Frankfurter or Wurst?

September 10, 2010

Going through Switzerland from Geneva to Basel was like moving through a French German conversion program. So as I headed toward Frankfurt am Main, my first stop in Germany, I had some practice in German already. I would crossed more strasse (street) and arrived at more bahnhof (train station) than I could count by the end of my trip.

Arriving at the Hauptbahnhof, the central train station, my hostel was only across the street. It was great given German rain greeted me with open arms. However, I immediately realized that the area close to the Hauptbahnhof was also the red light district. Live entertainment could be found on the left, right and bottom of my hostel. You could not get more central than this!!
Luckily, the hostel had a great common room with free WiFi. I caught up on my Facebook, checked my e-mails, somewhat organized my photos from the cameras, and spent a lot of time researching my next destination while waiting for the rain to stop. I was trying to get to Luxemburg before going to Belgium but between the train schedule and the hostel booking no combination seemed to work out. By then also I was not able to secure any train discounts as most require 3 days advance booking. It was hard to do when I didn't know where I was going the next day, let alone 3 days in advance.

As I was talking to Takeshi (Japanese working in Germany) at the common room, he suggested that I should enquire about the Eurail Pass again. When I was looking into the pass back in Canada, I was told that you had to buy it outside of Europe, and given it was so expensive to pay so much money, I opted to not get one. So with the Hauptbahnhof just across the street and the rain was still preventing me from sightseeing, I went into the Bahn office and had a great discussion about my travel. The staff at Bahn had to be the most helpful and patient people I met. She explained that yes non-EU residents could buy the Eurail Pass in Europe. After a long chat and went through all the permutations, I selected the 15-day within a 2 month period in any of the pre-selected 5 connected countries Eurail Pass.

The weather was not getting any better or worst so I managed to venture out into the Aldstadt. In the heart of the old town, Romerberg plaza housed the picturesque Fachwerkhaeuser (half-timbered houses), the Statue of Justice fountain, and the 1405 city hall (formerly the gables of Romer). Across from Romerberg, the mural in Paulskirche (St. Paul's Church) memorialized the trials of German democracy. It was near there where I had my first wurst with beer at a delicatessan.

That night, I crossed the river to check out the Sachsenhausen district and found the Adolf Wagner, a local hangout as recommended by my guidebook. I was seated at one of the many long tables and ordered the Apfelwein (apple wine) as suggested. It tasted kinda bland but it was cheap. As others joined my talbe, I chatted with John (tourist from UK) and exchanged travel tips and stories. When my wiener schnitzel arrived, my customary food photo tradition caught the attention of this German couple (Bob, originally from Ethiopia, and Patricia) sitting at the next table. Before I knew what happened, the four of us were trying each other's food and taking photos together. The night ended with Bob taking John and I on a tour in his car around Frankfurt. The highlight of the night was a stop at Bob's barber shop, which was more a museum of antiques and art!

The next day was just as gloomy and so it was more about walking around whenever I could in between rain showers. I did manage to find a wine and food tasting fair but I was actually quite good and did not spend any money there. I did however darted into a shopping mall to escape the weather and ended up buying a dry fit top to give myself another change of clothes before finding suitable laundry facility.

That night I hung out at my room and met some really interesting people. There was this business man from Leipzig who did not have any praises for any of the German cities and thought Frankfurt with its red light district was a disgrace. Then there was a painter from Spain who travelled to Frankfurt to look for any job to support his family back home because unemployment was really high. And then the most interesting had to be Bruce, who was on his way home from the Ukraine and it turned out he went to the same high school in Smiths Falls as I did. Yes, I kid you not, two people from the same small Canadian town of 9,000 met thousands of miles away in Germany.

1. On the train leaving Frankfurt
2. Cologne, Germany
3. As my first stop in Germany, I chronicled everything I ate in Frankfurt, including the stuff I sampled at Adolf Wagner on the others' plates.
4. I saw and explored most of Frankfurt already, so there was nothing that I needed to go back for. If anything, I would go visit Bob and Patricia.