Day 10 - Part 2 Frankfurt and home to Canada

  Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

So here we were in downtown Frankfurt. We drove the rental car to the train station drop-off.  Again, this was less than clear but we found the nearby parking lot and dropped off the car, then the keys to the rental agency inside the station.  I was pretty nervous about additional charges but there have been none so I'm quite satisfied with that endeavour. 

Next we stopped at the Hbf tourist info and actually met a helpful person who gave us a map and told us how to get to the Sachsenhausen.  I was very excited to try apple wine.  She directed us to take the tram, but we realized later we could have easily walked. 

Now this was the local German experience we had been looking for!  We went into one of the places recommended in Rick Steves’ book Zum Gemalten Haus and it was wonderful inside.  The walls were painted with murals and there was an indoor/outdoor courtyard.  There were only large tables for 6 but one was wempty so we sat down and immediately the waiter dropped off 2 glasses of apple wine from a wire rack of glasses he was carrying.  He marked on a coaster that he had given us 2 and brought over English menus.  I ordered a smoked pork chop with sauerkraut and MB had beef with sauerkraut.  The waiter was an expert at upselling and got me to order mashed potatoes as well.  MB declined the mysterious "green sauce" with his beef. 

The plates we got were hilariously huge.  The meat cuts were enormous and salty.  There was also brown bread and mustard on the table.  I won’t say this was the most delicious meal we had in Europe, but I loved the experience and the food was… interesting. 

Once we started eating a young couple asked if they could sit at our table since there were no more free.  We didn’t even realize at first that they spoke to us in English, but once we got to talking we found out they were from Winnipeg (Canada) and also flying home the next day.  They had been in Europe for a month and had been to some of the same places as us, so we had lots to talk about and the guys caught up on NHL playoff news.  They ordered food and managed to get upsold to the green sauce, which had what looked like a boiled egg in it.  It was not a hit, but we all had lots of apple wine. 

By the time we settled up, MB and I had drunk 5 glasses of apple wine each, so the waiter told us we should have ordered a pitcher.  The glasses are only  €1.60 each and it is €16 for the pitcher so we wouldn’t have saved anything, I guess it would have been more convenient for the waiter though.  I love hard cider at home, and this apple wine was not really like that.  It is not carbonated but definitely has a nice apple flavour, especially after a few glasses.  Our new friend from Winnipeg didn’t like it at first and asked for beer instead, but the waiter said no!  Not sure if he was joking around but he got used to the apple wine.

Again, everything was very inexpensive.  The meals were about €7 each and our total bill was €34 for all that food and drink.  Our new Canadian friends offered to walk us back towards the train station, which was great so we didn’t get lost.  On the way we passed over the Main river where there had been a football celebration earlier.  Once we got to the station we parted ways with our Canadian friends and found our way back to the hotel.  This took about half an hour to get all the way back and it was after midnight by the time we got to bed.  3 hours later we received our wakeup call and were off to the airport.    

We wanted to spend all our Euros so we wouldn’t have to take them home, so we only kept about €30 for what we thought would be a €20 cab ride and something to eat for breakfast at the airport.  Unfortunately, the cab ended up costing €30 and we were very lucky we had just enough left to pay him.  The airport was deserted and everything was closed so early in the morning, so there was nothing to spend money on anyway.  We were told we had to check in 3 hours early for the flight but that was just absurd.  The security gate was not even open until 6:00.  They did have nice sleeping chairs in the lounge though, so I caught a few zzzs before we went through security. 

The flight home was uneventful but very long.  I slept a bit.  MB, being tall, was extremely uncomfortable in the seats but we were patient.  We really wished we had brought some kind of food & drinks on the plane.  We got a little muffin after takeoff and then a horrible lean-cuisine-style meal a few hours later, but we were starving. 

Arriving in Toronto was also uneventful.  We filled out customs forms and I indicated I had cheese from the Netherlands, expecting to be detained, but we were waved through.  We had our luggage, shuttle to long term parking and were in our car on the highway within an hour of landing.  In all I couldn’t have been more impressed with the efficiency of the airline and the airports we visited. 

We had a 2 hour drive home from Toronto and it was teeming rain the whole way, but we had a wonderful trip and were very happy to be home.