Back in Germany

I’m back in Munich, got in eary Sunday morning. The flight back to Germany was great- it was only a little over 6 hours, from Boston to Frankfurt. But the transfer in the Frankfurt airport – yeech! The airport is huge and is different from any airport I’ve been in yet. We all piled off the plane into what looked like a regular departure gate area, but walked and walked and then finally came to passport control. I had to transfer to another terminal, to get the final quick flight to Munich. Much more walking, and at one point I passed a security area where people were just streaming in. Seemed odd to me, at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday.

I followed the signs to my terminal around the corner and the mystery was solved – this was re-screening for everyone off an international flight, connecting to another flight. That line took 30 minutes, easily. Then the walk to my terminal took another 15 minutes. I got to the gate early, so I sat & watched news on TV. About 15 minutes before my flight was supposed to board, there was still no activity. I checked at the counter, and the gate had moved, from A4 to A28. Well, I needed the exercise so all the walking actually felt OK, Would have been better if I was not carrying so much.

Got to that gate, and there were lots of passengers milling around, and the sign said “Munich”. (Well, it said ‘Munchen’ but I knew what it meant.) But I heard someone ask about the flight and the woman working the counter said it had moved gates. I stepped up and asked, and she said that the gate had moved, to A30 and this gate was now the flight to Marseilles. But they don’t have any way to change what the sign says.

Talk about the system running the people! And they didn’t have any hand-done signs up, weren’t making any announcements. In addition to this problem, in this airport there are few Arrival/Destination screens, so it takes a lot of walking to find out any information. I was looking for toilets and kept walking & walking & seeing no signs. I was thinking, this can’t be right, there have to be toilets somewhere. And they are everywhere, once you know where to look! Each departure lounge has a small toilet off to the side, so there are no overhead signs.

So, either make sure you have lots of time to transfer in Frankfurt or avoid it.

I am still feeling unreal & not quite here. The fact that it’s snowing outside does not help this one bit. I have not lived in snow for 18 years. I did buy a winter coat while visiting Maggie, figured that the things they were selling in the Boston area would work for here too.

I have many more thoughts about the work in Rochester, clearing out my folks house. More later, if I manage to stay awake.