HALLO AUS DEUTSCHLAND!

Hello from Germany!

I woke up at two o'clock this morning to start my trek to Santorini, Greece, and my first stop was Frankfurt, Germany. I was in Germany for twelve hours and I just got off another flight tonight from Frankfurt to Athens, Greece. I am currently sitting in the Athens airport, it is 2:12am and my next flight isn't for another four hours.

First off on our Germany adventure we took a cab from the airport to what I would probably call downtown Frankfurt. This post is gonna be super long so prepare yourself. Its good though and worth the read, I promise!

Airport Tip: If you have luggage that you do not want to carry with you throughout a layover, check to see if the airport has a luggage drop. I paid 7 euros to drop my carry on bag for the day so I didn't have to carry it along with me throughout the day and into Frankfurt. It's a pretty cheap price for the price of not having to haul a bag around all day.

We originally were going to do a tour with Frankfurt on Foot, which you can find here. They do layover tours, as well as daily walking tours. David, the man doing the tour actually showed up to the meeting place and we were not fully decided if we wanted to go on the 3-4 hour walking tour. Instead, he was super helpful in showing us the main attractions as well as the best local places to eat and how to use the train to get back to the airport instead of paying for another 45 euro cab.

First off let me say that I liked Frankfurt a lot more than I was expecting too. It was a very cozy, seemed to be a tightly knit city. All of the apartment buildings like in the pictures above, have really cute balcony's all decorated with plants and lawn chairs. We lucked out so well when in Frankfurt because the weather was beautiful and it wasn't really that cold... would have been perfect to be in one of those apartments with those balconies.

We ate at a small local cafe, Stern where I had hot mint water with honey and a croissant with jam. The hot water wouldn't be my first choice but I am really glad that I got it. It was delicious and I will definitely be making it back at home.

On our way to the Flea Market we stopped and found the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Wall. This wall was built as a personal memorial that the city of Frankfurt created, to honor the memory of the 12,000 Frankfurt Jewish Citizens who lost their lives during the Holocaust, including Anne, Margot, and Edith Frank. We found Anne Frank's name on the wall. The Jewish Garden there is also really pretty to see on a sunny day.

Next, we found ourselves walking over the Eisener Steg. It is a pedestrian bridge on the Main River that is covered with Love Locks. It offers a really great view of the skyline and many buildings lining the riverbanks. When standing on the bridge you can actually feel yourself swaying! A few men played accordions as we walked across as well.

When we crossed the bridge we ended up in a bit of madness. It was the Saturday Flea Market. Hundreds of vendors lined up their belongings from jackets, shoes, to jewelry, camera equipment, and even dental tools...that one was a little weird.

David our "part-time" tour guide took us into an indoor local market. It was one of the coolest things I have experienced and definitely the biggest market I have been too. It is super loud, prices and products being yelled at you and on top of that, it smells like lots and lots of meat. Not to mention its stuffy and there are tons of people in there.

I also got yelled at for taking a picture of a stand and was told that I was to pay 10 euros until I apologized and showed him I deleted the picture.

We got lost in the markets for a while but we then headed back towards the town square, Römer Platz and got some lunch. We ate at Zum Standesämtchen. This restaurant has the look of an old style German restaurant inside and out. The meat menu is made up of traditional German comfort food. I had the Schnitzel with green sauce, it's a traditional Frankfurt dish and it was SO good. A schnitzel is a meat, I had pork, and it is thinned out and then coated with flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs.

The square, Römer Platz, that we were in looked like it came right out of a movie. It was pretty incredible to see in person. During Christmas time the buildings are lit up and its apparently a really great Christmas Market.

It was super hard to believe it actually looked like that. Overall, I really really enjoyed Frankfurt. It was really fairly easy to get around and there are plenty of people who speak English to help you get around easier. I definitely want to go back to Germany and visit other cities and even go back to Frankfurt and visit the site of the Nazi Book Burning. The food was really good and you were emersed in the culture and I absolutely loved it.

Now off to Greece! Bis bald, Deutschland!

Cheers, Nikki

#Germany #Layover #AirportTip