Frankfurt Day 2: wandering, local food, photos, and other adventures

We got very lucky with the weather today: 20º (figure it out, USA.) and sunny!! Also a nice light breeze, which made walking very pleasant. This worked out great for taking lots of pictures! Some of my favorites from today are included here.

So, the funny thing: none of us can ever decide anything. We're all entirely too nice and don't want to step on each other's toes, so quite often we found ourselves standing around with a classic, "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?" But despite the occasional (well, ok, frequent) awkward moments, we got to see lots of great sights, eat some good food, and of course enjoy each other. (But hey, four shy, awkward people all together for the first time? Well, we kind of figured such a thing...)

Somewhere in between the wandering, we stopped for lunch at a public market where there were several vendors, mostly selling food, and had some real German Bratwurst for lunch. DELICIOUS. Also, many thanks to Flóra and company for repeatedly ordering for me while I stood around awkwardly. Thanks guys. (Will the idiot who only speaks English please stand up? I mean sit down?) Glad y'all have my back =D

After our tour of Frankfurt, we headed to Seligenstadt (ooh I hope I spelled that right!) for the long awaited basketball game! As expected, our dear friend was the star of the game! Even the ref said so. We had a bit of an adventure with the keys, but after a momentary freakout, we found them and headed back into the city for some dinner, followed by a relaxed evening with a movie and some wine (quite nice after walking around for two days!) and that about brings us around to the present.

And now, as promised, your pictures!

The first one might need a little explaining. Apparently there is a tradition of writing the names of two lovers on a lock, and locking it on the bridge... there were TONS of these locks around... if only we knew and had one of our own to add...

Four friends, four nationalities, one country!

Finally, after months of talking about it dreaming, we four friends originally all from Twitter all met up in one city!! INCREDIBLE. We took the high-speed train into Frankfurt, and then all met up in the station. So weird, yet so awesome to finally all be in one place together.

We had one close call though. About half and hour outside Frankfurt, I re-read the confirmation email from the hotel: "Valid credit card required for check-in," it read. OH SH*T, I thought. I had left all my credit cards at the hotel in Zandvoort, thinking, "Oh, these don't even work here, what would I possibly need these for?" Luckily for me, the attendant at the hotel didn't even ask for it, and we have plenty of money to pay for it (and I have all the numbers on that card memorized anyway) so it wasn't a problem. But for a while there, I was thinking we might have to sleep on the streets of Frankfurt! OH NO!

After a delicious dinner at an Australian restaurant (and driving in circles for a while trying to find it!) we went to a shopping mall that had a sky deck where you can look ou

t on the city. I could have looked at the view forever! Right then, after only a day and a half, the flight was already worth it. And I have many days left to stay! (Look out, American friends, you may have to really twist my arm to make me come home!)

This is the view from the sky deck:

Tomorrow: Flóra's basketball game!

View at the North Sea

If you look out of the window of our hotel room, you see this beautiful image. With less clouds and more sun it would even look better, but hopefully one of the next days it will be better.

The plane from Seattle to Boston

This craft had the honor to bring Lauren safely with both of her feet on the ground in Boston, after the first part of her 18 hour trip

Trains booked

The trains for Frankfurt and Antwerp are booked!

Hotel Arrangements Made

The hotel room is booked!
Just 36 days to go!


Deze foto van Center Parcs Park Zandvoort is beschikbaar gesteld door TripAdvisor

FLIGHT BOOKED

WOOHOO!!!!!

Lauren booked her flight just a few seconds ago!!!

March 14 - April 2 it is!!!