the princess met the pauper for a frankfurter

Work took me to a little town called Neu Isenburg, 10 minutes outside of Frankfurt, Germany in the middle of November. Besides the lovely flowers and chocolates that greeted me upon arrival at the hotel, the next best thing that happened to me in the short four days there was capturing the above scene when I was taking a morning walk along the main street - Frankfurter Strasse - outside the hotel. I chuckled at the contrast of the gleamingly well polished BMW convertible against the run-down shophouse sandwiched between modern apartments right there in the prime area along the busiest street named after my favourite sausage.

I named this picture The Princess and the Pauper. All other photos taken on this short stopover - which aren't very interesting - can be viewed here in my Flickr album.

Even spending half a day in Frankfurt itself checking out the Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral and Museum where a baby christening took place under the watchful eyes of the many scary-looking God-related figures and taking a stroll along the romantic river Main where too many couples cuddled and kissed did not yield anything exciting enough to blog about.

Perhaps experiencing grey sleepy gloomy cold Deutschland (the weather sure didn't help, neither did the jet lag and fatigue, I guess; I could feel it in my bones a mega illness approaching to overwhelm me such that all my sensory receptors went into hibernation mode in preparation for the great fight against the viruses) right after taking in the colourful sights, smells and sounds of always bustling and filled-with-life Istanbul has in comparison paled the relatively more peaceful Frankfurt city and the sleepy town of Neu Isenburg in terms of the excitement factor.

Don't get me wrong. Frankfurt is a beautiful city with extremely friendly and helpful people unlike the cold and aloof Sydneysiders who I had the misfortune of meeting in my first days of working Down Under. I recall thinking as I was appreciating how clean and neat the streets everywhere were while taking the tram to the CBD and again when I was having the nicest schnitzel I've ever had in my life for dinner one night that I actually don't mind relocating to work and live there. In fact, it's worth some serious consideration if only the winter season is not so harsh.