Detour

June 17
The flight back to the states started out when I left Cindy & Mathew’s, got on the streetcar and realized that I’d left my book at their house! Horror of horrors. I was facing a two hour train ride and ten hour flight with no book. The first train of the day back to Frankfurt would get me into the station at exactly two hours before my flight. It would be tight. As I sat waiting for my train, the loudspeaker announcement droned on & on. I thought at one point that it seemed like a little too long to be announcing the arrival or departure of a train. I started writing a “to do” list for the States and looked up finally to see that the station was vacant except for a train official who came up and informed me that there was an accident on the track and I must get on the train at track 7 and transfer at some other city. By the time I did that, the train was running 25 minutes late. We made up some time and arrived 15 minutes late. By the time I got through check-in, security, immigration, and a 2nd security check, the plane was loading. I don’t like cutting it that close. I managed to quickly buy a Vanity Fair magazine on my way to the gate that had a long article about Dubai. I didn't read much after all on the plane.

Just a comment about a little German culture shock: I saw this billboard several times in my short week in Germany. I did a double take the first time. You can see the man's pubic hair!! Quite the shocker after a year in Saudi Arabia. Maybe I'm becoming more conservative.