Germany: The Final Day, Frankfurt

Morning in Munich, and an the remainder of the day in Frankfurt:

Our train wasn't scheduled to leave till around 12:00 so Kate and I took the opportunity to do a bit of hasty last minute exploring in Munich.

We decided to take a quick walk into the large public park (One of the largest in Europe) called the English Garden. Apparently it is very popular with nude sun bathers but we did not see any while we were there. (Perhaps thankfully so....)

One particularly popular site is "Ice Creek" or the "Eisbach". This is a mountain stream running through the English Garden. At this particular location there is a wave, I'm not sure what creates itexactly, and I assume if it is a rock it isn't too close to the surface. I put a youtube video of the surfing above. The surfers were lined up and were just taking turns. Kate and I paused to watch them for ten minutes or so before taking a quick walk through part of the park, and then on back towards the city center.

The older structure with a modern glass structure built around it is apparently the seat of the Bavarian government. There were some beautiful parks and flower gardens around here and it was very tranquil.

The gazebo like structure seen next is in a very beautiful park called the Odeonsplatz. There were vibrant purple flowers lining the edges of the walkway just past the hedges which you can just make out.

Kate and I looked through a plethora of tourist shops in Munich that morning as well. I had not yet purchased my souvenir. After much grumbling I did pick my self out a pint sized stein which I thought didn't look too overly touristy, and there wasn't a seem in the ceramic either... both major pluses. I wasn't going to get anything at all although my Mother seemed to think it was a good idea and Kate thought I would regret it if I hadn't. So now my stein adorns my bookshelf in my apartment.

We had left our luggage at the desk of our hotel so we headed back to retrieve it as it approached departure time. Once we picked up the luggage we made our way to the closest U-bahn station. This station was the first we had found that had no English translations. We had to use machines, and there was no English option. It took us a minute but with a little help from Kate's dictionary we purchased our tickets and headed over to the

Hauptbahnhof and looked for somewhere to grab a light lunch. The disappointing thing about the Hauptbahnhof food courts was that there were no common seating areas. I guess they expected you to grab your food and get on the train. In order to have a table one of us was going to have to eat at Burger King. I decided to bite the bullet, and Kate went off searching for food while I got a Whopper and a table. Ironically Kate ended up back a few minutes later with a BK Broiler... or the German Burger King equivalent.

Once on the train we had a pleasant and quick ride up to Frankfurt. I think it was only a couple of hours at the most.

Frankfurt am Main, or Frankfurt on the Main (the river in Frankfurt) is considered by many to be the equivalent of Manhattan in Europe. I definitely see the association. Frankfurt had the busiest most commercial streets that we saw anywhere in our trip to Germany. The city seemed to have a more diverse ethnic make up as well. These traits made it feel somehow less European and more like an American city. But there were still many beautiful and unique sites to behold even if it is no Berlin, Nürnberg, or München.

The Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt reminded me of Grand Central Station in NYC in terms of it's architecture, although perhaps on a much smaller scale. Our hotel was nearly across the street from the train station which was very convenient. When we arrived I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on. Apparently you needed to have your room key in a little holder by the door in order for the electricity to work. The concierge told me about this and looked at me like I was a moron, and I felt like one too. The hotel had more amenities than any of the ones we stayed at, complete with AC too! All this considered, in the end we still liked the Munich hotel best out of the three that we stayed at.

Once on our way touring the city one of the first amusing things we saw was this giant euro sign. Frankfurt is the seat of European financials, so I suppose it is a landmark in the same sense that the "Bull" & the "Bear" statues are on Wall St. in NYC. Some of the area around the hotel appeared to be a bit seedy, sort of the "Red Light District". We steered clear of those streets, especially later in the evening.

I had finished reading my book on the train and had nothing to read for the return flight so Kate suggested that I should buy another one. She had read about a "British Book Shop" and we set out trying to find it before it closed. It had limited hours on the weekend. The search was very frustrating and we disagreed how to find it and what direction we were heading in. I was admittedly cranky about it. I didn't want to distract myself with the book store, but knew Kate was probably right that it was something I should do. Not being able to find it made me down right grumpy. Kate really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Frankfurt, and I was sort of longing for the quaint streets of Nürnberg, or Brahman playground that was Munich. Frankfurt really was nice to see, and probably could have warranted more time than we had to visit. I suppose I had some "end of the vacation" blues. The blues wore off after a while, and ironically we eventually "accidentally" stumbled upon the street that the British Book Shop was on. I made it in with minutes to spare before closing and picked my self up a paperback copy of John Irving's "Setting Free The Bears". Satisfied with the success, I was cheered up. We headed to a pizza place we walked by earlier to grab some supper. There was a nice outside courtyard to eat at and watch people pass by. The pizza parlor called Raffeallo's Restaurant was near the Römerberg part of town. This part of town is apparently the oldest (although reconstructed from the war). It actually was at one point a Roman trading post. After supper we did a lot of walking around, especially along the "Main" River. There were beautiful parks lining the banks, and some spectacular views of the modern skyline. In many ways the area reminds you of the Charles River Esplanade in Boston, however Boston seems less modern in some ways, and the Main feels much more like a River than the Charles, which in Boston is practically a lake.

I have an assortment of pictures here, the infamous book store, and several of buildings around Römerberg.

On the side of the river opposite of Frankfurt's center was a museum row of sorts. Things were very quiet, although the occasional jogger or cyclist would pass by. There were a handful of party boats and cruise ships going up and down the river. I like the boat with the red sail that I photographed. It seemed sort of an exotic contrast next to the mirrored commercial buildings of the down town.

After some extensive walking it began to get dark so we headed back towards the hotel. The idea was to find an ice cream parlor on the way, but everything appeared to be closed. Refusing to give in, we decided that we could hit up the Hagen Daas at the Hauptbahnhof. After we had acquired a couple of quickly melting cones (I think we both had chocolate brownie.. or something along those lines) we headed back across the street.

Once in the hotel, I discovered I was feeling rather worried that my beer was going to break on the plane. Jens had bought a couple of local beers from Nürnberg, one of which I had already had back at their apartment. The plan was to drink it back stateside, but I began imagining my bag leaking upon arrival and homeland security confiscating it and arresting me. OK I exaggerate, I just didn't want beer soaked clothes. Perhaps I was just looking for an excuse to drink it. So with one last night of European/British CNN I sat down with my beer and a chaser of table water (as seen in photo) and listened to the coverage of Earthquakes in China and the 2008 election.

Kate and I had a wonderful trip, and I look forward to the next one! If only I could fit in another vacation now! (grumble) I sure could use one.... I know.... I'm being a bit spoiled. (sigh)