Last week, while on a very long layover at Frankfurt Airport, I spent a few hours shopping, snoozing, snacking, and hanging around the upstairs food court in Terminal 2 waiting for someone to show up at the Czech Airlines ticket counter. Just beyond the food court, there’s an outdoor Visitor’s Terrace.  And, after writing a story about the rare – but free – (for now) outdoor observation decks at some U.S. airports,  I was surprised by how many people were willing to pony up five euros for the privilege of getting on the other side of the window and just a wee bit closer to the action on the airfield.

I was wondering why they’d pay extra just to see pretty much the same thing I could see for free from inside the terminal and worried a bit about how noisy it must be outside when airplanes took off and landed.

But then a bunch of kids showed up to play with this rocket ship in the middle of the food court and I realized it was probably much noisier inside.

All in all though, a fun way to spend a few hours stuck at the airport.

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