Day 1 - Franfurt

Ethiopia Trip, Day 1 – Frankfurt

It has been a long day, but a good start to our journey. The flight left Denver more than ½ an hour late, but we easily made that up in the air. Brian and I both slept a precious little bit, did a little bit of reading, a lot of listening to music, and some talking. An average flight without much out of the ordinary.

In Frankfurt, we easily got the hotel shuttle and made it to the hotel without incident. Brian was stuck in this airport and a few of its hotels just a few short weeks ago when he couldn’t make it home to Denver due to snow. He is now intimately familiar with the Frankfurt airport making it much easier to navigate!

After we checked into our room and dropped off our carry-ons (our other luggage is checked all the way to Addis), we went to the front desk to find out about getting to the European Baha’i House of Worship. The young lady at the front desk had NO idea where it was – even WITH the address and directions we printed from the website! Nonetheless, we decided to call a taxi. The taxi driver had a GPS which couldn’t find the exact address, either. So, she put in the street and doubtfully set out.

The GPS got us there quite handily, even if our trusty driver had no idea about where we were going. She asked if “Baha’i” was a restaurant. We smiled and tried to tell her it was our faith. We did see some signs along the way, so that helped a bit. Once we finally reached our destination and she saw the building, she seemed rather impressed. She asked, again, what it was, and I made the motion of praying and tried to tell her that everyone was welcome to come pray there. Who knows if she understood the words or meaning, but maybe she will be intrigued enough to come back some day.

We arrived ½ an hour before the visitor/information center reopened after lunch, so we decided to see if the actual House of Worship was open. It was, so we simply circumambulated this amazing building – both from the outside and the inside that surrounds the inner “sanctuary.” I apologize for my lack of knowledge about the proper terms, so hopefully you will get the idea. The building is round; with the very inside being a circular room with chairs set up for prayers. There are 9 entrances to this inner area from a walkway that goes completely around the building. Then, there are 9 entrances to the outside from there. It is seemingly simple, but also elegant.

We meandered down to the information center to meet the custodians at 2. They were both very nice and offered us coffee and water. Brian told them why we were there and what we were up to. Then we perused their bookstore, buying a few different items, including a picture book of Brendan’s favorite prayer and another prayer book with English, German and Arabic. After making our purchases, we headed back to the House of Worship to say some prayers.

I have to say it was a new experience to be in a place of meditation and prayers with only one other person. At least a place like that. It was cold, but peaceful and serene. And because it was empty except for Brian, I sang a few prayers just to hear the acoustics. Talk about cool. Focusing my mind through prayer and meditation this way was a really wonderful way to spend the first day of this adventure.

Once we were done there, we decided to take public transportation to Frankfurt itself. We walked, took a bus, rode a train, and then walked some more. We stopped for a Starbucks and then found our way to a place for dinner. Now, we are back at the hotel, exhausted but happy. We leave the hotel around 7:30 to move on to Addis.

Until next time,

Lori