Goodbye, Amsterdam! Hello, Frankfurt, Germany.
I hopped onto a train from party town to casual city life. By train, it took about four hours and half. This is my first time taking a train and I found this particular one clean, fairly on time, and friendly.
Every time, I tell people that I’m going to Frankfurt, I always get a funny look. Apparently, Frankfurt has a reputation for being a tad boring compared to other cities like Munich or Berlin.
The first stop was the main river. Our tour guide and friend said that normally the river is not as crowded. Now that summer is here, Frankfurt has a festival every weekend. Not bad for a city that most people think is dull.
The main river bridge was grand and gave a great view of the city. The weather was just right.
All throughout the bridge were these lovers locks. If wanted, you could get these locks engraved with you and your lovers name with today’s date. I thought it would be weird to have Sumo, Scruffy, and Saki’s names on a lock, so I opted out.
Today’s festival is the dragon boat races. People from all over the world came in to do this race. I was quite shocked to see this sport in Germany ( of all places).
I finally had my first bratwurst. Oh my, it’s as if my eyes has finally opened. I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been eating crappy hot dogs. My first beer ( on the trip) is called a Shandy. It’s half light German beer and have lemonade. It’s great to have on a nice warm day. It didn’t taste like lemonade, but it did help reduce the sharp bitterness of the beer. If you don’t like beer, you might like the shandy.
Europeans has this bad reputation for being rude and unfriendly. Well, I’m glad to report that’s just a myth. These lovely ladies are celebrating a stag party. In America, we would call it a bachelorette party. The cool part of European stag party is that they make the bride sell things like shots, candies, and other varies food snack products. It’s a fun game to raise money (more like donations) and talk to people. You can give any amount of money, so I thought 2€ was appropriate for some candies. My friend, Em, is getting married soon. I’m going to make her do this.
Ron, on the other hand, bought shots. I tried a wild berry one. It was like sweet cough medicine. Perfect for a stag party, if you ask me.
The architecture is amazing. The photo above is a church, which is right outside of the place we are staying. Can you imagine walking out your front door and seeing this? Amazing, I tell ya.
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The coolest thing I’ve seen thus far are these small plaque. Germany has been placing this plaques to all the places where Jews were living at before they were taken away during World War II. It shows their name, date of birth/death, and where they died. It was quite moving to see.
A nice home cook meal to end the day. Thus far, Frankfurt has been the best part of the whole trip. Great people, food, beer, and history. So for all you Frankfurt haters, you are missing out.
I will be staying in Frankfurt for another two days. Next stop, The Rhine.
Another great post Jen. I don’t know how well the stag party fundraiser thing would work here in Hawaii, but we both know the bachelorette can sure make some baked goods to sell…just don’t know how well they’d sell. Why is the race called the dragon race, is their history like some story about dragons chasing people and they used paddle away to escape? What is the story? Really enjoying your pics and wanderlust. Keep it coming.
I have no clue why it’s called a dragon race. I know the boat is shaped like a dragon like the front of the boat has a dragon head and the end has a tail. Now, the really history of dragon races, if they really chased dragons, I don’t know. I guess that what wikipedia is for. LOL Let me just tell you, no Asians in the boat, but a lot of Asians outside watching the races. LOL I sorta blended in…not really.
I’ll be sure to keep them coming. So far it’s been kinda easy to write these blogs and (knock on wood) I hope I don’t lose this momentum. Tomorrow’s post might be a little hard…I didn’t really do that much, so we’ll see what I come up with.
Miss you lots.
Greetings from Frankfurt
You know, now I’m hungry for a bratwurst.
Shandy’s big here in the summer too. Though, never been too keen on it. You should try a shandy using pink lemonade instead – looks great!
Oh, Sandy with pink lemonade sounds good right about now. I didn’t think I would like a Shandy either, but it’s good. Have you ever had cola and red wine? I don’t know where this originated from, but it’s kinda good. If you get the mixture right, it’s tasty for sure.
Greeting from Frankfurt
looks like you’re having a blast!! so jealous !!!!
HAHA. It’s okay, one day you’ll return the favor.
Greetings from Frankfurt
My sister-in-law introduced me to the shandy a few years ago when I was visiting. I really loved it since I’m not a huge beer drinker. I hope I get to taste an authentic bratwurst some day. Yours looks awesome!
Shandies are great, uh? I think it’s a great way to make a really bitter beer into a great tasting beer. I have yet to have another shandy. I don’t really seem them around. I guess it was a festival thing, then a normal drink.
You must try a bratwurst. You are so close…just hop over that pond! LOL I’ll meet you there!
Greetings from Tuscany.
Congrats on finally eating a great “hot dog” or bratwurst. I love meat, especially sausage! Gorgeous photo of the church with the great clouds (above the shot with the dragon boats). Great exposure on both church and clouds, and great composition too
. Ok, nuff of that 
. Cute that you supported the stag party-ers! I’m glad Europeans are nice. I bet they say Americans are rude. They’d be right 
Thanks for the great feedback on the photos. I wish I did that on purpose, but it was so damn sunny that I just aimlessly took photos on my iPhone. Lol. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.
Us, rude?!? No…lol
I didn’t know about the plaques! Definitely heading out tomorrow to try find them!
Did you find them? It’s quite hard to spot. I just happened to be looking at the ground and just saw it. It’s kinda hard to read too. Nonetheless, I’m glad that I found them. Let me know if you found some. I have yet to find more. I thought I would find more, but no such luck.
The small plaques made me very teary.
My mom (she’s 1/2 German, 1/2 Danish) used to make bratwurst and sauerkraut growing up.
I’m kind of jealous you got to see all those castles.
Ya, those plaques breaks my heart, but oddly enough, I don’t see much of them. I guess what ever records they had left, they make sure there is a nice memorial for them.
Girl, I’m coming over! Tell her to make me some. It was sooo good, nothing I’ve ever had before. I don’t know why, but in Germany sauerkraut wasn’t a huge thing. Not until when we stepped into Prague did we see sauerkraut with ever meal.
Castles were amazing. I wished I could go into one, but didn’t have enough time…nor the energy. LOL
Greetings from Tuscany.