Uneventful flight and we waited for our luggage at the carousel. Fortunately, our two pieces came off the carousel first! Our hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, is right at the airport and in a new wing. We love this place as we stayed here earlier in the year. Lana grabs a 45 minute nap while I have a shower and take my battery of vitamins and minerals as we are now Saturday in Europe. Skies were overcast with blue patches, but no rain forecast.
Lana eventually wakens with my prodding and has a shower to get ready for a great day in Frankfurt. We are eventually meeting our German friends from Heidelberg at a restaurant in the Sachsenhausen neighbourhood at 8 pm. We have taken the trains many times from the Frankfurt airport to downtown so we navigate through the airport easily. The ticket machines always generate long lines. Not that easy to figure out which buttons to push for your fare. The German rail system is pretty much an honour system as you do not present a ticket to board a train. There may be German rail officials checking tickets. We catch the train which will take us to downtown Frankfurt am Main and the Konstablerwache station. It is around 4 pm.
As we come up to the surface from the stairwell, we are greeted by fairly blue skies and a bright warm sun. A great start to our vacation! First stop is at the Farmers Market area and eating a bratwurst sandwich and pork sandwich. Are you surprised? As well, our first picture is German food! Took us a few minutes to hoover down the food. Sehr lecker (very delicious)!
Farmers Market area; eating, drinking, buying vegs/fruit and other assorted German foodstuffs
We love this area of downtown as every Saturday it is filled with people and great casual German food and drinking; apfelwein, bier and other German specialities. Cash only! In fact, not many Germans use credit cards anyway.
Very large pedestrian only area surrounded by large German department stores and smaller boutique shops. Plus, some malls that go up about 5-6 stories. Everywhere there is lots of people. Frankfurt am Main is very multi-cultured; all ethnicities, colours, languages, dress and all ages. You gotta watch where you are walking given how packed it is with people. Don't forget to bring change if you are using a public toilet as it costs money. An easily accessible subway train runs below.
Interesting group of punkers who definitely stick out here. Dyed spiked hair and leather jackets with lots of stickers. Chains on the pants and drinking lots of beer. Girls as well as guys are dressed up in their fashion that attracts lots of attention. People ask to have their pictures taken with them! They are pretty well behaved with only the occasional shoulder bashing and chucking beer cans at each other.
Lana is getting some shopping action in while I mostly sit on a bench and people watch. Lots of shady trees on this mall area. I took out my Fido SIM card from my iPhone and reinserted my Vodafone SIM card. After an activation from a Vodafone store, I learned I have 30 Euro credit still. I can use my iPhone for phone, text and data while anywhere in western Europe so that will be helpful. My German number is +49 (0) 152 03230619. Remember we are nine hours ahead in Deutschland or anywhere we are traveling.
Yup, lots of fun!
Another unusual happening is the Karstadt department store has a number of rock and other musical groups performing in front of their store, but mostly they are behind the windows where the mannequins would be. The speakers are set up outside. Hmmmm? Quite the variety of musical acts and lots of people crowded and listening. One of the singers is a rap artist doing it in Deutsch. Different listening for my english ears accustomed to North American rap styles.
Oh yeah, we are in Europe as very quickly the number of people smoking outside is far greater than North America. People a lot less slimmer, although not everyone.
We are taking the occasional No Jet Lag homeopathic pill to combat the typical woozy jet lag brain and body. Lana is always better with the transition given she can go to sleep anytime and anywhere. We have a great time (about 4 hours) enjoying the crowds and Lana enjoying her shopping opportunities. English is spoken by many of the young people and most of the older people so easy to converse. What a great afternoon in the warm sun and German crowds.
The Zum Gemalten Haus restaurant is only a couple of stations away in the Sachsenhausen neighbourhood and easy to find. We arrive about 10 minutes early to 8 pm. Wolfgang and Adri are already there after driving in from Heidelberg. We stayed at their apartment in Heidelberg in the Spring and they stayed at our place in Vancouver for a couple of weeks in April. As well a couple of their friends joined us for dinner and drinks. Very authentic local food. Plus, we drank the apfelwein mixed with soda water during the entire meal. The restaurant ambience and appointments are very typical German. What a great feeling for both of us to be in Deutschland and with friends!
Wolfgang & Adri across from us; Markus to my left and Collette across from Markus
German schnapps finished over our meal around 10:30 pm
Meal for two inclusive of Heidelberger sausage, bratwurst, other sausages and tasty Pork with lots of sauerkraut. (Lana now thinks she's blown her calorie reduction plan in our first meal here!)
Wolfgang and Adri dropped us off at the airport on their way home to Heidelberg around 12:15 am. A late night, but lots of fun. Hoping for a good sleep. Checkout time is 12 noon. Lights out!
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