Frankfurt, Germany Journal & Photos - Holland America Westerdam Baltic Cruise - August 9 - 11, 2005

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The flight to Frankfurt was only about one hour. I exchanged my last traveler’s check and we went to the subway to get to downtown Frankfurt. I knew the hotel was about 1.5 kilometers away from the train station but didn’t know exactly where it was so we caught a cab to the Frankfurt Marriott. It cost about 6 Euros and ended up being on the same road and on the tramline three stops from the train station. The tram would have cost just about the same as a cab.

We chilled out a little bit then headed out for something to eat. Matt got directions for where the bars and restaurants were. He chose poorly we would find out the next night as everything was down near the train station. We walked for a few blocks and stopped for a beer at Extrablatt. Matt wanted some type of German food so we kept walking and all we could find was Greek/Turkish food. We were screwing with each other and wouldn’t stop to eat anything. We kept walking and having beers at a couple of bars, Excil and Heck Meck. After fake fighting about eating we started to head back to the hotel, which was easy to find since it was 40+ stories high with the red Marriott sign at the top.

A couple of blocks from the hotel and only a few blocks from where Matt had been told to turn we ran into Unnerm Fido. It was a German bar with a tiny beer garden that served German food with huge liter beers like Oktoberfest. There were 3 flight attendants from United Airlines finishing dinner who Snap Judgment Matt decided he didn’t like because they were fake. They might have been a bit air headed but I argued with Hangover Man that they weren’t fake. This was mostly because I could tell Matt was getting a little drunk and heading for a hangover.

The meal hit the spot since we hadn’t eaten since the cruise ship this morning. We both had schnitzel. I can’t remember what type Matt had but it had a bunch of stuff I’d never eat on it. I had my schnitzel with a cream sauce and fries. It was very good. That was pretty much the end of August 9 as we walked home and called it an evening after dinner. It was a Tuesday night and there weren’t many people out anyways. This would hold true for Wednesday also.

Frankfurt was very much like Berlin in that it’s a huge city but there doesn’t seem to be enough people to justify the size of the city. I could only figure that it was August and I know that is the big vacation month for Europeans.

We started our last day by sleeping in. I really didn’t have much planned for Frankfurt. I would have just as easily like to have left for home but I could only reserved frequent flyer seats returning on Thursday. We started our touring by buying a 24-hour transportation pass for 4.50 Euros. We got on the tram outside the Marriott and just rode the tram until the end of the line then headed back to the city.

I’m really sold on the trams. I’ve never been in a European city that had trams and also had traffic problems. Some cities have so many trams running, like Amsterdam, that they are almost like a moving sidewalk through the city. The tram took us pretty far outside of town and on the way back we stopped at the South Train Station. Matt was looking for a bank to get money and thought he had seen some at this station when we went through originally on the tram. He was wrong. We walked the whole square the train station was on then walked to the other side of the station where we found a bank. Of course, when we walked back to the train station we noticed we had walked right by an ATM in the station.

We took the subway from the train station back into the heart of town. We walked around aimlessly like always and found the café district that was also surrounded by the red light district. Matt finally stopped and got his Turkish Domer that he had seen all over Berlin. It was a German gyro. I wasn’t that hungry and made a recon circle around the block. There were lots of cafes along with the red light district staples of strip clubs and peep shows. There were a couple of interesting twists that I’d never seen. One was an Internet Café porn lounge. Another was the subtle difference between Frankfurt and Amsterdam with the ladies of the evening. In Frankfurt all the girls are inside “hotels”. You walk through and the girls are all sitting in there rooms. I’ll get back to this later though.

I met up with Matt again who hadn’t stayed at the gyro place so we were circling the block together. He gave me a hard time for not eating on shore like I did on the boat. He claimed I had “cameled up” during the cruise. I just was running out of money really. He didn’t understand why I’d get upset at the term “cameled up”.

The rest of the day we just wandered the streets stopping at various cafes having a beer here and there. We ended up at the old town center called the Roemerberg after our wandering. This was the old town hall square of Frankfurt. We bought some final gifts and souvenirs. We also ran into one German and one Japanese film crew filming shows. The German one seemed like a soap opera and the Japanese one had some guy in a white suit and a huge glittery bow tie eating bratwurst. We ended up at the Main River where we started to head back to the hotel. We took a subway train that stopped on the other side of the Festival Hall across the street from our hotel.

We took a nap and headed back to the bar district near the train station. We had a beer at an Australian bar that had girl waitresses that didn’t speak English. The last couple of hours we just spent wandering through the red light district people watching.

