Sorry for the two week dry spell. Where was I? Oh yes, back to Germany...
Wednesday 4/13:
Steve booked us a couple of nights at the Courtyard by Marriot at the "NordWest Zentrum" just north of downtown Frankfurt. We were not within walking distance of city centre but we were depending on the excellent public transportation we had heard about. I was not disappointed.
We were just steps away from a large open air shopping mall, with every style restaurant and store you could imagine and the subway station was conveniently located on the bottom level of the mall. In hind-sight it really was a perfect location. Not much thinking or planning had to be involved to eat or to get into city centre, which is great when traveling with young kids.
After arriving at the hotel exhausted and ready to drop we forced ourselves to stay awake and get into German time by window shopping and eating at a Thai restaurant. The menu was in German but I recognized my favorites like "Panang Curry" and "Pad Thai".
After getting everyone fed the kids got their second wind and were nearly bouncing off the walls from exhaustion. There was no way I was going back to the hotel room with three wound up little kids. Our nerves were on edge from the hectic, tiring day, and we were restraining our children in vain. Our eyes fell upon (of all things) a "Toys R Us" on the bottom level floor. It was like the clouds opened and the angels began to sing. My head told me "Let them go bananas in there for a couple wasted hours, kids do it all the time. It's practically expected". Steve must've been exhausted too because he agreed.
Two hours later, after endlessly explaining why the children had to put the big toys back and pick out small toys that would fit in their suitcase, we were utterly spent, out of our minds exhausted. However, we had successfully managed to stay awake long enough to crash in bed by 9 p.m. German time. Four hours later I was wide awake. My body felt like I had just taken a long nap (at 3 o'clock in the afternoon NC time). The kids had an adjoining room and they were up and playing with the lights on. So at 1 a.m. we were all wide awake. Steve and I herded them back to bed, explaining the time change, and turned out the lights. They did great. For at least two hours we all tossed and turned in the dark waiting for sleep to catch up with us again.
Before leaving the States we were like anxious college-aged kids ready to tackle Germany in a day; we had researched things to do before arriving, and had interviewed the flight attendants on Lufthansia airlines who gave us a nice list of things to see. I was so enthusiastic about cramming in as much site-seeing as we could. But when we actually got to the hotel we decided not to set unrealistic goals for ourselves, realizing we were jet-lagged and had three kids in tow. We agreed to wake up and see how the day unfolded.
We woke up in Frankfurt at about 10:30 on Wednesday morning on April 13th, my birthday. Have you ever had the feeling that your eyelids feel like little weights are wanting to pull them down? It was so difficult to open my eyes. I woke up feeling like I could sleep another three hours, not waking again until early afternoon, which brought back memories of my early teenage years. I can't recall the last time I slept in that late, but I've always wanted to sleep in on my birthday.
Exhausted, we got up and forced ourselves into German time. When I traveled as I kid I always liked to keep track of the time back home, but this morning I did not want to entertain the thought. I was thankful we had not planned a long day of site seeing.
Wednesday 4/13:
Steve booked us a couple of nights at the Courtyard by Marriot at the "NordWest Zentrum" just north of downtown Frankfurt. We were not within walking distance of city centre but we were depending on the excellent public transportation we had heard about. I was not disappointed.
We were just steps away from a large open air shopping mall, with every style restaurant and store you could imagine and the subway station was conveniently located on the bottom level of the mall. In hind-sight it really was a perfect location. Not much thinking or planning had to be involved to eat or to get into city centre, which is great when traveling with young kids.
After arriving at the hotel exhausted and ready to drop we forced ourselves to stay awake and get into German time by window shopping and eating at a Thai restaurant. The menu was in German but I recognized my favorites like "Panang Curry" and "Pad Thai".
