3 Days in Frankfurt!

Germany was a BLAST to say the least, and definitely surreal! We arrived in Frankfurt on Tuesday, July 31^st and were immediately lost in the shuffle at the airport. No one knew how to exchange currency, buy train tickets, or read/speak any German! After spending nearly an hour deciding where to go, we eventually ended up in the middle of the Red Light District, and also coincidentally stumbled upon our hotel which was situated somewhere between “Foxy Ladies” and the “Double D” – talk about an eye opener! Our hotel actually ended up being very nice – minus the location, of course. J

The first night was spent checking out the small shops and restaurants in the area. We wandered in to one of the first pubs we ran across – and not knowing any German – said “beer.” It must be a universal word because we were all served immediately! This was the beginning to a great friendship we built with the bar tender, Mario, aside from a fairly large language barrier! He was originally from Bulgaria but moved to Germany for a few months because his daughter was very ill and was staying in the Frankfurt hospital.

That night led to a pretty rough morning, but we all managed to make it to the tour on time. We traveled about 45 minutes north of Frankfurt where we hopped on the Rhine River tour boat, and were immediately offered a glass of wine at 11 am. I am proud to say I respectfully declined!  The tour covered a castle-filled portion of the river which stretched nearly 12 miles long. Some of the castles dated back to the 1500s and have now been turned into hotels. Just breathtaking views all around. Once we returned to Frankfurt, we again went and visited our new friend, Mario.

Our final day was spent walking around the city. First, we went up the 54 story Helaba tower to get a bird’s eye view, and from there we mapped out our way to the cathedral. On the way to the cathedral, we stumbled upon the “City Center” which was basically an outdoor mall with a lot of street performers and vendors. On the way back to our hotel we crossed the Main River via a “lock bridge.” Couples often engrave a padlock with their names and wedding date, lock the padlock somewhere on the bridge, and throw the key into the river to symbolize eternal love. Pretty cool seeing all the locks! Once again we returned to Mario’s for a “free” meal that ended up costing 218 Euros (nearly $250 American dollars). Those language barriers will get ya every time!

All in all, we had a lot of great bonding time for the adventures to come in Kenya – and the 218 Euro meal wasn’t too shabby either!