We walked through some of the hotels with the ladies of the evening and couldn’t believe how many guys were wandering the halls. The girls weren’t as pretty as the ones in Amsterdam. We went up through one hallway that had a bunch of Asian “girls”. I’m certain one was a guy. Matt cracked me up with a, “I think one of them really liked me”. Duh!!!! At the beginning of the area we had a guy try and get us in his bar/brothel and give us the info of where to go and who would rip us off and who wouldn’t. We passed.

I knew of most of the scams, at least I hoped, and did. We wandered into one bar which we thought was a bar and found out it was really a brothel. The girls try and get you to buy them drinks and then take you back to negotiate. I did know enough never to buy a drink for a girl in a strip club/brothel and that would go doubly for this joint. I had told Matt not to buy any drinks for anyone. Matt had a Russian girl and I had a Black girl come up to us and they hit us with their sales pitch and we passed as we really only wanted a beer. In fact we bought our beer and tried to leave but they said we had to finish it in the bar. This was the only place we couldn’t take our beer with us in all of Europe. As the girls gave up on us I noticed there was a menu on the table in front of us. They only wanted 100 Euro for us to buy a glass of champagne for one of these girls. And it was only 1000 Euro for a bottle of champagne. What a scam. We got the hell out of there and after another of Matt’s, “I think she liked me” quotes we wandered around. We headed back to the room about 11:00 PM.

Our flight departed Frankfurt about 11:20 AM and I had a 7:00 AM wake up call. We showered and left and that was a good thing, as we needed every minute. I almost got into an argument with the bellhop who had commandeered our luggage while I was checking out and Matt was getting coffee. He kept insisting on taking our luggage to a taxi. I kept telling him we were just taking the tram the three stops to the train station. He kept saying it was the same amount for a cab. I kept telling him we had the 24-hour transportation pass and we weren’t paying. He just wanted a tip for taking the luggage 15 feet out the door.

The tram got us to the train station and we bought tickets for the airport. We went to an ICE train and told our tickets weren’t good for the train only the subway. We had to walk about 200 yards to get back to the subway with our luggage, which by now was getting heavy. We got to the airport and of course were as far away as possible from the Continental check-in counter. We had to take an airport tram to the opposite terminal from where the subway took us.

The line to check in took forever but we finally got checked in and headed to the gate. We had to go through customs and then security guards twice with our carry on. The second security stop ever one was checked with a wand by a security guard. We got to the counter as they were boarding the flight. Matt was a little bummed because he didn’t have time to buy a book or the final gifts he wanted to get for family. The book thing ended up being for the best as the 777 airplane we flew home on had individual television screens. I watched, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and another movie I can’t remember now. Matt watched the Practice and played chess. He got rid of a lot of his Euros on beer. He actually just gave the girls 20 Euro and they ran a tab for him instead of having to keep giving him change.

We got to Newark and had to go through customs and immigration and recheck our bags. This really upset me when I noticed the guy rechecking my bag leaning on it with his whole body before he let it go through the x-ray machine. I had a couple of things that were broke when I got home but that was the least of my luggage problems. The next day when I opened my bag at home I noticed that the tube I had used for my Alexander Chen-Honolulu serigraph, Speed Racer/Racer X animated cel and Stockholm poster were gone. Someone in either Frankfurt or Newark had taken it out for themselves or just forgot to put it back in after checking the bag. We did have stickers from Frankfurt saying they had gone through the bags. This really pissed me off. I’ve put in a claim for the three for the $250 total that they cost but I’d rather have the artwork back.

Like always the luggage took forever at Washington National but we hit the subway connections perfectly. I called home and missed dad but called again in Bethesda. They were eating dinner at Hinode next to Manhattan Jaguar. I just got off the train at White Flint and Craig picked me up. I got to eat one last meal of sushi before heading home.

Well that catches me up to the end of the trip. Hopefully I’ll get the artwork back, but I’m not counting on it. That was a real bummer end to a great trip.

It was a long trip but definitely worth it. I think I would definitely go back to most places. I really liked Berlin, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Warnemunde. It’s truly amazing to see the differences of what has happened in the last 15, 40 and 60 years for the eastern block countries. They are definitely working hard at promoting tourism and I think they all will succeed drawing more and more people to the area.

I never received my artwork from Continental Airlines and they wouldn’t reimburse me for the loss. They gave me a $150.00 discount certificate towards another flight. Just what I want to take a trip on an airline that stole something out of my luggage.

Bar Hopping In Frankfurt, Germany August 9, 2005 (6 Pictures)	European Central Bank Area (9 Pictures)	Frankfurt, Germany Town Hall (8 Pictures)	Multiple Film Crews Using Roemerberg As A Backdrop (6 Pictures)
Frankfurt, Germany Marriott Area (12 Pictures)	Hauptwache Platz (6 Pictures)	Roemerberg - Frankfurt Town Square (15 Pictures)	Main River Area (3 Pictures)