Scott and I arrived in Frankfurt Germany at 7:30am local time. We flew all night from Atlanta Georgia. We were lucky enough to fly Business class! Scott is a frequent Delta flier. He had some special certificates that allowed us to upgrade to first class both ways. It was pure luxury!

Our seats were amazing. We sat in the last row, which was perfect. There was nobody behind us to turn on their lights or kick the seats while we were sleeping. They gave us full size down pillows and duvet covers. Our seat reclined to almost flat and had a foot rest to raise up your legs too.

They fed us like kings! We had three appetizers, including a crab salad and a delicious asparagus soup. The main course was a creamy shrimp with couscous. It was definitely the best airplane food I have ever had.

Despite the comfort in first class, neither of us got much sleep. The time change just made it too hard. It was like trying to go to sleep for the night at three o’clock in the afternoon. By the time it was our normal bed time, we were about ready to land. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the comfortable seat on our nine hour flight.

Once we landed we met our driver and drove about 2 1/2 hours east of Frankfurt to Langewiesen. It was located in eastern Germany in the old socialist state. It was a small village located in the middle of a big meadow. While Scott went to his meeting, I spent some time with our driver, Klaus. We went off in search of a coffee shop or a restaurant. It was no easy task. The town had very little in the way of stores or restaurants. We finally found a coffee shop/pharmacy. The “coffee shop” looked much more like a grandmother’s living room than a coffee shop. There were tree mismatched tables. Each one had different lace table cloths on them. None of the dishes matched. The place was filled with knick nacks and old antique furniture. It was run my a middle aged woman and her elderly mother. She was extremely nice and friendly, though she didn’t speak any English. She served us coffee and some little sandwiches of lox and ham.

It was interesting to hear Klaus speak of the East Germans. There was definitely some contempt in his voice. He complained about the “ugly German” that they spoke. The first pastry shop we tried to go to had a short line out the door. He grumbled that it was “typical East German mentality” to make people wait outside. Then he wondered out loud why they were all at the bakery at 11:00am, rather than at work. It seemed that the East Germans felt a similar divide. They also distinguished themselves as “East Germans” and not just Germans.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a single photo today. The weather here was dismal. It was cold and snowy most of the day. The visibility was terrible and I really didn’t have any chances to take any photos. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the vineyards and castles along the Rhine river. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will have some nice photos to post.