(My friend Mindy from Oregon is a nanny for a 2 year old in Frankfurt and arrived 1 week after I did in Spain. Her 2 year old calls her Middy, mine calls me Tony.)
Last week I purchased a cheap ticket to fly to Frankfurt for the weekend, being lonely and wanting to see a friend, knowing Mindy felt the same way. However, cheap tickets often come with a price.
I left my house at 5pm friday, took the train to the bus station, where I met a nice man from Ireland. We talked throughout the entire 1.5 hour ride to the airport (the FAR away one, because the cheap tickets do that to you). At the airport I waited 1.5 to board onto a large plane packed with passengers, knees to my chest. Too `sardined` to sleep, I just sat and thought for 2.5 hours.
I arrived at the Far Away German airport where I waited 30 min to catch the bus 1.5 hours to the Frankfurt airport where I arrived around 3am. The Frankfurt airport is where Mindy and I had spent at total of 10 hours in layover time during our trip to Azerbaijan so we knew the airport well. I met her at Starbucks where she had been waiting for 4 hours (having caught the last train to the airport). It was SO great seeing her, it was worth the traveling time. We sat and talked and DRANK STARBUCKS!!! until 5 am when we bought an all day pass for public transportation.
We took the train into Frankfurt, but nothing was open yet (it's Saturday morning). We explored, but were freezing...we had our nice winter clothing on, but the cold was biting through. But I was in GERMANY!! A place I've wanted to go since High School.
We train hopped for a while, not having a plan or any idea where to go or where we were at any given moment. We fell asleep on a train for 30-45 minutes at one point. We have no idea where we went, but it was warm in there.
When the sun started coming up and we began to have company on our 'free hotel room', we decided to search out some breakfast. A girl suggested a train stop and it was perfect. I got to put my 4.5 years of high school and college German to use. We 'bread shop hopped' and tried something whenever we got hungry for more. Fresh German bread.......Es schmekt mir gut!
By 10 am the city was alive. We visited a gorgeous Catholic church that was filled with more tourists with cameras than worshipers. Then we found a wedding dress shop. The lady had a good sales pitch, but not good enough to sell me the pefect dress I found....for 2000 Euros ($3,600!!!) I was bummed that I couldn't take pictures, but the experience was SO fun and Mindy was almost in tears seeing me in those dresses. She hopes to make it back to the states for the wedding, but she has committed to one year in Frankfurt.
We found some more food, this time we ate REAL wurstbrot!! Yummy. Then walked around a mall. We were starting to feel nausious, having not slept since the night before, so we headed home both in good spirits and laughing at everything since we were so tired.
When we arrived at the train stop near her house we wanted to go to a store to buy food for dinner. I spoke to a lady in German and got directions, then she ended up driving us. We had a conversation and she was shocked that it was my first day in Germany. She complemented my speach.
After the store, we rode the bus home, showerd, ate dinner, at at 7pm went to sleep. We were out in seconds and slept for a full 17 hours!!
Now it 2pm and we're planning our day. Our goal for the day: drink beer from a stein.
We also figured out the schedule for my trip home. We will go to the Frankfurt airport in the early evening for more Starbucks and talking. At 3 am I catch the bus to the HHN airport to get there 1 hour before my 6am flight. Mindy will wait another 2 hours to get the first train home.
The cheap tickets and poor train schedule has made this trip interesting, but it's an adventure we will never forget, a weekend much needed for both of us, and a lesson of what NOT to do next time I come for the weekend! Overall, this weekend has been just right for what we needed.
Mindy hopes to come visit me for New Years, maybe Christmas. So more later with 'Adventure of Tony and Middy....the Barcelona Extravaganza'.
