Germany in a weekend.

It's been a while - i've missed all your comments.

But here i am.

Well i am back in Bordeaux after an entertaining weekend with jen in Frankdaddy - aka Frankfurt, Germany. It was a damn long trip, but definately worth it.

Although i had to spend almost 7 hours on the train, it was a pretty smooth and quick trip. I left on Thursday afternoon at 1pm (I was soooo close to missing the train - only directions from a few strangers kept the dream alive) and arrived bored and excited at 9pm. The train was comfortable and i was lucky enough to sit next to some really interesting people. We exchanged emails and names and talked for the next 3 hours about just about every topic. Meeting these people really is one of the best parts about travelling solo, it not only easier but is essential to stop going crazy.

So anyway, after some confusion about whether we had to change trains or not, i finally made it to Frankdaddy (carrying about 20 bags for this girl who it looked like had taken half of her house to Germany with her) and had a nice running, slow-mo hug with Jen - not really, she actually gave me a fright as she stepped from behind some sign. I'd messaged ahead telling Jen the train was running late because the driver "was retarded" and she thought that the driver actually was retarded because the arrivals sign said "10 minutes de retard" (10 minutes late in French). hah.

It was funny at the time.

The reunion... aww.

So anyway, we were both buggered and so we just chilled back at her house after jumping and throwing around snow like we were young again (sigh).


The next day (after a well deserved sleep in) we ate some chocolate cereal (i'm not joking when i say chocolate cereal - there was litereally chucks of real chocolate! Chunks! - no wonder my teeth hurt!) and we left to go for a little ice skating. At this point i could actually see some of Frankdaddy and it seemed to be this strange mixture of old and new. One street would be very modern, the next a bit cold and industrial like, and then the next awesome traditional old-school German. It was a little confusing. But it still was beautiful and the scattered snow (which was already melting) gave everything a christmas-y feel.


We eventually made it to the ice skating rink and got in for free because Jens host dad Mathias (sp?) ran in a marathon. It was as you would expect. Ice. Skates. Jen really really shit. haha. Jen did eventually improve. I think by the end she could do 3 glides before almost falling. I did get in trouble from some crazy German man after i tried to take one of these learn-to-skate penguins that help keep you stable but apparently his daughter hadn't finished with it and so he started yelling at me. At which point i tried to apologize but ended up saying "danke" - thankyou - oops. I just skated away quickly.

Snow! I love Europe!

After skating and throwing snow, we headed back to the centre of Frankdaddy and had dinner at this awesome Italien restaurant. My mouth is literally watering now just thinking about it. Jen and I, both deciding to be completely unoriginal, went for the Penne Bolognaise. What was so good about this place, however, was that you actually order from the chefs and then they make it fresh, on the spot!! It was awesome! We both ordered and began a conversation with the chef, Grace. She was hilarious and like everyone in Frankfurt could speak excellent English. Ten minutes later after our food was cooked (right in front of us!) and we walked back to our table which had a tree in the middle and was sorrounded by olive oil, bread and fresh basil that you actually picked from the plant to put on your food. It was a nice place - and even better, it was really cheap.

Our entertaining chef Grace.

Looking at that food is seriously making me hungry.

Gotta love the fresh herbs and the tree in the middle of the table

The next day we went into Frankfurt again to the Marches de Noël (i don't know what they are called in German) - Frankfurts famous Christmas markets - and met up with one of Jens friends, Alison. People from all over Europe come to see the Frankdaddy markets apparently - and it definately felt like that. The markets were packed with people. Literally tens of thousands of people browsed the shops selling just about everything. After a while we joined the ques for traditional German sausages, potato cakes (which were delicious after one bite, but waaaay too greasy after two) and German sweeets. We also just haaaad to go on this two storey merry-go-round which was actually surprisingly fun. Jen, Alison and I were sitting on this spinning seat that i kept turning so it would go faster - much to Jen and Alisons chagrin! We were laughing so much that we didn't realise that the turn had stopped and were supposed to get off - we just kept spinning our little seat thing laughing and wondering why our turn was so long.

The markets were at least 20billion times bigger than the ones in Bordeaux - but it was interesting because they were similar but different. They had a more exciting, busy feel and had live music and heeeaaaps of hot wine.

It's market time - frankdaddy style.

I'm surprised we didn't see Tim and Nath here because the rest of Europe was.

The awesome fun merry-go-round.

The ride had probably stopped at this point - but we just kept spinning.

Jen and her one true love.

The next day we got up super early (7.30) to go to a village near Frankfurt called Rothenburg. We had a three hour train ride, but our companions Alison and Ruth were so entertaining that the trip went by in no time. Ruth was seriously hilarious - Jen and I were on the floor laughing after every second sentence. She was British and so swore all the time in the funniest ways - definately a "you had to be there" moment.

The Rothenburg crew - Ruth is on the far right and Alison is next to her.

Anyway, the village. It's famous because it is one of the few towns in Germany to be almost completely untouched by WWII. Apparently, it was almost destroyed at one point decades before, but legend has it that a deal was made between the city council and the attackers. The village would not be destroyed if one of the council men could drink a 3 litre tankard of beer in one go. They agreed and it is said that the man needed 3 days to recover. Now that's my type of legend!!

A moat or something.

Rothenburg in all its German glory.

The streets of gingerbread houses.

The village itself was beautiful! It still has its defensive walls intact and has been almost perfectly preserved. All our travel books warned us about massive crowds, but because of the time of year, it was only busy, not overly crowded. The village offered amazing views of the sorrounding countryside and had another Christmas market - although it was really small. We did all the touristy stuff - took our photos, climbed the wall, ate more food... the usual stuff.

A nice view.

We were, however, amazed by these little sugary buscuit balls which were sold everywhere... but they ended up being just a little disappointing. They needed a lot more sugar. They kept us entertained for a while though.

The magical sugar, dough, biscuit balls.

It was a long day (we got back to Frankdaddy juuuust in time for the last train to Jens at 930pm).

I love the crazy narrow lanes of Yourope.

Ahh, the end of a long day.

It was such a good weekend. So good to mix things up a bit and see where jen has been for the last 10 months. So now, it's back to reality (i love the 'reality' for me is Bordeaux at the moment!). I had a pretty uneventful trip home except that i sat next to some crazy guy wearing a skirt who smelt like old meat. Mmmm.

The always difficult goodbye.

The foggyness reflected our dampened mood. aw.

Anyway, i know that i have forgotten heaps, but thats what happens.

Miss you guys.