2014 - Day 46 (Frankfurt)

Last "sightseeing" day of the trip!!!

Frankfurt turned out to be a real surprise packet and we had a great day with some wonderful surprises.

As per usual practice, hunted out the "hop-on-hop-off" bus which conveniently left from outside the railway station just across the road just five minutes after we turned up. Got out at the old town centre where we soon realized we had under-dressed for what was a freezing cold and windy day (but fortunately no rain) so we headed back towards the bus stop to return to the hotel to add lots more layers.

Saw the next bus disappear as we crossed the square so went and had a coffee in a great little cafe where they roasted their own coffee and it was beautiful - best we had all trip. We told the owner we loved his coffee and interestingly he replied that he finds Australians his most demanding customers who really know their coffee - he commented how many good coffee cafes there are in regional Australia - he seemed to really know all about us!

Caught the next bus back, changed, and started out again!!

This time we got off at an area known as Sachenhausen, another part to survive WWll and where the cider houses were/are located. There is a tradition of serving pork knuckles to accompany your cider in these "cider houses" - had a look around and decided it may be a good place to have dinner.

Back to the town square where we arrived just in time for one of those lucky co-incidences - as we arrived we heard instruments being played in a very noisy but haphazard way and saw young people spread all over the square, individually playing violins, trumpets, trombones etc while some others were just dancing in small spaces marked with chalk. That went on for a while and then a siren sounded and they all gathered at the fountain in the centre of town square and started playing as an orchestra - then a choir joined them along with a group of dancers on the other side of the square. They played/sang/danced "the chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from "Nabucco" (coincidentally the opera we saw when we were in Prague) - if you don't know it, u-tube it and listen and you'll understand how spine-tingling it was to hear a beautiful and powerful performance live in Frankfurt square!! It was absolutely unforgettable and one of "those moments" you never forget.

We found a beautiful shop just near the square which sold cuckoo clocks (not interested, but these were quite beautiful) and wooden goods of all kinds - beautifully hand crafted. Loved lots of their items but the restrictions of space had to be considered but we finally purchased a beautifully carved Madonna/Joseph/baby and some little curled timber Christmas trees which will become part of our Christmas decorations and a permanent memento of the trip.

Back on the bus for the remainder of the tour/commentary and went back to Sachenhausen for dinner. Found a reasonable looking old "haus" and ordered our ciders and "Grillhaxe mit Sauerkraut und brot" and discovered the following:

• Their cider has a much higher alchohol content than ours - but is less sweet and a very refreshing drink (I had two!)
• the "Grillhaxe" (pork knuckle) is massive - it is like having a Sunday roast leg of lamb put in front of you except you each get one (Elizabeth's facebook page will have a photo)
• Our stomachs have not been pre-prepared for the shock of genuine sauerkraut - our stomachs each spent the rest of the night objecting strongly to the treatment we had just subjected them to!!! 
• but it was the most beautiful, tender, flavoursome pork we've ever had - another great experience not to be forgotten.
• p.s. our stomachs did recover quite quickly!!

Back to the hotel  -  thankfully a reasonable walk but a beautiful clear night.  Loved Frankfurt.

Trivia: there are over 400 banks with offices in Frankfurt - it has the largest stock exchange in mainland Europe.

Cap report: chances are I've managed not to lose any- shame about the tablet though.