I found it amusing as we put our bags through the machines and a security guard asked me about my hand luggage. I showed her our Bakewell Tarts, and with a wry smile and a glint in her eye, the security lady said that we had to leave them with her! I offered her a piece but she politely declined. We boarded a bus to take us to our plane, and just as we were about to drive off, Mum was called back to security about her bags. They were worried about the package inside with all the wires - Mum's new Nintendo Wii! The bus driver thought everyone was on board and drove off to the plane. Fortunately he got a call and we drove back to the gate to pick Mum up again.
Our first flight to Brussels was brief, and we were soon waiting in a lounge for our next flight. We sat there and ate our tarts (which were very yummy but so very sweet) and had another look around the bookshops. Before we knew it, we went on our way to Frankfurt. I had heard that the airport in Frankfurt was the largest in Germany (according to Wikipedia, it is by far the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany, the third busiest in Europe and the ninth busiest worldwide as of 2009), but I didn't find it too difficult to get around. It was very well laid out with plenty of signs.
We picked up our baggage and took it to the terminal to check through to New Zealand. We had been allowed through with our overweight baggage, but the Germans weren't going to let us away easily. Our allowable weight was 20 kg, and my pack weighed in at 19.9 kg, but Mum's bag weighed 26 kg - it was going to cost Mum €150 in excess charges! Luckily, we were allowed to put the Wii into our hand luggage (3 kg) and they let her away with the remaining 3 kg.
We had ten hours to spend in Frankfurt, and so instead of carting around all of our hand luggage, we found a security room where we could store all of it for only €8. We found an information desk, picked up some maps and bought a Tageskarte each (all day train/bus pass), then took the escalators below to the train station to catch the S-Bahn S8 line to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (the Frankfurt Central Train Station). We were alone in our carriage, and it wasn't until we were about to get off that we realised we were sitting in First Class! Luckily, we didn't get caught! We emerged from the station into the middle of Frankfurt.
The Green Line Tours (ETS) depot, where we were to leave for our Rhine cruise, was quite close to the station and we found it easily. However, we were disappointed to learn that the afternoon cruise had been cancelled for today and that they had been trying all of the hotels in Frankfurt to get us on the morning cruise. Unfortunately, it had departed while we were flying in to Frankfurt, so we didn't have a chance to get it.
As a consolation, I booked us on an open-top Frankfurt city tour. A lot of people (including the Indian chap we sat beside when flying in to Frankfurt) had said that Frankfurt is the economic centre of Europe but is a boring place to visit, so I didn't have very high expectations.
We had some time to kill before the tour, so we went for a walk to try and find the Altstadt (old town) that I had read about on the internet before we left. We walked through some unspectacular streets with high rise buildings on both sides. I couldn't help thinking that we were going to be bored out of our skulls. I couldn't be more wrong. We turned a corner and were presented with an amazing view of the Holbeinsteg (pedestrian foot bridge) over the river Main. The river was set down off the roads on either side and had wide tree lined footpaths and cycleways which were bustling with activity.
We crossed the bridge and marvelled at the views of the city and river with its many beautiful bridges. The skies were clear and the sun was shining - a stark contrast to visit to Munich on the way over. We walked down Schaumainkai (the southern street running beside the river) and looked at the many buildings and views along the way. There was a nice little coffee shop on the waterfront where I managed to order our coffees without using a word of English.
We carried on down past the Eiserner Steg (Iron Bridge) to Dreikonigskirche (Epiphany Church) - a beautiful Gothic-looking church. We went inside as they were tuning the organ, which was quite painful when they were tuning the high notes! The architecture was quite different to any church in England; more colourful and a much warmer feeling.
We carried on up to the street and turned down Grosse Rittergasse (Large Knight's Lane) towards Alt-Sachsenhausen - the oldest suburb of Frankfurt dating back to 1193 and famous for its old cider bars; apparently the apple wine from this region is quite unlike cider found in rest of the world.
Our time had disappeared quickly, so we started to make our way back to the depot. We crossed the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) and found our way to the Dom Sankt Bartholomäus (Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral). Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations so we couldn't get inside, but just outside the main entrance were some Roman ruins!
We walked down an alleyway and stumbled into Römerberg - a central plaza surrounded by the Römer itself (town hall), historic looking cafes and shops, and the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Justice Fountain) in the middle. It had a very Austrian feel about it, with the tall thin wooden buildings and the flower boxes in the windows. We found a small shop around the edge that served up Wurst (sausage) with mustard. When in Germany...
It was getting close to the departure time for our bus tour, so we quickly walked back to the depot. We boarded the bus with more excitement than when we booked it. The tour guide introduced himself and declared that the tour would be in Spanish. It took me a couple of seconds to click that his sense of humour was VERY dry but incredibly witty.
Our guide was full of interesting information (eg. 85% of Frankfurt was destroyed during the war, over 90% of people stay only one night in Frankfurt, living costs and petrol taxes are extremely high) mixed in with a lot of self-deprecating jokes (eg. the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers nicknamed Debit and Credit, Frankfurt being nicknamed Mainhatten, and the proximity of the red light district to the banking sector suggesting the bankers go to the prostitutes and who take the money back to the bank contributing to the circulation of money).
During the middle of the tour, we stopped off at the Römerberg again, so Mum and I did a little bit of shopping and had more sausage, this time washed down with a nice Pilsener. This time, we approached it from the north passing beside Paulskirche which was the seat of the first democratically elected parliament in Germany.
The tour lasted for over two hours and was once it was finished, we took the train back to the airport where we waited for our flight. I found a shop selling Lindt 99% Cocoa chocolate, so I bought some to have and some to take home. It was very strong, and I couldn't eat more than one piece.
We picked up our hand luggage, boarded our plane and flew out of Frankfurt having had a fun day of tourism and immersion in German culture.
