deutschland for a week (frankfurt)

In case you guys have been wondering why I have been missing in action for one whole week, I went to Germany! 7 days is quite long for a trip out of Gothenburg when school is still running, but visiting 3 cities of a country really gives you a more holistic feeling and vibe of a country, and I enjoyed this trip, despite the many scares i.e. incompatible air tickets, prospects of flying and getting to the hostel alone in the dark, running for trains etc.

Germany is much safer than I thought and expected, and Munich at night does feel like Singapore like Serene said. Our itinerary was Frankfurt-Berlin-Munich, and I felt that it was a good order, because it was a gradual climaxing. Frankfurt was peaceful, bluntly speaking it was unremarkable, but the tour guide (we went for a walking tour) did provide a good base of the history of Germany namely World War II. What I like about Germany and this trip is that it was a good mix of both history and culture, which Germany is full with. It's like a history lesson with lots of sausages/meat and beer going along with it. <3

Desperate times call for desperate measures - overweight baggage

We reached Frankfurt at around 740pm so we missed the 730pm airport bus and the next one was at 830pm, but due to some road accidents somewhere, the bus was late and as the trip to the city centre took about 1.5h, we reached our hostel at around 10.30pm I think. It was reaaalllly chilly that night while waiting for the bus and it was sooo crowded 'cos the bus was late! Ack.



We stayed at Frankfurt Hostel, its location was quite good, never mind the fact that the two Middle-Eastern men at the pizza place next door tried to chat us up (okay fine I'm exaggerating, just making friendly talk and we had to pretend we were Japanese 'cos when K said we were from Singapore the guy somehow heard as "Japan" lol). The atmosphere at the common area/reception surprised us when we first stepped in 'cos the previous hostels/hotels we stayed in was nothing like that. This was really like a hostel hostel, if you get what I mean. And 一山还有一山高, 'cos when we got to the hostel in Berlin we got another shock hahaha.


Anyway yeah, the common lounge was kinda filled with youngsters and some not-so-young people using their laptops, playing cards, drinking etc.

Römer square --- town hall of Frankfurt. Most buildings here were burnt down during WWII and rebuilt afterwards

Sat down for coffee break (ok in this case beer break I guess) slightly before the tour ended. The locals here drink beer at any time of the day, same as Gothenburg I guess.

First beer of the trip, still don't quite like it. But this Germany trip, I drank more beer than I had in my entire life, which has a lot to say about the beer in Germany. Or Munich in particular ^^.

View of Frankfurt from the Main (say mah-in) Tower.

Night skyline of Frankfurt.

One nice thing about Frankfurt is that it's a mix of old, new, and not-so-old buildings, like this photo.

Germany is really big on pork and meat in general. They sell these fatty deep-fried 三层肉 and pork ribs like Old Chang Kee sells fish balls.

Of course I didn't opt for the fatty pork :S Currywurst! And pork (I think) cordon bleu! I think the best currywurst of the trip. Currywurst --- bratwurst (either pork/beef) with ketchup and curry powder and maybe something more.

Had Chinese food for our last meal in Frankfurt 'cos I was really craving it since the rest had their fill in London which I missed out and the last time I had it was yes, when I was in London in August. Yummmmy. Restaurant recommended by Wikitravel, and me as well.

They were really generous with their prawns! Made me couldn't wait to go back to Crystal Jade when I'm back!

That's it for Frankfurt. Not much really, but a good start for a Germany trip. We went there partly 'cos the cheap flight (SGD20.00) was from Gothenburg to Frankfurt, so we had to go to Frankfurt in order to get into Germany.

For one lunch we went to Sachsenhausen, an area known for its apple cider wine (or something like that) but I guess it's more of a bar place 'cos all doors were closed when we got there in the late afternoon like 3 plus 4 for lunch, opened the door of a nicely built restaurant and had our first pork knuckles of the trip. Pork taste was too strong for my liking, and that the sauerkraut that is commonly found in German side dishes actually tastes like, or perhaps even is kiam cai, and apple wine was totally not to our liking, but ..... the food and beer only gets better, especially in Munich! Which I shall continue in the next post.