Hitler Would Turn Over In His Grave (aka Frankfurt Has Left a Sour Taste in My Mouth)

Up until a couple of hours ago, I didn't have much but good things to say about Frankfurt. But having just been ripped off in broad daylight in such a way that I wouldn't expect anywhere apart from when I would be an obvious tourist in a third world country (or perhaps when taking a taxi in Sweden...), I now think differently.

Frankfurt has its very own Maggi Noodles restaurant!

The South side of the river Maim all dressed up for the Women's Soccer
World Cup.

I had just over an hour to kill before my train to Munich, so sat down at a table by a bar near the train station where some excitement seemed to be happening in the street. The bar had no menus at the table, and like many bars in Germany, operates the dodgy cash only system without receipts for what you purchase. When I got my beer delivered and was charged EUR 8.50, I thought it seemed a bit much, but figured I must have got some specialty beer, and hence the price. When I was close to finishing the beer, I got up and had a look at the menu on the wall by the entrance and noticed that not a single beer cost more than EUR 5 - and my limited German told me that my beer was EUR 3.50. I called the waitress over and asked if perhaps she overcharged me by mistake. Boy, did I get a mouthful in return: of course I only gave her EUR 5 (not the EUR 10 I actually gave her) and therefore the EUR 1.50 she gave me change was correct. If I thought it was wrong I should have said so at the time. But how was I to know the correct price? Well, apparently, I just should have known. I shouldn't have waited so long and I am a lier for even suggesting that she owes me another EUR 5. Talking to the boss inside wasn't much better - she figured good customer service involves starting conversations with other people while talking to me, and/or walking away while I'm talking. Well, so much for a respectable city. These kind of assholes who don't know how to treat customers and/or feel they can rip tourists off can rot in hell. Harsh, but it makes me feel better.

But to the first part of the title. I was quite surprised at how much of an international city Frankfurt is. In some ways it reminds me of parts of Australia, being a melting pot of so many foreign cultures together with what one would ocnsider traditional Germans. I could almost group the traditional Germans into two groups: those who remind me of me and my family, and those who don't. But then there are the arabs, the Africans, the Indians, the East Asians, and everyone else. The 'old' Germans in Frankfurt really seem to be the minority now. It's funny, when we are young we are told that it's not nice to get pleasure in the failures of others, but in some sick way, seeing the mixture of people in Frankfurt gives one great satisfaction in the failure of Hitler.

My stay in Frankfurt was extremely brief - I was there for some training for work. One important thing I did learn, having had a training class full of primiarily Germans, is how appreciative I really am of the Danes who not only speak English so well, but are generally so thoughtful so as to speak English rather than Danish when amongst non-Danish speakers. Whilst conversing in English was not a problem in Frankfurt, it is clearly a non-native language of most people. Additionally, if you sit amongst Germans, little attempt is made to converse in English. Of course, expecting this would be presumptuous, but when it does happen, as I'm used to in Denmark, I should be all the more appreciative!

And my favourite part - the traditional Germany buildings around town....