To and From: Saarbrucken

This past week I traveled to Saarbrucken, Germany for a work meeting. It was a quick trip that basically went something like this:

• Tuesday afternoon, get watch battery replaced so I at least have a chance at not missing my travel connections. Whew!


• Tuesday evening, fly to Frankfurt. Rats. Where is the shuttle to the hotel? No shuttle. Fine. Take taxi to hotel. Yay! The taxi driver speaks English.


• Sleep.


• Wednesday(early) morning, take hotel shuttle back to airport. Run around airport, train station(s) and Sheraton airport hotel looking for a place to buy an electrical adapter. Eventually find one. Whew! Buy train ticket to Saarbrucken, and head to platform. Rats. What happened to my ticket from Mannheim to Saarbrucken? Oh no, did I drop it?!?! Go back up escalator to start retracing my steps. Oh wait. It’s stuck to the back of my ticket to Mannheim. Whew! Back down escalator. Agh! The train is leaving! Jump on train and collapse in relief that I didn’t miss it.


• Arrive in Saarbrucken and take taxi to meeting location. Taxi driver is a nice older woman who doesn’t speak English, but very nicely put up with me anyway. Geez, I have become an annoying American who expects everyone to speak English.


• Meeting….meeting…..meeting.


• Wednesday evening, dine with group at nice restaurant. Parmesan creme brulee and big leafy green salad. Yum! Go to hotel and check in.


• Sleep.


• Thursday morning, RUN (literally and on purpose): about 25 minutes of running and walking along the Saar River. Yay! I get a star!


• Meeting….meeting….meeting.


• Bus to train station and train back to Frankfurt airport. Thank you Benedikt for help with the ticket machine! Go through the usual airport stuff, and reach gate, only to discover that there is no real food in Concourse C! Aaagghhh! I wanted a real meal with green vegetables for dinner! Whine, whine. Instead, my dinner consisted of: a giant cheesy bread blob from a tiny snack bar and chips from the vending machine, plus chocolate, nuts, and raisins from my emergency travel rations. Mmmm. Nutritious.


• Thursday evening, fly back to Edinburgh and take taxi to flat.


• Collapse.

Given that this was a work trip, there's not much that was even moderately interesting to share. But, I did take a few pictures that may qualify. There was this nifty shoe shining machine in both of the hotels that I stayed in, which makes me think they take their shoe shining seriously in Germany.

Also, in the building where the meeting was held, they had this artwork, which was kind of interesting, if a little creepy. I realize that because it's art you're not really supposed to sit in the chairs, but if you did, look where the guy in blue's hand would be. The lady looks like she's been duck taped to the chair. Where are her arms? And the guy in the green pants is sitting on top of the elevator, so you'd be able to see his legs hanging down when you go up or down. That would freak me out every day.

And really, since I decided against turning this post into a rant about concourse C at the airport, there's not much else to share. It was a fairly uneventful trip, which although boring to write about, is always a good thing.