Todd was flying out of Frankfurt early Saturday, so we decided to drive on down to Frankfurt on Friday so we could do a little sightseeing since we hadn’t been there before. The drive to Frankfurt was so pretty! We’ve spent all our time in northern Germany so far, so this was our first experience seeing some mountains… granted I know these are nothing compared to what is farther south, but none the less it was beautiful! Also this was my first time using a bathroom at one of the rest stops. #1 – You have to pay €.70 to use the bath room. #2 – Because you have to pay, it was so clean and well kept, plus when you flush the toilet, the seat spins around on the base and is cleaned. That has to be one of the best inventions ever. If you want to see it in action..click here! : awesome self-cleaning German toilet.
When we got into town we checked into our hotel – the Best Western Hotel Scala (it was in a really good location) we headed over to the Alta Oper. It was built in 1880 and has a big fountain out front that people (including us) used to cool down since it was such a warm day. Then we walked down the Zeil (I think that was the name of the road), where there tons of shops and also an end of summer festival going on. We stopped at one of the stands and tried what drink the people in front of us had ordered (that we had never heard of) – Federweißer. It is grape juice that is still fermenting and is the first product of the harvest each year. It is pretty sweet and the alcohol content can range from 4% (when it can start being sold) to 11% (fully fermented). Since it needs to continue to ferment in the bottle, the lid is air-permeable -so you have to be careful when you buy it out the store.. if it isn’t standing up the wine is going to be leaking out! This is my new favorite drink!
While headed for Römerberg (the old center of Frankfurt) we saw the Hauptwache building which back in 1730 was used for Frankfurt’s militia (back when it was an independent city). We took a look around the Dom (Saint Bartholomeus’ Cathedral) which was built in the 14th century. For about 200 years (1562 and 1792) the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned here. It looks quite different from the other churches we’ve seen over here – most of the inside is a red brick color. Next we walked around the Römerberg – which at the time was being set up for a CDU political rally at which Angie (as the Germans fondly call Angela Merkel) was going to be speaking (hence all the cops dressed in their riot outfits). The Römer itself is the town hall and across the square from it is Alte Nikolaikirche which we also peeked in. While in this area Todd bought an Oktoberfest hat for his brother from a traditional German clothing store.
Then we headed across the Eiserner Steg (Iron bridge) which is Frankfurt’s most well-known pedestrian bridge, built in 1869, that goes over the Main river. There were pretty views of the financial district (Frankfurt is the only city in Germany that has a skyline) and of a church on the Sachsenhausen side of the river. We stopped to try out some Apfelwein on a little floating bar on the river.. I was surprised to find it is pretty bitter! I think I was expecting something more like the Federweißer. Our final stop for the night was dinner at Dauth – Schneider, which turned out to be one of the most delicious dinners we’ve had in Germany yet! They serve traditional Hessen food including these we tried: Frankfurter Grie Soß (Frankfurt green sauce – ours came with slices of boiled eggs in it – which was really good), Handkäse mit Musik (sour milk cheese with chopped onions on top – this was gross.. thankfully we didn’t look up what it was before the boys tried it), Apfelwein, etc. Even though the starter with the Handkäse wasn’t our taste, our dinners were great. Todd had a huge Schweinshaxe (I think- this is pork knuckle.. otherwise it was a pork shoulder), Morgan tried the special that day – we think it was deer meat (haha), and I ordered some bratwurst that came with the most amazing mashed potatoes any of us had EVER had. No joking, go here just for the mashed potatoes. Our after diner treat was a shot Todd had seen another table get that looked interesting, it came with an entire kumquat in it and was pretty tasty!
