Europe Here I Come Part 2

BAH - FRA

The next leg of our journey was from Manama, Bahrain to Frankfurt Germany. Since we were sent early to the airport, we had to spend more time at the Manama Airport which was a busy airport compared to our KLIA. By the time we boarded the plane it was already past 1 AM local time. This time it was a Gulf Air using the Airbus 340 wide bodied plane with 2 seats on the window side and four seats in a row configuration meaning. This configuration is good in that you have to cross only one seat to get out to the rest room which we need to do from time to time.
The seat configuration in the Airbus 340.

After we had settled in our seats we tried to get some shut eye. The selection of in flight movies and the poor audio/video equipment was a disappointment in the Airbus 340 compared to what was available on the Boeing 777. We looked with envy at the people in the back portion of the plane who had the luxury of sleeping horizontally in a row of four seats in the same economy class as the plane was not flying a full load.
Without much things to do as there was nothing to see out of the windows, trying to sleep was a quite a trial.
When day break came, this is all we could see from outside of our window.I posted the same picture of the wing tip in my eqarlier post which was of the Airbus 340 and not the Boeing 777.
How I wished I had been allocated the other side of the window as I could glimpse the sunrise and would be great to shoot the sunrise from it.
The only thing worth doing during that flight was watching the flight path on the main screen as there was not much visibility on our individual screen. That goes to show how old the plane is.
The big screen showing the flight path of the plane.
When we reached Frankfurt airport, a bus was waiting for us. It was a new bus and very comfortable for our group of 32. The bus was driven by a very friendly driver by the name of Eddy.

This is the bus that will take us around most of Europe. Here the males in the group posed for a photograph. The rest of the group were females.
Since we were not touring Frankfurt, we requested for a stop somewhere in Frankfurt to see a section of the city. The tour leader had chosen Romer as the place for us to visit. Romer is an old part of the city and we were impressed with the old buildings found in the area. Here are some of the faces of Romer, Frankfurt.

A tram is widely used as mass rapid transit system

Me and my other half posed beside a statue in Romer.

After an hour in Romer we moved on to Metzingen also in the Frankfurt area which is famous as a Factory outlet in Germany. Many famous brands such as Hugo Boss, Nike, Puma etc are available. Since the same products are available in Malaysia at a much cheaper rate, many of us didn't find this factory outlets of any interest. I used the time allotted to visit the factory to walk around the town and was rewarded with many sight of beautiful buildings and things of interest. These are some of them.

On the way to Metzingen we stopped at a provision store to buy things for our use while in Europe. The store was named Norma a familiar female name in Malaysia.

After two hours of ride in the bus the driver had to stop to rest and let our group do the toilet and those cigarette smokers to have their fix. The above stop charge us 50 Euro cents for the use of their toilet. 50 Euro cents is equivalent to RM2.30 quite a price in ringgit terms to pay just to pee.


This is the price of a burger at the outlet. Multiply that by RM4.60 a Euro.

Adult magazines are openly sold at such outlets. They were placed on the higher shelves to avoid underage children from having access to them.

It was the holiday season and many people in Europe took their holiday homes out. This guy is one of them.
When we reached Metzingen, we were given time to shop around at the factory outlets. We were told to shop till we drop.

The Hugo Boss outlet.

This taxi was driven by a female.

This is a street scene in Metzingen.


An old wooden building still standing. It was formerly a winery.

Another old building with lots of wood used.

Most bikers we saw in Europe were properly dressed when riding on their big bike. I spotted this one in the town.

A lorry laden with logs. The way they maintain their forests, I am sure we will lose our own long before them.

We saw this little baby helping her mum collect firewood for winter. We asked her mum for permission to take a photograph of her. See how cute she is.

Joshua was using this Euro 8,000 tricycle to promote a newly opened cafe in town. Joshua took a spin to demonstrate the use of the bike.
Tuan Haji Fuad and wife Puan Zulaikha admiring the bike. If anyone could afford to buy it, it must be him.

A beautifully decorated corner of a street.

Another beautiful feature of the town is the clear stream gushing through the middle of the town.

Finally we were taken to our hotel in the vicinity of the airport in Stuttgard.

The hotel in the daytime.

This is already 9.30 PM local time and the area is still looks very bright.

The hotel was built on a farm. The area in front of the hotel and behind it were still cultivated with vegetables.
Everything in Europe seems to be interesting to look at. There is so much to see and savour. Now I am beginning to wonder how on earth I am going to post the many photographs that I have taken. Making the choice is beginning to give me a headache as what I find interesting may not be interesting enough for others.
Then there is also the videos to view.