We had a very early morning with a 2:30am wake-up call. By 3:00am we were in the dining room where the hotel had prepared a table for two with a plate of pastries and coffee before our departure. By 3:15am we were in our taxi on the way to the Palermo airport bound for Rome and then onto Frankfurt, Germany. The flight to Rome was only about one hour while the flight to Frankfurt took about two-hours. When we arrived in Frankfurt our plane’s luggage was sent to another terminal so everyone was waiting for their luggage to arrive with no luck. Finally, after thirty-minutes or so, the error was discovered and we were escorted to another terminal where we retrieved our luggage. The baggage claim is in a secure area so we had to be granted access through two locked doors to get our luggage.

We took a train from the airport to the main train station where we were able to walk about two blocks to our hotel. The Victoria Hotel is located in what I might call the red-light district. The neighboring streets are lined with sex shops, people sleeping on the streets and most likely dealing drugs by the look of some of the people on the street. The hotel itself is clean and the staff are friendly. The only downside is that the room is quite small and it is difficult to manage our suitcases in such a small room.

We had a bite to eat for lunch at a neighborhood Thai restaurant before returning to our hotel for a well needed nap. After our nap we took a walk around the city to explore some pedestrian only streets and the old town where they have been restoring some of the older buildings. The weather was warm and sunny so the locals were out in mass to enjoy the day. We also walked along the Main Riverfront where there is a wonderful promenade filled with walkers, bicycles and people having picnics in the sun. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a sidewalk café where Kent had German Sausages and Mark had the Schnitzel. Our waiter was from Columbia and we had a great conversation with him about language and studying in Germany.