frankfurter free range

The first thing that I noticed upon arriving at Frankfurt Airport on our way back to Hong Kong was the polished granite floors. No! That’s not quite accurate. What I noticed was the proliferation of ‘impurities’ in the granite. The technical term for such a body is xenolith (Greek: ‘foreign stone’). Whenever molten magma is intruded into existing rock, whether it is sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic, bits of this so-called ‘country rock’ fall into the magma. Smaller pieces will dissolve completely, and their presence can be detected only by detailed geochemical analysis, but larger pieces do not dissolve and can still be seen once the magma has cooled and solidified, like the examples in these two photos:

The two adjacent blocks in the first photo appear to vary in mineralogical composition, but that isn’t unusual, even in rock from the same quarry. Incidentally, if you’re from Penrith, you can see some good examples of xenoliths in the Shap granite that has been used to add a decorative touch to a few buildings in the town centre (check out Tough Stuff for a detailed description of the geology).

With a seven-hour stopover in Frankfurt, I spent quite a lot of time simply wandering around to see whether there was anything else worth photographing. The next photo, of a kind of glassed-in atrium, is probably my favourite, with its reflected intersecting lines making an interesting abstract composition:

There wasn’t much to see of interest outside the terminal, and I took this photo merely to show that the weather was fine while we were cooped up indoors:

However, I did realize that I would see a sunset before we boarded our plane to Hong Kong. And before the sunset, the westering sun did create some interesting lighting effects inside the terminal:

And I did capture the sunset. First, just before the sun disappeared below the horizon:

…then the subsequent lighting effects:

Our departure gate wasn’t accessible during this period, because we had to be able to prove that we had recorded negative covid-19 PCR tests and that we had booked a hotel for our three-day quarantine once we’d arrived in Hong Kong. However, when we were finally allowed to approach the gate, I could see that the sunset show wasn’t over. So I took another photo:

I’ve no idea why there are horizontal strips on the windows here, but I do have a theory. A captive audience?