Saturday, June 21, 2008

Europe Part 3: Aschaffenburg


Thursday I travelled to Wasserlos, greeted by a front entrance pictured right. Strange! It was a very small town, with not much to do. In fact, it was 2:30pm in the afternoon, and I hadn’t had lunch yet....but there was no food available anywhere! All stores closed, no restaurants open, etc.

After my customer meeting on Friday, I was dropped off in Aschaffenburg for the night. I had a midnight train to catch, so I had some time in the city. After finding a nice meal and touring around (castle left), I headed down to some Fair that was going on.

Let me tell you, the CNE is BORING compared to this! Vegas-style flashing lights, hard-core dance music (trance?) that was different for each ride...it was hilarious! There was a big tent as well (ok, HUGE tent) that was playing some german music (think Oktoberfest), with probably a couple thousand people drinking and dancing on tables, both young and old!

I then headed back up in to the city, and suddenly there was a loud bang – fireworks! They went on for quite awhile, and were impressive.

Finally, I started making my way to the train station when I stopped into a bar to watch the end of the Croatia/Turkey match, which turned into a classic at the end. Germany actually had quite a large Turkish population (related to post-WWII reconstruction), and after Turkey won, there was a massive celebration on the streets! Nothing in Canada compared to this – not even St. Clair or College after Italy won. What was most impressive was the Police, and how they did not interfere, and even enjoyed themselves. The fans were not about to trash anything, they just wanted to sing and dance! TURK-I-YE!

I’m now in Budapest, which is really quite impressive – my room at the Hilton in the Castle District had two upgrades, and is amazing! I overlook the Danube towards the Parliament!
....and just finished a nice hot stone massage..

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