Halfway down the Danube

A Night in the Red Light District

We flew from New York City to Frankfurt yesterday. The flight itself was not bad -- the kids both went to sleep quickly, and so did we, dozing upright in our chairs. Singapore Airlines, with those so friendly flight attendants.

The hard part had been getting to the airport, actually. Heavy rains in New York, so it took more than 90 minutes to get from midtown Manhattan to Kennedy Airport. David was squirmy and Alan was in full blown squirrel-on-crack mode, literally bouncing around the back of the taxi. Usually, car travel in the city offers a lot of distractions -- "Look, a BIG truck! There's a RED car! Hey, is that a CEMENT MIXER!?" -- but gridlock traffic, less so. So we were a bit frayed by the time we arrived; and finding our flight delayed by that same heavy weather didn't help.

But the plane did eventually take off, and land where it was supposed to. Claude took the kids into the car and we kissed goodbye and away she went to Ostheim, for a fun-packed week with inoculations and checkups and grandparents. And then I went to the little hotel reservation desk and asked for a cheap hotel downtown, near the main train station.

What I had forgotten is that the main train station is right in the middle of Frankfurt's very busy red light district.

Well, I was very tired. And the hotel room, though tiny, was clean. So.

...okay, so the title was a bit of a come-on. The shocking truth about my night in Frankfurt's red-light district is: I slept.

Oh, I walked around a bit first. Bought a new pair of running shoes at some busy shopping area downtown. Admired the giant Euro sculpture in Willy Brandt Platz; wondered why there isn't a 15 foot high dollar symbol in downtown Manhattan.

Went back to the red-light district. Ate Thai food in a little "dirty spoon"... the sort of place where you think, "I really doubt the cook washed his hands before cooking this," and then you think, "but it's SO tasty," and then you decide, "well, I'll just pour on some more hot sauce -- I'm pretty sure that it's an antibiotic, or maybe an antiseptic, or something." Had some ice cream.

And then I went to bed, and slept for many exhausted dreamless hours.

-- Okay, three tidbits about the red-light district.

First, it seems to have three sorts of people: normal people, immigrants, and degenerates. The normal people look normal. Possibly they're working girls who are about to change into black latex, or customers who have just stepped out of Hot XXX Steamy Slut Peeps, but they look normal.

The degenerates, on the other hand, look like degenerates. Prematurely aged alcoholics. Scrawny, unwashed drug addicts. Hard, scary looking prostitutes working their particular doorways and street corners. Sleazy pimps with gold teeth and threadbare suits. The degenerates are only maybe 5% of the people on the street, but they do add a certain something.

Finally, the immigrants -- mostly Turkish, some Arabs and North Africans, a few Eastern Europeans. A few Eastern Europeans are doing double duty as degenerates, but most of the immigrants look like, well, immigrants. Busy. A little nervous; a little preoccupied. Either trying to sell you something, or intently attending to their own business.

Second thing: it is the only place in Germany where I have seen large numbers of people, willfully and deliberately, crossing streets against the light. The first time it happened, I thought it must be a few isolated eccentrics. Not so.

Third: I had no idea that the famous P@ris Hilt*n video had a "director's cut".

Anyhow. I slept, and woke disoriented in the dark, thirsty and aching, and staggered to the bathroom and drank from the faucet like a dog, and went back to bed, and slept some more.

And at 6:15 in the morning, I was awakened by a roaring noise outside my window. I sat up, blinking and bleary, and looked out. A cleaning machine was speeding up one side of the street and down the other, wiping up the trash and muck, shining the streets for another busy day.

And that was my night in the red-light district.

Posted by douglas at August 14, 2004 09:54 PM