Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Wandering Boots tour Day 3: Wiesbaden and a few cemeteries



By the numbers
Steps 26209
KMs 19.48

The night before after two beers, I ended up shutting down by going to bed and starting to write the rest of the blog around 4am and annoying some people in the room. I know people would not like to hear the click clack of a keyboard for an epic post from yours truley. I think a pillow would cross my face eventually. That was the start of my day, although I knoew  what I was wanting to do. I was waiting for the weather and breakfast to see what was going to happen. I had two sandwiches for breaky and two coffee while I was at it and looking at the trains to Weisbaden. The train system is interesting. You have the trams, the Sbahn which is regional trains, Ubahn, which is kind of underground in places and then the long distance trains. I found a ticket machine, which I sorted out a day pass with return. I don’t know if my pass would work that far out, but I made sure I would not be caught out. Crossing the road here is interesting. Some places you put your hand on a yellow sensor and in others you just have to wait for them to automatically change. Different and confusing all at the same time.

Not knowing much about the train I caught, I headed into Wiesbaden and part way along the screen telling me where our station was came up with additional information about the bus network. I became confused and watching the screen after one station they vanished. Lets say getting off and catching a bus was not part of my plan at all. Once the train got to the city, I made sure I knew the direction I needed to go as I wanted the cemetery as Manfred Von Richtthofen otherwise known as the Red Baron in WW1 a fighter Ace for Germany. It was easy following my map as I was counting my blessings for having data to do that and it was great to navigate myself around the country without getting stuck and wondering what the hell.

I found the cemetery without any problems and there was even a map to show me where to find the grave. I followed the directions and the grave had the whole family there. I found other graves nearby that were basically going to be recycled and I found a few like that. Something I had never seen before, but they were spread throughout the cemetery. I had seen the workers floating around doing their thing and there was quite a few gardening staff working, although it was good to see. Going for a wander I found some WW1 grave stones, but these are different to the white ones and there were a few from 1914, 1915 and 1919. I came across a Belgium princess by accident and several other high class people and even British soldiers from well after the war. I followed a squirrel for a couple of metres, but it could literally teleport up trees. By this stage my phone was nearly dead and I was getting a top up with my powerbank. That was the best thing I had ever bought and was working really well as I walked along.

I headed back to town as I was going to get the rail back obviously. I went another way just to see where I would end up. I nearly made a huge mistake and nearly got skittled. I went to cross the road, I looked right and then took a step, I looked to my left and went of shit as I was missed by a car. I was looking the wrong way and I learnt my lesson after that, but I was a little bit off with traffic from then on and I was being careful. I don’t want to explain that on my second day of my trip. The driver never tooted at me or anything. I got to the station without any more dramas and had KFC for lunch before heading back to Frankfurt.

On my return, I was going to visit the old Jewish cemetery even though I needed a key and thought differently when I turned up. I could have gotten the key and I decided next time I visit, I would. The entire outside of the cemetery along the wall had the names, numbers and the concentration camp the person had been in when they died. From the gate the cemetery looked interesting, but that would be next time. I had seen another cemetery on the map and that was the Frankfurt Hauptfriedhof. I jumped off at the German library to use the loo and went from there. I found the cemetery to be a lot larger than I had thought and I never got to see the whole thing as it was late afternoon by this time and I had walked what I could. I found a few huge grave stones and one memorial to the Hindenburg that had caught fire in 1937. I think that was one of the last time airships were used. I decided then that this was the time that I would leave and I ended up at the station where I caught the Ubahn back to the Frankfurt station where I wandered into a supermarket for dinner. I wasn’t really feeling that hungry, but I got a sandwich and two wraps tro satisfy the urges..

I think it was a busy enough day and my last in Frankfurt as I head into Berlin tomorrow. This includes going to a band that night and hopefully it is not like Frankfurt. I have been staying away from the Euros clubs, which I learnt we have one next door to the hostel. These are Brothels without madams. Bouncers seem to sit outside keeping an eye on trouble. I just avoid them entirely as I walked past and taking pictures from the comfort of my side of the street. They all seem to be sleeping in the mornings as I havnt seen one. I am looking forward to going to Berlin again and this time by train.

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