FRANKFURT

ONE NIGHT IN FRANKFURT By now the kids are beyond fried and hungry. We park the car and walk along the river. Which seems to be the prettiest part of town, which is NOT saying much, since Frankfurt is an armpit town. But pe

ople are out and musicians are playing. Unfortunately, we can’t find any food for them. Hubbie finally searches out a gelateria and gets Petite some ice cream while M.P. is fascinated by a group of musicians singing by the river. All is much better and we eventually pile into the double bed in our air-conditioned room. GETTING TO KNOW FRANKFURT’S CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL *I have been to urgent care and children’s hospitals in Paris, various parts of Italy, east and west coast of USA and now Germany. Shall I be continuing a tour of worldwide pediatric facilitites? The next day Miss Pudding is still having trouble breathing. Hubbie has a very important shoot for Apple. I had no idea Frankfurt would be so crappy. Hubbie drops me with Miss Pudding at the children’s hospital (after first going to the wrong hospital). Luckily, the doctor is not an idiot and understand immediately to prescribe a liquid steroid. I can’t manage Petite in hysterics at the hospital so Hubbie takes her to the Apple shoot with him. Thank goodness this doctor knows his stuff (note to self: next time go immediately to the children’s hospital). I pay and stroller Miss Pudding, who is practically passed out, to the pharmacy a few blocks away. She has sucked down so much gunk into her chest that she throws up as soon as we arrive but luckily, before I’ve given her the medicine. I finally get the meds into her and she perks up immediately. I find a taxi and get her back to the hotel. Hubbie drops Petite off with me. Now I have Miss Pudding, who is happy to lie in the A/C and watch a movie, and Petite who is raring to go and to whom, in a state of desperation last night, I had told I would take to a shopping mall. I ask at the front desk and of course, the mall I had spied on route to the pharmacy is still under construction. We are in a hot armpit city and I just am out of ideas for entertaining spirited Petite in our tiny hotel room all day. The lobby isn’t even cool enough to play in. Hubbie’s Apple contact gives me the name of another shopping area and I pop the kids in a taxi and we head to “the mall”. Miss Pudding has perked up and happy to be strolled around while Petite window shops and I search, unsuccessfully, for something for them to eat. Eventually we take a cab back to the hotel and collapse in the AC and wait for Hubbie to return.