Bitburg 2012: Sunday

After we finished playing it was back to the hotel for quick showers and to pack. The plan was to head back to Frankfurt in order to get in some sight-seeing and be closer to the airport for our morning flight to DC.
[Since I've written all these MS Bitburg posts without the paintball filling I'ma give y'all a special event layout post of Bitburg and a breakdown of how Art Chaos played--and plays.]
On the way out of town we took a brief detour to grab lunch at the local Burger King which had excellent fries. The burgers in Euroland always taste a bit odd though and the German mayonnaise was virtually inedible for some reason while the French equivalent was both spicier and quite tasty. (For the Eurokids: If you like mayo on your fries get a decent brand of ranch dressing and try that instead. You can thank me later.) In exchange for the ranch dressing America could really use the multi-passenger vans that are ubiquitous in Euroland. Bigger than an American minivan, taller and narrower than a full sized van our rental Renault diesel was roomy, reasonably comfortably and gobbled up enormous amounts of gear. And it was more fun to drive than a big American van.
The drive back was frustrating. I was trying to capture some of the countryside on video as we drove and it was almost impossible. The Germans have very efficiently grown screens and windbreaks of trees and foliage along the sides of the highway which no doubt preserves the countryside from the unsightly roads and noise but also makes it nearly impossible to get uninterrupted views. (I haven't reviewed any of that video yet so perhaps I got a few good bits.)
Returning to the Frankfurt airport we stayed the night at the Hilton Garden Inn located in The Squaire. The Squaire is an ongoing project that intermingles hotels, restaurants, shopping and business centers just off the highway next to the airport. It is one enormous glass and aluminum structure that looks like crashed alien spacecraft meets Bauhaus or perhaps a futuristic cruise ship run aground and stripped bare by the dystopic remnants of civilization. Inside there is direct access to the airport concourses and an underground train station. The Garden Inn was ironically named as the only hint of greenery or the outdoors came in a repeating leaf motif illuminated in pale blue fiber optics on the wall behind the front desk. In every other respect it is a superb hotel. Well, there is the one thing. A thing common to every Euroland hotel and restaurant I've ever frequented and that is the very (I mean very) leisurely pace the meal is provided. Even without the necessary courses to validate the meal's length it seems to be an habitual European practice to extend meals as long as possible. Here's a hint: Americans are gauche, especially a crowd of (mostly) young men. All they want is their food now.
For fans of the UFC when we were clearing customs in DC we saw Rampage Jackson doing the same having arrived from Madrid. He looked tired. So tired even his trademark scowl was drooping a little. I never would have expected the Hello Kitty luggage set. (kidding) Dulles was kind enough to give us something to do while we waited for our Tampa flight--we got to play musical gates as our departure gate was changed 3 times during our 3 hour layover.

For those of you who took the hint about video from Thursday I have some games downloaded and will be reviewing them in detail over the next few days. I'm not sure what the quality is but if I have anything good you can count on it being posted.