Heading to Germany, I had one thing in mind…rest. We had been on a whirlwind traveling spree for the last 9 days. From Grand Rapids to Frankfurt to Paris, back to Frankfurt, layed over in Amsterdam to Stavanger to Karmoy, back to Frankfurt. We had packed and repacked over and over, stored and unstored luggage, lost belongings in every country along the way, and ridden trains, busses, subways, taxies, airplanes and boats, hauling bags, backpacks, coats and kids. I just needed to sit in one place and not think about anything for 24 hours. I didn’t want to think about where my boarding pass and passport were, what kind of currency to use, which language to speak, where my money pouch was, whether to tip or not, if chevre or lamb were ingredients in my food, when and where to snap a picture, or if my beef would be served raw. I just needed to relax. I had two nights and one full day in Frankfurt’s Savoy Hotel where my brain off and my feet up were my only goals.
A goal of Dakota’s became clear immediately when we entered the hotel lobby. He turned on the charm the moment he saw the cute, 20-something, blond behind the counter. I’m not good with names but she looked just like Ross’s college girlfriend in Friends (I know, I’m a dork!). Cody strolled up to the young lady before Scott could even get our room numbers and announced, “It’s my birthday tomorrow.” “Oh, Hoppy bersday.” She smiled, a little confused. “Yeah, will you make me a birthday cake tomorrow?” he flirted. Scott and I laughed out loud and the girl giggled, catching on to Cody’s game. “We don’t have cake here.” Cody sighed jokingly, “Oh no, I thought you would make me a cake for my birthday.” Scott cut in then and got our rooms, letting her know he would be down later to ask her some questions about laundry service and nearby restaurants. Cody told us in the elevator he would come down later to ask the desk girl out “She’s hot!” Oh my little Cody, the 15-year old lady’s man.
Scott reserved two attached rooms because each room had two single beds. Cody immediately staked claim, and closed and locked the adjacent door. “Cooohh-dy, we need to get in that room.” He opened the door. “Why?” “Elle is sleeping in that room, too,” Scott informed him. “Oh man, I thought I was getting my own room for my birthday present.” Tht actually sounded like a fair idea to me. What does a teenage boy want more than privacy, right? So, in the end, Elle slept in bed with me and Dakota’s birthday present was to close and lock his own room.
The next morning, I dressed in my running clothes and went out to find the hotel gym. Scott, Elle and Cody were still sleeping. Before I left the room, I whispered to Scott, “I’m going to run for 30 minutes, then I’ll be back so don’t go to breakfast without me.” He opened his eyes, defensively, “I’m going to breakfast when I get up whether you’re back or not.” My feather were ruffled, “Why can’t you wait for me? I just want to get a quick run in. You’re not even up yet.” He wasn’t budging, “Molly, I have stuff I want to do today too and I don’t want to wait around all morning for you.” This pissed me off. “You’ve called the shots. We go along with all your plans. It’s ok if we do everything you want to do but as soon as I want to do something it’s not ok! I’m going mow and I’ll be back before you even get ready to go.” He begrudgingly agreed, saying, “Fine, go. But if we’re ready to go and you’re not back, I’m not gonna be happy.” “Scott, you’ll have to get up, use the bathroom, smoke, dress Elle. There’s no way you’ll do all that in a half hour. I’ll be back. And if I’m not, just send Cody to get me in the gym and I’ll come back.” He pushed his head back into the pillow and I stomped out.
I found the gym. It had weight machines, a pool, a sauna, a stationary bike, and no treadmill. Great, I argued for nothing. I headed back to the room. I considered running outside for a moment but the traffic, the cold and my ignorance of any directions stopped me. When I got back to the room, Scott was crawling out of bed and Elle was stirring awake.
