I noted a shift from small-town-field-forest-small-town trails to much less field and forest and instead, larger towns as I cross the Frankfurt-Mainz corridor (over the next 2 days). Then it'll be back to rural trails. The big transition today (and worthy of a pic) was to cross the Main River that feeds the Rhein in Mainz (be there in 2 days).
Although I aimed at staying in Mühlheim, the Booking.com hotel left me high and dry--it was permanently closed! So I walked an additional 2+ miles to the next town, Offenbach, to a Pakistani-owned hotel. With its large industrial sector, Offenbach is now one of those cities (126K inh.) with Germans being in the minority. This trend is expected to continue as the German fertility rate has plummeted to 1.4, some saying the lowest in the EU. (Recall, 2.1 is zero-growth!) Interestingly, I'm greeting more and more folks that look non-German, but I'm pleased to say that their response is mostly a happy one back!
By the way, I love the Döner Restaurants--good combo of salad,carbs, and meat! The pic of the Big Döner House says it all for me--it's just a surrogate for all those I've visited, a good number with Eddie.
