You fly on some airline, you register with their frequent flyer program (although each airline comes up with their own goofy name for the program, such as “Dividend Reward Value Sky Miles Plus”), you earn miles, and when you earn enough, you cash them in on a free flight. So they’re worth something to you, but what? If you cash in 25,000 miles on a flight that would have set you back $500, that doesn’t mean that each mile was worth 2 cents, although that is a popular…

Gran Via is one of Madrid’s main streets, and while walking through the rain looking for its Museum of Ham (Madrid has six of these diner-like “museums”, and I’d already been to two that day, but neither had the gift shop with the crucial Museo del Jamon schwag) I passed this place:

I recently heard on short notice that I would have some time to kill in Frankfurt, and just as I was wondering what to do there, Tim Bray posted something about a recent visit, so I asked him. He suggested the Sachsenhausen district, across the Main River. I booked a room in a hotel near there and wandered around a lot. It was great; I’d certainly do it again.