Bohemia & Christmas in the Tyrol – DAY 1

Frankfurt Christmas Markets

After 26 hours of transit, we finally arrived at the Maritim Hotel in Frankfurt at around 8:00 pm local time, and after ordering a very delicious but horrendously expensive room service meal, we were ready to hit the hay. The flight from Melbourne to Dubai was absolutely fantastic – the brand new business class layout on Emirate’s A380-800 is phenomenal, with incredibly comfortable seats that convert into equally comfortable lay-flat beds, and service second to none. I have to say that the spiced chicken meal we had for lunch was hands-down the best airline food I’ve ever eaten. Kudos to the Emirates team as well for the fact that even though this long-haul flight of almost 14 hours was completely in daylight, the fact that they handed out pyjamas and amenity kits almost as soon as the seatbelt lights had been turned off, and kept the cabin dimmed for all but the last hour of the flight, meant that we were able to get some meaningful sleep along the way.

The second leg of our journey, from Dubai to Frankfurt, was on an A380 featuring the older layout, and while it was still an amazing experience, you could definitely feel that it wasn’t up to the same standard as the previous flight. Ditto the service – the cabin staff were professional at all times, but lacked the warmth and personal touch of the previous crew. Nonetheless, we managed to get some more sleep on that stretch, which allowed us to arrive in only a semi-dazed state, instead of being absolutely stuffed. The Emirates chauffeur-service drivers at both ends of the flight were absolutely amazing, as were the staff at the Maritim Hotel, who made checking in and getting to bed a breeze. Not only did they give us an upgrade to a room on the top floor with amazing views of the city, they’ve also allowed us to keep the same room on Thursday, once we check-out as private travellers and check back in as members of the tour group.

I’d originally booked the first three nights of our accommodation with a no deposit, free cancellation option through Booking.com, but a week or so before travelling we noticed it had suddenly become much cheaper to book and pay in advance through the Maritim’s own website, so I cancelled the original booking and did exactly that. What I didn’t realise at the time was that unlike the original booking, this one also came with breakfast included, a bonus for which we were eternally grateful as we woke this morning. As nice as the food had been with Emirates, it was such a pleasure to be able to eat some fresh pastries, and even better to enjoy a freshly brewed coffee or two.

Following breakfast, we ventured from the typically tropical climate of inside the hotel complex out to street level, where it was a balmy 4°C with the lightest of drizzle, racing towards what the weather service promised would be the warmest day of the week by far, at 6°C. Absolute bliss. We headed past the Messe Festival Hall and Conference Centre complex and the Christmas-tree topped Messeturm building that would become a recognisable landmark for our eventual return journey. Messe is a large company, with joint ownership between the city of Frankfurt and the state of Hesse – “Messe” literally translates as fair, (as in State Fair), and the complex is responsible for hosting hundreds of major events every year. We noticed that the evening’s event was the very non-Germanic Riverdance – The Original, something I noted down as an event to definitely avoid!

Having worked for several years at Melbourne’s own Festival Hall, I can assure you that this one is far bigger, and far more impressive. It even has its own goddam giant robot statue outside, for crying out loud!

Actually, the sculpture is part of a series of mechanical Hammering Man sculptures constructed around the world by American artist Jonathan Borofsky. This one has stood outside the Messeturm since 1991 and is the second largest in the world, standing at 21 metres and weighing in at 32-ton.

The walk from the hotel to the CBD is about 30-40 minutes, which gave us plenty of time to marvel at the stunning skyline of Frankfurt. When you think of Germany, you think of half-timbered houses and fairytale castles, but the modern architecture of Frankfurt is equally impressive, with towers of all colours, shapes and sizes everywhere you look.

As we reached the outskirts of the Altstadt (Old Town), we stopped at a large coffee house opposite the mid-20th Century Junior House building, and the equally impressive Frankfurter Hof, a large hotel and spa complex built between 1872 and 1876. It was destroyed in 1944 by bombing during World War II and was rebuilt in a simplified style in 1953.

After coffee, we ventured on to Goetheplatz, and Roßmarkt, a large public square, where we discovered the first of the stalls that formed the sprawling Frankfurt Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmarkt).

Having been to several Christmas markets in the past, what was immediately striking about the stalls here in Frankfurt was how ornately decorated and individual each stall is. By the time we’d finished our coffees it was well after 10:00am, but the streets were still surprisingly quiet, which gave us a great chance to check out some of the stalls in relative peace and quiet.

The main market area starts at Hauptwache, a famous square in the city centre, and runs the length of The Zeil, a pedestrian zone that stretches all the way to the River Main. For its entire length, The Zeil had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland, with stalls along both sides of the mall, interspersed with little side alleys. We decided the best option would be to head straight down one side, before making our way back along the other, looping in and out of the side lanes as we went.

When we reached the main square of the Altstadt, we stopped at a store that sold all sorts of socks, gloves, hats and shawls. Vanessa picked up a new beanie and I purchased a pair of woollen fingerless gloves that would keep the hands nice and warm while still allowing me to take photos as we went. Not that it really felt all that cold at this stage, but in anticipation of the coming days where temperatures were forecast to hover around 1°C or 2°C for the rest of the week.

Eventually we made our way down to the river, where we took a moment to climb a pedestrian bridge that was adorned with padlocks, a social media driven form of mass-delusional vandalism that I will never quite understand. I took a few snapshots of the scenery around the river before climbing back down to ground level to check out the last of the stalls at this end of the markets.

We took a shortcut back through a side street into the main part of the markets, passing a particularly pretty garden outside an apartment complex along the way. Now that we’d been down one entire side of the markets, it was time to slowly make our way back, stopping to get some refreshments along the way.

The highlight of the day for me was the three-stack of Kartoffelpuffer that we bought for €6 – the most amazing potato pancakes that were perfectly crisp on the outside and deliciously creamy on the inside, served with a lightly spiced apple sauce. To wash them down, we visited one of the many stalls selling piping hot glühwein, where Vanessa opted for a traditional red, and I instead went with a local favourite of hot apple cider. I’ve never been a huge fan of mulled wines, but I have to say that both were absolutely delicious. In fact, I’m definitely a convert to this whole hot apple cider thing.

As we reached the end of the markets, we made our way across to the Alte Oper (Old Opera House) building, where we found a nearby restaurant specialising in European dishes. Vanessa ordered her first Weiner Schnitzel of the trip, while I opted for something just a little fancier, with a Veal Cordon Bleu that was excellent.

After lunch we made a little side detour to pick up what is to be my Christmas present this year, a beautiful second hand 17-40mm L-series Canon lens that will become my new “walking around” lens from now on. I traded in my little old Tamron lens in the process for less than the price of a Weiner Schnitzel. Although it has served me well, the extra sharpness and low-light capabilities of the Canon lens meant there wasn’t even the slightest moment of regret.

The smartest option at this stage would have been to catch the underground back to the hotel, but with our bellies full of veal and potatoes, beer, wine and cider, we opted instead to take a 40 minute walk back, which meant we were both completely exhausted by the time we reached the Maritim in the dwindling twilight of Frankfurt at 4:00pm. We had the earliest of early dinners back at the hotel, where I opted for a dish of grilled Sea Bass and Vanessa went with Weiner schnitzel #2 for the day. The meals were OK, but not a patch on lunch, and certainly nowhere near as tasty as those Kartoffelpuffers from earlier in the day. In fact I’ll go out on a limb here and say they were almost worth the 40 minute walk alone!