After getting everyone fed the kids got their second wind and were nearly bouncing off the walls from exhaustion. There was no way I was going back to the hotel room with three wound up little kids. Our nerves were on edge from the hectic, tiring day, and we were restraining our children in vain. Our eyes fell upon (of all things) a "Toys R Us" on the bottom level floor. It was like the clouds opened and the angels began to sing. My head told me "Let them go bananas in there for a couple wasted hours, kids do it all the time. It's practically expected". Steve must've been exhausted too because he agreed.
Two hours later, after endlessly explaining why the children had to put the big toys back and pick out small toys that would fit in their suitcase, we were utterly spent, out of our minds exhausted. However, we had successfully managed to stay awake long enough to crash in bed by 9 p.m. German time. Four hours later I was wide awake. My body felt like I had just taken a long nap (at 3 o'clock in the afternoon NC time). The kids had an adjoining room and they were up and playing with the lights on. So at 1 a.m. we were all wide awake. Steve and I herded them back to bed, explaining the time change, and turned out the lights. They did great. For at least two hours we all tossed and turned in the dark waiting for sleep to catch up with us again.
Before leaving the States we were like anxious college-aged kids ready to tackle Germany in a day; we had researched things to do before arriving, and had interviewed the flight attendants on Lufthansia airlines who gave us a nice list of things to see. I was so enthusiastic about cramming in as much site-seeing as we could. But when we actually got to the hotel we decided not to set unrealistic goals for ourselves, realizing we were jet-lagged and had three kids in tow. We agreed to wake up and see how the day unfolded.
We woke up in Frankfurt at about 10:30 on Wednesday morning on April 13th, my birthday. Have you ever had the feeling that your eyelids feel like little weights are wanting to pull them down? It was so difficult to open my eyes. I woke up feeling like I could sleep another three hours, not waking again until early afternoon, which brought back memories of my early teenage years. I can't recall the last time I slept in that late, but I've always wanted to sleep in on my birthday.
Exhausted, we got up and forced ourselves into German time. When I traveled as I kid I always liked to keep track of the time back home, but this morning I did not want to entertain the thought. I was thankful we had not planned a long day of site seeing.
Complimentary breakfast was over at the hotel so we found a restaurant next to the hotel, "Glashaus". It was the only German restaurant we visited. We arrived a little early for lunch so the place was pretty empty other than a couple of eldery ladies putting down a huge glass of...apple juice? No, turns out Germans love their beer, beer with lunch or breakfast, there are no time standards for drinking beer. It's five o'clock all day in Germany.
I'm used to seeing little old ladies sipping a glass of chardonney with their salad, but for some reason it tickled me to see the restaraunt filling up with elderly white haired folks who loved to chug down a pint. No table had water or soda.
The waitresses did not speak English, and the menu was all written in German, but we recognized "schnitzel" and asked the kids to get that. Steve ordered something covered in mushroom gravy sauce, tough as beef jerky. We decided that Germans like their beer because it makes the food go down easier.
I'm used to seeing little old ladies sipping a glass of chardonney with their salad, but for some reason it tickled me to see the restaraunt filling up with elderly white haired folks who loved to chug down a pint. No table had water or soda.
The waitresses did not speak English, and the menu was all written in German, but we recognized "schnitzel" and asked the kids to get that. Steve ordered something covered in mushroom gravy sauce, tough as beef jerky. We decided that Germans like their beer because it makes the food go down easier.
After "brunch" we caught the subway which, despite the language barrier, was so simple, clean and efficient. We got to city centre in about 15 mins and I was armed with a city map ready to hit the highlights. Of course we found a Starbucks right off our stop and welcomed something familiar. Frankfurt is a lot like Charlotte. It's a financial district, very pedestrian friendly, clean and modern. The little European cars that looked so strange 10 years ago now are a common site in the States. For the kids, Germany was similar enough to home to make the transition easy, but different enough that it was exciting.
My birthday ended at a nice little Italian restaurant near our hotel. Spagetthi and a glass of red wine tastes good no matter what country you're in.
My birthday ended at a nice little Italian restaurant near our hotel. Spagetthi and a glass of red wine tastes good no matter what country you're in.
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