Frankfurt am Main

Day 2

After a full night of warm sleep, Levi and I woke up to get ready for the day. By the time we went downstairs, Uncle Roland had fixed breakfast for Levi, Wally, and me- a variety of cheese, breads, salami, proscuitto, and marmalade homemade with blackberries from Uncle Roland's garden. It was light and delicious.



Overnight even more snow had fallen outside and Levi and I took the opportunity to enjoy it a bit more. I think we are in Germany for a short enough time for the snow to not get old (hopefully).Outside the house this morning, two kids walked by on their way home during their lunch break from school- "Guttentag!" I said. "Hello. Happy New Year" was the reply from the young boy. Apparently, as the boy told us, they are taught English in school and he spoke it fluently. Impressive. Not as impressive though as when Levi turned around and I heard the young boy tell his sister- "Watch this!" as he packed snowball in his hands. What sassy children...little did we know that this was just the beginning of the attacks.



It was just a short walk from Uncle Roland's house to the U-bahn stop and we hopped on to ride in to the main city center. One of the windows at the top of the train was slightly ajar and as we neared a particular street, *WHAM*- snowball to the window. I just got a few flakes of snow on me, but many people on the train ended up with snow covering their hair and coats. Guess you're not safe even on a train! Or a bus actually, which we'd find out later.

When we got off the train a short 5-10 minutes later- the entire city square was full of Christmas markets in celebration of the season and each stall was filled with wooden crafts, candles, sausages, cookies, gluhwein, and many many more treats.



We walked past the City Hall, along the Mein River, through shopping malls and streets lined with modern stores and even went on a double decker bus tour through the city. The bus tour took us through the financial district- European Central Bank included, along Museum Row, and in and out of the bulk of Frankfurt. Before we knew it- *KABLAM!* Yes, we were hit again. We were sitting at the front of the second deck of the bus and the snowball hit right in the front windshield. Once again, impressive through. I flinched instinctively of course.



It was rather cold, but we were all properly and warmly dressed and all the walking kept us warm (a stoneware mug full of yummy apple wine helped too!). I loved seeing all the toddlers running throughout the Christmas market completely bundled from head to toe- so precious! The babies in their strollers were wrapped in specially made strollers that had puffy blankets attached to them. Such a shame that they'll probably grow to be snowball-throwing hoodlums one day! ;)



It was about 4pm when we arrived back from the city center to Uncle Roland's house and while Uncle Roland went inside to rest, Levi and I of course, played in the snow again. We adventured a bit in the backyard and I layed in the snow to make a snow angel...and got snow in my pants. Worth it.



We also worked very diligently and froze our fingers making a snowman. It was pretty awesome if i do say so myself. A few cars drove by and smiled or gave our snowman a "thumbs up" (gig 'em!). It's always so nice to be internationally recognized for my artistic abilities! ;)



For dinner Uncle Roland cooked pork chops, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. Yum. He also had us try one of the many German beers. It was a blonde so it was supposed to be light, much lighter than most of the beers Uncle Roland usually drinks, but even then it was rather strong for me! We also had a bit more wine and had to decline (rather forcefully) drinking any schnapps after dessert.

Levi and I are currently in an internet/game station that is in the main train station here in Frankfurt. It's enclosed and smoking is allowed so I'm sure we'll reek of cigarettes when we leave, but Uncle Roland does not have internet at his house so we will have to sacrifice our lungs for a short while.

Tomorrow we are off to Heidelberg for the day which I'm sure will be another beautiful adventure.

Until tomorrow- auf wiedersehen!

-stine