The second half of my time in Frankfurt was more acclimating and hanging out with Matt than exploring. Seeing as I had already been to Frankfurt several times, I didn’t really feel the need to go out and see all the sights. Plus, there aren’t that many things to see and it was really hot. Have I mentioned that air conditioning isn’t standard in Germany?
Sunday started out slowly. We opted to avoid an alarm and didn’t end up leaving the house until nearly 3pm. We traveled to the other side of Frankfurt where we went to an “African and Caribbean Festival.” It was exactly what it sounds like - music, food, clothing, dancing, etc from Africa and the Caribbean. Had I been more adventurous I may have tried some ethnic food. Afterwards we headed to downtown and ate at an Italian restaurant, which happened to be right across from the Apfelwein festival, so naturally we ended up going there after dinner. While we were at the Apfelwein festival I had to go use the restroom. We decided to return to the restaurant where we had dinner. German establishments are very rigid about their restroom usage. If you aren’t a customer, they insist you pay to use their facilities. Not an entirely unreasonable request, but not so clever in practice. Matt and I walked in, used the restroom, and had walked out before anyone approached us. A waiter ran outside after us to ask if we had paid before we left. We had, though it had been hours before, and Matt told him this. It didn’t take much to convince him. I’m sure if we hadn’t paid we could have lied and gotten away with it.
Monday was a day of relaxation for me while Matt was at work. I couldn’t fall asleep until nearly 3am; thunderstorms kept waking me up throughout the night and I was just too hot to sleep. I didn’t wake up until 1pm the next day. Since Matt got off at 5, I figured I may as well just wait around for him to get off work, as he would want to come home and change anyways. While I was lounging around, Matt’s roommate, Margret, asked me, “Did you come all the way here just to sit around all day?” Those saucy little Germans.
After Matt was off work, we went downtown and walked around the Zeil (a huge shopping street) walked into the Dom (cathedral), and then wandered around until we found somewhere to eat. The evening activities consisted of - you guessed it! - the Apfelwein festival. Matt tried to get some of his co-workers to join us, but no one came.
Later on that evening I needed to use the restroom. They had restrooms at the festival, but they cost €0,50. Matt had that much in 1 and 2 cent coins, so I tried to pay for the bathroom using that. The woman attending the bathrooms was really rude when she exclaimed, “KEIN ROTGELD!” (literally “no red money”) and then mumbled some other stuff in German that I couldn’t quite understand. I’d never heard this before, but she was referring to the 1 and 2 cent coins, which are red/copper (the 5 cent coin is also red). The 10, 20, and 50 cent coins are gold, and the €1 and €2 coins are a combination of silver and gold. Their smallest bill is €5, and the actual bills get physically bigger the more they are (aka the €10 is bigger than the €5, the €20 bigger than the €10, and so on and so forth). Needless to say, I didn’t use the restrooms. Afterwards we made a pit stop at Rewe (grocery store) on the way home to pick up some essentials, aka the delicious local specialty known as Spundekäs - some kind of mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, and spices.
Speaking of Rewe, this is the "USA" section there. This is what the rest of the world thinks of our eating habits.
Tuesday was more active. After I woke up I made my way to the Zeil (huge shopping street), Dom (cathedral), Römer (medieval style buildings), and Main River, where I wandered around, people watched, and read. I met Matt after work and we made our way to the Hauptbahnhof where I caught my bus to the airport (Frankfurt Hahn, which isn’t anywhere near Frankfurt as it took me an hour and forty-five minutes to get there) for my flight to London. I flew to London via Ryan Air, which as Wesley so aptly described, is the Walmart of airlines. Overall it wasn’t bad, but it made the airlines in the US seem like luxury airlines. I had to fly into London Stansted (also not near London, nearly an hour and a half outside the city), where Wesley picked me up. The customs agent was fairly rude to me. I wasn’t aware that I needed to provide the address of who I’d be staying with, so I didn’t have one. The agent scolded me and asked to see my return ticket. He informed me that next time I better be prepared. He also questioned me about all the other 5 stamps in my passport, who I was staying with, how I knew these people, how long I would stay, when I was leaving, and what my job is in Germany. It was very ridiculous. Anyways, Wes and I took the train into the city and then caught a local tube line back to his place. I don’t think I finally went to sleep until nearly 3am.
Wednesday morning we slept in. We had a quick bite to eat in Wesley’s neighborhood, and then we made our way to the coach station. One funny thing about England is the fact that they have "<-- Look Left" and "Look Right -->" painted on their roads at the crosswalks, ensuring everyone actually looks the correct way before crossing the street. I caught my bus to Birmingham that afternoon and I arrived here just after 6pm. Marcella met me at the station. We went back to her house and dropped off my things before we went to a restaurant in her neighborhood for dinner.
Today (Thursday) was my second most active day since being in Europe. At the end of the day I had walked an impressive 10 miles. I know that may not sound like a lot to some of you, but for some perspective: I had only been averaging a couple miles (excluding my workouts) in the months before I moved. Now I'm averaging about 5, with the random 10+ day thrown in. Since Marcella has work, her mom, Geraldine, and I took the train out to Warwick where there is an old castle from the 1068, aptly named Warwick Castle. It’s a really neat place. It’s different from most castles I’ve been to in the way that it wasn’t so stuffy. All the room you were allowed in had wax figures of the real people who lived there or visited and they even had speakers playing conversations they may have had. Even many the artifacts were original and available to touch. I picked a book up off the shelf in the library. We were there about four hours and by the end we had been through the entire castle and walked most of the grounds. They also had shows you could go and watch like jousting, catapulting, and something involving eagles. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. Here's a panoramic photo from above, taken in one of the lookout posts. It was really overcast, but I'm loving the cool weather with the highs in the 70s and very low humidity.
We met Marcella in town around 5:30. Geraldine went home and Marcella and I left to tour the city center before we met her friends for dinner. We walked all around Birmingham seeing the brand new library, the Bull Ring, Town Hall, Victoria Square, Gas Street Basin, the canals, and so on. After dinner we wanted some dessert so we found a restaurant with some delicious chocolate things. As we were going inside the restaurant which also appeared to be a crowded bar, the bouncers looked at us, and then pointed at me and asked to see my ID. Marcella and I started making a fuss and joking with them about why just me. The bouncer was immediately interested in me because he said he couldn't place my accent, and ended up letting us in without checking. I thought my accent was pretty obviously American, but I guess not. On that note, the past two days I've noticed people turning and looking at me when they hear me speak, obviously trying to hear me and see where I'm from. Oh, how the tables have turned!
So far I'm really enjoying England. I'd never been here before this trip and I'm realizing how similar it is to the rest of Europe in some ways but also how similar it is to the US in some ways. Tomorrow Marcella and I leave for Oxford where we'll be visiting Clare. I'm really excited to see yet more of this country and for the three of us to be reunited.
Cheers!
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