Deutschland

Greetings from Frankfurt! I'm excited to experience Germany for the first time. Jason has been here a few times before so he'll be my tour guide. We arrived here first thing in the morning and we're still securing reservations for our stay through Germany when we return from Croatia. But the easiest way to do our trip was to arrive in Frankfurt, spend a day here, spend two weeks in Croatia with family and friends, then finish the trip with 4 days driving down the Rhein River.

We are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel which is a little walk from the train station but completely walkable with suitcases in tow. It would be better if my suitcase wheels didn't feel like they had brakes on them. Mental note: buy new suitcase when we return home. The hotel is in a great location, just a few blocks from the Main River and a good little walk down to plenty of restaurants and shops. We happen to be part of their Ambassador Program which means each time you check into an Intercontinental Hotel, you're treated with extra special care. Things from a late check-out time, to free upgrades, to a little welcome gift like bottled water and in this case, an exquisite bar of German chocolate, makes it worth it. I encourage you to inquire about it should you be an avid traveler.

Once settled into our room and freshened up, we walked into town to get a bite to eat, stopping into one of the many bakeries along the long strip of shops in Innenstadt, but first crossing through a great little square called Römerberg. You can pull up a chair at one of the restaurants and enjoy a beer while people watching in the square.

We wandered out to Old Town along Schweizer Strausse where there are plenty of shops and fruit stalls to visit. I loved seeing all the fresh produce around. We ate at a restaurant with outdoor seating called Schweizer's. They have a menu option where you can purchase essentially a meal combo - appetizer, drink, meal, and dessert for a certain price. Originally, that sounded like a good option but looking at what we wanted, it was cheaper to just order a la carte. So when we asked the waitress to change our order to a la carte items she initially complained that she would have to go change the order in their system. Seriously? You change it in the system, what's hard about that? She finally agreed when we didn't budge and I was a little annoyed that she was actually going to try and get us to stick with the more expensive option.

However, once that was resolved, the meal was fantastic and her service was still agreeable. I enjoyed a great schnitzel with pepitas over a fresh salad and cherry tomatoes along with an espresso, and finished off with a delicious rosemary creme brulee with sour cherries and a sweet pesto. Very interesting and delicious.

After exploring the city and trying to figure out where to eat for dinner (we were feeling like Bavarian food even though we're nowhere near Munich) we were so jetlagged we couldn't help but go back to the hotel for a little nap. Slightly more awake, we headed back out.

We found an outstanding place for dinner! The place is called Paulaner, which serves authentic Bavarian food with a great, bustling atmosphere.  I enjoyed my first Radler beer. Why have I not had this before?? It went perfectly with the bratwurst, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. After that, we took a stroll back over to Römerberg and got a Kulmbacher beer to end the night. If you've never had it, you should try this beer. I'm not a big beer drinker but this is rich and almost has a chocolaty flavor so it was like a liquid dessert. It was a perfect end to the day in Frankfurt.