1st experience in the Fatherland

10/11/2008

Travel was good. There were no problems at all. Both Flights were on time. In-Flight hospitality was good. Immigration was not at all a problem.I was at Frankfurt at around 6:15pm local time.

A taxi had come from the hotel to pick me up. Hotel is 15km away from the airport and it took the driver only 10 min to reach!!!.. Cars here travel very fast.. 120-140kmph... The Hotel was on the A5 highway..
Car's and trucks simply zip by... Huge trucks travel at 120kmph.. my word, it's a sight!.. Taxi's here are of Mercedes make! :). Had heard all of it... but to feel it is a different thing.

At 12 noon I checked out and the hotel guys dropped me to the railway station. I had a ticket from Frankfurt to Ulm on the ICE high speed train at 12:54pm. The train came to the platform exactly at 12:54pm (not a minute early or late. Transport here is on time everywhere, always!!!. and the door opens at the platform exactly at the yellow line!!). These trains are too good. They have better seats than the Emirates A340, very clean, sound proof, they serve lunch, and above all, they travel at 250kmph...It was a very good experience.

Reached Ulm at 3pm on Sunday. It gets dark by 4:30pm here. In the evening I just went out for a stroll. The town seems very quiet. Less people and a small town (it might be just as big as Rajajinagar). There are three stand out things: Albert Einstein Museum, River Danube and the world's tallest Cathedral.

About weather, it is not as cold as people claim it to be. It is 16 degrees max and 6 degrees min. There are heaters everywhere.. it just feels like 23 degrees everywhere other than the roads. And people hardly walk here (Maybe the winter effect). They are either driving or cycling.

Every thing in this country is so organised... There are sign boards everywhere and the roads are well painted. Don't need to know German at all. Most ppl understand English, but cannot speak. But they try hard to make me understand what they intend to say. They give lot of importance to time.. every minute counts. They respect ppl around and usually greet them if there is an eye contact.

Hotel to office is 5 min by Taxi. Colleagues in office are quite friendly. They keep asking me if I'm comfortable!...Every passer-by smiles and says "Hello". very different from our greeting styles in Bangalore office.. Coffee maker has different kinds of coffee ;)