Epic European Cycle : 2015-07-18 : Errand Day in Frankfurt

Tip
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
General Info Blog View $0.00
Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Sight See Frankfurt Gay Pride Parade $0.00
Service
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
Other DHL - Post Office $80.00 The postal service in Germany has been privatized and is now run by DHL. A company that I love to hate. We've used them once before, and in Germany, they don't seem vile (unlike in Edmonton). Today we're going to ship home our new packs and some unused gear, and send off some Isle of Wight maps to Joanne.
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Hotel Hotel Savigny Frankfurt Booking.com Frankfurt $149.00 Savignystr. 14-16, Westend
Near Alte Oper U station, which goes to Fischstein station
Two separate bookings. Night 1 (booking 485.415.723): $89, night 2 (booking 570753113): $60.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Oddly, I haven't found coming to Germany to be "jarring" this time like it was last time. Coming from Britain is ok - everything seems pretty normal (except in German). Coming from Western France was a shock though, because the pace there is so slow, and the people so over-the-top warm and friendly.
I brought a skort along for warmer days, but I chose poorly. I brought one of the heavy Costco skorts. Uhhhh... yeah, apparently a "winter skort". It is way too heavy and warm to be of any good, so I decided I wanted to head down to the area where we bought our backpacks and look for a skort. That area happened to be the epicenter of the Frankfurt Gay Pride Parade today, and we ended up with front row standing to watch. My favorite was some guys painted in rainbow colors, sort of like the ones from the web page only better. Brent's favorite was a mobile drum circle. I received a flag and brochure from something to do with gay rights in Israel.
Technology can be really great... and it can also be a complete ass. A while back, I booked to stay in our Frankfurt hotel for tonight. Then, we decided to come a day early so I wanted to book us for a second night (last night). Booking.com wouldn't let me modify my existing booking and add the second night, but it had no problem with creating a second booking for the second night. You can see where this is going.

Yesterday when we checked in, I explained the situation and asked if we would be able to stay in the same room for both nights, or if we would have to check out in between the two nights. The fella I talked to said he would put a note on my reservation that we were keeping the same room. This morning when we went out, I stopped by the desk to confirm that they knew we were staying in the same room. They didn't know. Their "system" didn't know. But, they were nice about it and went "ticky ticky ticky" on their computer to set it up for us to stay in the room.

We went out for the day and came back in late afternoon. Everything was fine. We had a nap. At 7:30PM, someone from the hotel came to knock on the door to find out who was in here and how long we were staying. Their "system" didn't know we were renewed in here. They got it straightened out, but surely there must be a way to convert "two separate reservations for two separate nights" into "one reservation for two nights" without me having to talk to every single staff member only to still end up with a mix-up!? If everything weren't so dependent on technology, this surely would not have happened. A quick phone call when I wanted to book the second night would have sufficed.


Photos