It was closer to lunchtime than to breakfast, so Scott, Elle and I went to an Indian restaurant a block from the hotel. The ironic thing was I chose the Indian restaurant so I could recognize the items on the menu for a change. I figured the number of times I’ve eaten at Bombay in Eastown would allow me to order with certainty. I told you, I was just sick of wondering and being unsure. I wanted to turn my brain off. But yet again, Scott and I were not on the same brain wave.
Leaving the restaurant, he took Elle on a 2-hour bus tour of Frankfurt, while I headed back to the hotel, stopping to pick up a gyro to bring back for Cody. I couldn’t wait to get back to the room, put on some sweats and cuddle up with a good book. It surprised me to realize that I had absolutely no desire to explore Frankfurt, or Germany for that matter.
I apologize if I offend because I’m 100% sure I will, but I can at least claim ignorance as a defense. At our other destinations, I had some positive background information. I knew what interested me about the place so I had site-seeing goals. The absolute only history of Germany I know centers around Adolf Hitler and the Jewish Holocaust. Nightmarish, terror-filled, disgusting images of concentration camps, gas chambers, starving children, cruel SS officers, Hitler ranting to lines of hailing soldiers were the only images I had of Germany. Fear, terror, misery, hunger, desperation, hopelessness, helplessness were the only feelings I equated with the country. So I entered Germany distrusting it, disliking it and despising it. In fact, when Scott and I found an internet hotspot in the Frankfurt train station, we sat with Elle and had some snacks. Each of us typed away on our laptops (including Elle’s little purple laptop game), when suddenly a loud voice boomed over a megaphone out in the station. The man’s aggressive voice echoed against the cement walls and high ceilings. The German language, the angry tone, the cold echo spooked me out. I was literally frightened and visions of gaunt, petrified Jews herded into trains hijacked my brain. I understood there was more to Germany than World War II atrocities, and I know as an American I can hardly judge Germany for human cruelty in their past. In fact the front pages of all the papers in the train station featured the shooting in Phoenix. Still, my guts didn’t like Germany and didn’t care to learn more. I’m sure I’ll regret my decision someday, but for now, I was relaxing with my Nelson DeMille novel.
So thanks to Scott, there are a few photos of Frankfurt ( I was taking a break from the camera shutter too). He told me a little about each site but my eyes glazed over the same way they do when he talks finances.
Despite my attempt to escape any events on this stop, a few unique happenings found me. As I said, Cody had his own room. And, like me, his idea of enjoying Germany was relaxing in his room. We were both doing just thatwhen I suddenly heard in yell out in shock, “OH MY GOD. LOOK AT THIS!” He burst into my room, “MOM, LOOK AT THIS!” I don’t think his eyes could get any wider or his jaw drop any further. “THERE ARE NAKED LADIES ON NICKELODEAN! GO LOOK, I’M NOT KIDDING!” I was skeptical. He had probably accidently changed the channel and fell upon a hotel naughty network. I went in his room (there’s a big difference between seeing naked women on t.v. and seeing naked women on t.v. with your mom). Sure enough, the orange Nickelodean logo sat in the corner of the screen. And Cody wasn’t exaggerating. On the screen was a commercial for some cell phone app, featuring a full-frontal nudity. I’m talking from head to toe, no subtlety about it, full-frontal, including bare breasts and a baldy-girl lady part. Holy camoly. I was even shocked! Not only was this on T.V. but it was on Nickelodean! Hello, children’s network. Cody was still in the next room, listening to my reacton when the next ad popped up. I was even more shocking. In this commercial, there were two cartoon girls. You know those manga cartoons with the huge shiny eyes and womanly curved bodies? Here they were, buck-cartoon naked, engaged in some experimental hanky-pank. I’m not kidding you! My eyes were now as big as Cody’s and my jaw just as dropped when I returned to my room. “SEE, I TOLD YOU!” I laughed out loud as he went back to his room. I didn’t tell him to turn it off and I don’t know if he did or not. Honestly, I didn’t want to know. He’s a 15 year old boy and I wasn’t going to unplug his T.V.. Happy birthday, Cody, right?
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