Sweaty Germany

I think many of us are partial to the occasional airport blip. They are mainly ugly and unhealthy places, but occasionally they supply a good vista. I took this through the window of the bus that was taking us from a Schengen to a non-Schengen gate in Frankfurt airport. This was a further manoeuvre that meant that we were even later arriving than seemed likely when the aeroplane arrived late into Edinburgh. The pilot supplied the logical but insufficient explanation that the outbound flight to Frankfurt was late because of the late arrival of the inbound aircraft... Duh. I was also stumped when I arrived by the fact that the car driving me to the venue was apparently waiting in departures, not arrivals. Again, a certain lack of logic and, in particular, a failure to communicate this fact to me until I'd made a bunch of phone calls. Well, we got there in the end. It's nice being chauffeured in a black Mercedes...

Anyway, back on the road again - to a conference in Bad Homburg, which is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Germany and - by extension - the whole of Europe. It's a spa town with a royal history. Doubtless the parkland which the hotel borders will supply some blips over the next couple of days. The view from the conference venue balcony over the secular "spires" of modern Frankfurt is in the extras.

It's hot here. 28 degrees when I landed and the grass is brown. Little rain in months.