Frankfurt & Bad Homburg
We got to the Frankfurt Süd station really early. We had our little breakfast of coffee, orange juice, and the ubiquitous ham and cheese with rolls continental that came with our cabin. When the doors opened and we got off the train, we stepped on a smooth white blanket covering the ground. We got snow! It was still 5-something am and the city was still sleeping. I'll admit, I did wish I was still sleeping too! Rather than figure another train just to get to town quicker with nothing yet open, we decided to enjoy the snow and the calm quiet with a walk. Not too far from Frankfurt Süd station is a part of the city we loved when we were here a couple years ago. Sachsenhausen is a nice cobblestoned pedestrian section lined with restaurants and apfelwein taverns. It's a pretty part of a fairly modern, businessy city. Nothing was open of course, but it was nice to walk through those streets again.
We strolled along the river and crossed into the main part of town just as morning commute traffic was picking up. Guess people were off their holidays now that it's the 2nd. Funny as we were ending our trip it felt so much like a Sunday, but it was Monday morning! We grabbed a coffee in the hauptbahnhof and tried to figure what to do. Frankfurt can be a bit boring honestly. We were here for a full week once before when I came to visit a customer for work, but I spent most of that time in the office. Beth took a quick trip up to Bad Homburg one day, and she had a great time while I slaved away at work, looking at spreadsheets and calculations while she looked at towers and cafes. I missed out them, so we decided to go there today.
The town was beautiful, the roads and rooftops covered in freshly fallen snow. Not as much was open, but it was still nice to wander the streets and see the old town. We wandered through the streets, looking at the old towers and bridges. We walked up to the castle, peered over the now ended Christmas market, and watched as the chimneys atop all the houses pumped out smoke, wondering how great it would be to be in there by the fire. We grabbed coffee at a pretty place called Café Klatsch, and added a mushroom omelette for a light snack. We slowly walked through the snow back to the station and decided to take the train straight down to Sachsenhausen, where we could easily get another direct to the airport.
Those cobblestoned pedestrian streets were a bit more lively then they were at 6am. It was fun to wander back through there, pointing out one place or another that we dropped into before. I was here for work over Thanksgiving, and while everyone was having the family gatherings back home, we had our holiday dinner together at a place called Dauth-Schneider. Sounds like a guy from Star Wars I know, but it was a really fantastic meal with local offerings and great apfelwein. We decided to say our goodbye to Germany there. We had the pork schnitzel and a spätzle jäger-style, which means they put a mushroom sauce over it (not the booze, ha!). It came with their amazing sauerkraut and potatoes, and we got a glass of apfelwein as well. It's definitely a local drink here, tart and mostly non-carbonated, and they have these giant pitchers called bembel that are on hinges. They tilt it over and pour it out. So good!
After lunch/dinner, it was time to head to catch our flight. We love all our travels and all the amazing destinations we visit, but there is really something about Germany that is so hard to say goodbye to. There's something about it that feels like we really shouldn't leave, something about it that feels like we should call it home. But for now we have to leave, so until next time... Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!
Onwards to the next horizon!
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