo

Took a gazillion pictures

Less touristy things I did yesterday:

Did not get s**t stolen

Got a student discount

Admired ants

Got something to eat having realized I just missed a train home instead of waiting an hour for the next

Did not go the wrong direction or get off at the wrong station on any train

Did not get lost walking home in the rain

Most of Germany has the small town feel.  Only three cities have a population higher than 1 million, and only Berlin has more than 3 million people.  According to one website, Mainz rolls in at 41 among Germany's most populated towns, with a crowd of about 187,000.  Ithaca, NY has a population just over 30,000.  Ithaca, NY has a population just over 60,000 if you include the students at Ithaca College and Cornell.  Frankfurt is Germany's 5th largest city at about 690,000.

To get to the zoo, I exited at the Zeil, Frankfurt's shopping street and hearsay says it's the busiest in Germany, when things are open.  So relatively, the Zeil on Sunday afternoon vs. the Zeil on Saturday must be like Valhalla on Sunday night vs. Valhalla on Tuesday at lunch, undercrowded and enjoyable, even if the main features are not available.  (That's Valhalla in Houston, not Walhalla in Germany.)

 

They build the sidewalk over the trees

You know it's touristy when all the flavors are in English.

Chocolate with chocolate cookies

The zoo on the way to the zoo.  Must be cold, the animals are not out to play. 

 The Frankfurt Zoo impressed me with its extensive collection of primates and the best developed farm of giant ants with giant heart shaped heads.  These ants were worthy of starring in 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kid'. On occasion, I watched one carry a pile of its decommissioned comrades off the leaf pile.

Those tubes are ant highways with meters of ant traffic

Social animals give fascinating insight into the origins of group psychology.  The monkeys (I think) shown in the following series were either all sitting at the same time or all walking at the same time, with the exception of the one that pauses in the video.  In addition, the indignant alpha male leapt at every piece of bread and fruit thrown by the children next to me (no, they were not supposed to).  Although the leaner members of the monkey became alert and ready for something to land their way, they only twitched as alpha male jumped in front of the precipitating edibles, often first shrieking in the face of another before eating the food.  When the children stopped, he still sat at the bottom of the 'gulch' eyeing any visitor's hand movement, a greedy watch dog glaring into cameras.  Nonetheless, as alpha male began to pace circularly around the hill top, others, almost all, joined.

They all sat

Until Alpha Male set the pace

Other things I admired:

Colorful locust-like insects

Some colorful birds:

A shoebill walks by extending it's one leg a little bit forward, then letting the other one catch up, then it rocks back and forth a little on its stilts as it rebalances.  Think 'Ministry of Silly Walks' by Monty Python.

Some folks I didn't want to mess with:

And a high aspect ratio animal:

Lastly, this bird was really pecking away:

On my walk on the Zeil toward the zoo, I smelled greasy Hong Kong like wok fry, then turned to see I had passed 'China Box'.  I returned there having missed a train back to Mainz by 10 minutes, not wanting to wait 50 minutes in the station or outside in the rain.  I'm pretty sure they were not Chinese, I recognized the language as neither Cantonese nor Mandarin, and ruled out any northern dialects based on the food and the lack of stringency in the tones.  The curry, flavorful, decently spiced, with the veggies and slices of pork both perfectly cooked, would point me toward Vietnamese, which I typically identify.  At this point I'm thinking Laotian, but not Thai.  Nonetheless, handfuls of lean young men would come in and wolf down whole mountains of fried rice or lo mein served on plates the same size as the one I had below, half of which I took to go.   FYI - Flying Goose Brand Sriracha sauce disappoints - stick with the real thing!

Pork with vegetables in a curry sauce.  

Coming soon: My tiny kitchen episodes 3 and 4.

Tschau!