Bohemia & Christmas in the Tyrol – DAY 3

Frankfurt

After two days of lots of walking, today we decided to take things at a slower pace, and just tidy up a few loose ends as we prepared to meet our tour group in the evening. Tomorrow we leave Frankfurt and head off on our grand tour of the Christmas markets of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. It’s been a great stay, but we are looking forward to getting out of the city and visiting some of the more beautiful places such as Rothenburg and Český Krumlov.

The day started with a short trip via the U-Bahn (Frankfurt’s underground/metro system), which in stark contrast to yesterday’s experience was a model of efficiency. We easily purchased our tickets from the multi-language vending machine, worked out which line we were supposed to be on just from the maps on the wall, and managed to get off at the correct stop – thanks in part to the fact that the announcements on the train are in German and English.

First stop on our itinerary for the day was a short walk along The Zeil (English translation: The Row), usually one of the busiest shopping streets in Frankfurt, however with most stores not opening until 10:00am in winter, it was relatively deserted, with only a few workers, rough sleepers and maniacal bike riders about.

After gathering a few supplies at a DM store (a bit like our Priceline stores back home), we found ourselves a little café in a side street and sat down to a magnificent breakfast. Vanessa’s Eggs Benedict dish was superb, and my “Frankfurt Frühstück”, which consisted of a boiled egg, slices of cheese, ham and salami, a croissant with the most delicious pot of raspberry jam and a small bowl of yoghurt and fruit compote, set me up for the rest of the day.

Next stop was the camera store were we bought my lens on Tuesday, to drop off the end & lens caps from the Tamron lens I traded in and swap them over for Canon ones. With the stores now opening, we headed to a large shopping mall we’d passed earlier called “My Ziel”, and spent an age browsing through an incredible homewares store called “Lorey”, where we somehow resisted the urge to buy anything (and believe me, it was tough). Then it was on to the markets again for one last Glühwein.

As we sipped our Glühwein (or in my case my hot apple cider), we glanced longingly at the stalls selling pretzels, Bratwurst, and of course those amazing Kartoffelpuffers, but try as we might, that breakfast had done us in, and we couldn’t force ourselves to eat anything more. We handed back our mugs and tokens and collected our €8 pfand (the deposit you have to pay to “hire” the mugs), then headed off along Braubachstraße, past a number of antique shops, art dealers, and various other vendors of high-end, hand-made goods.

A short walk away we came to Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus, more commonly known as the Frankfurt Cathedral, although technically it has never been an actual cathedral. Here we made a short stop to check out the stunning Gothic architecture before venturing inside for a brief look. Like many grand old buildings in Germany, it was severely damaged during bombing raids in World War II and was extensively rebuilt in the 1950s.

Back outside, the stairs down to the Dom/Römer underground station were mere metres away, so we headed down them and back a few stops to Messe/Festhall station just outside our hotel. The afternoon consisted of us packing bags, resorting luggage, ironing clothes and preparing for the evening drinks and dinner event, although I also made time to duck out to a nearby shopping plaza to pick up some lunch.

As we were heading to the downstairs bar to grab a couple of beers to drink with lunch, we met our tour guide Deryck, a delightful English chap, who informed us that our group for this tour was going to consist of only nine people – three couples and a woman travelling with her parents. We caught up with them all for drinks and dinner later on, and everyone hit it off just fine, with plenty of laughs and a lot of tall stories being swapped already. Being absolutely exhausted, I headed back to the room at around 9:30 to finish packing and to try and get some sleep, while Vanessa ducked off with some of the others for one last drink at the bar. It looks like the next 14 days are going to be an absolute hoot!