I had a day of rest before my next trip which is to Germany to play some club matches for ETUF Essen (near Dusseldorf). The trip started when a friend gave me a ride to the West Palm Beach tri-rail station where I took a local train to the Miami Airport, about a two hour trip ($5).

At the airport I found my check-in counter which was pretty much as far away from the train entrance as possible (Condor). I was quite early so it was no problem. I walked toward my J gates, went to a priority pass lounge, then to the plane. The flight was a bit bumpy but arrived early and was generally a good flight.

On the descent I saw some red clay courts in the distance!

Of course, landing in Frankfurt we had to exit via stairs quite a ways from the terminal and were bussed to the terminal. Passport control was very quick, then I walked a ways to pick up my checked bag and on to the long distance train station.

At the long distance station, I saw a REWE grocery store so bought some chocolate and a cold drink (this is the place to buy them, as they are sold at normal German prices), and the store had a wide variety of foodstuff. I managed to skip the German bread, for now!

The train to Essen was only about 10 minutes late, which is pretty good for a German train these days. And quite comfortable as well.

After walking to my hotel and checking in, I walked to the rental car agency and picked up my car. It’s always a debate over taking Uber and taxis or renting a car.

It’s cold and rainy here in Germany quite a contrast to Florida. The only thing they have in common these days since it’s raining in Florida a lot to it rain off and on all day yesterday there, but it was in the upper 80s not the 50s!

I had a very nice dinner at the ETUF main restaurant with Sabine Schmidt, my German Club team captain, with a view of the lake, though it was a dreary evening, it was warm and pleasant inside.

And that’s a wrap in Day 1 in Germany, 2025.