At about 12:15 PM, we arrived at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Central Station)! It was about a 3.5 hours ride from Munich, but we slept through most of it so time flew by. 

First thing we did was try to check in to our hotel. Our hotel was only a 10-minute walk from the station, and they did indeed have a room ready for us! We dropped off our stuff and headed straight to the market for lunch. It was HOT in Frankfurt compared to all our other trips. It got up to 25 Celsius, compared to the max of 15-16 that we were accustomed to in all our prior cities. 

At Kleinmarkthalle, we roamed around trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. There was one stall that everyone talked about: Metzgerei Schreiber. It’s run by Ilse Schreiber, initially opened by her and her late husband. It’s famed for the “best Fleischwurst in Frankfurt”. We got one to try, and it was good in that it was less salty! Some of the sausages have been a bit too salty for our tastes and the ones here worked very well with the mustard. I did have some mental barriers with them handling money and my sausage with the same hands though 😅 But I guess that’s old school for you! 

We also ate at Edel’s Hausmannskost. They had the most delicious meatball in a fresh creamy green sauce, and we got both their potato salads as sides! Yummy, but it really filled me up. 

We left the market and took a peek at the Frankfurt Cathedral. It looks very cool in the middle of the city! 

We headed to a Japanese grocery store for some drinks and left with sushi. We took these with us to Römerberg to enjoy as we read up on the city hall, and the square we sat at. 

I was super full by now, and we decided to walk some more. It was a 30 mins walk to Alt-Sachsenhausen (old Sachsenhausen), and we took a look at the many bars and pubs that made up this district. We went during the day, but at night is when it really comes alive. The buildings look medieval, and the cobblestone roads also gave it charm. But not the most exciting part of town for us since we don’t drink! 

Walking back across the Eiserner Steg (iron footbridge), we got some froyo and did some shopping. We went inside MyZeil mall for drinks and some candies. I also found instant cream of spargel in powder form?! I shall be taking that back with me to Canada! I hope it tastes decent.  

We had a dinner reservation with a friend of mine for 7 PM, and we decided we’d rest a bit back at our hotel. Then it was time to see my friend N!! 

We haven’t seen each other for a hot second so when we found out we were both visiting Frankfurt at the same time, we made dinner plans. I got to meet her partner and she got to meet mine! 

We shared a variety of dishes, including a fresh bread plate with parmigiano butter, white asparagus, raviolis, monkfish, and ribeye. Yaldy is unpretentious in vibes, casual enough for a chill meal. A little pricey, but I think worth the splurge. We also got the “omakase” mocktail drinks, and they ask you a few questions to get a feel of your taste preferences. I got an almond and citrus drink, and then my husband and N’s partner got a lychee drink for theirs! A lovely time catching up ❤️

The next morning, we left to go to the Höchst neighbourhood. This is an old town and they also have markets on select days! They had one happening on the Friday we were there. The market was more of a proper farmer’s market and mostly sold produce and such. We also walked to the Markthalle Höchst across the street to check it out. 

We then made our way to a cafe called Wunderbar. We had lovely cold meats and cheese plates for our brunch and then went back to the markthalle for a slice of a strawberry dessert I was eyeing earlier. It was DELICIOUS. Everything I dreamed it would be. 

We got spontaneous tickets to Senckenberg Naturmuseum because our plans were pretty free this afternoon. Also, being near the Frankfurt Museumsufer (Museum Embankment), it felt like a waste if we didn’t check out at least one museum! 

I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen a real dinosaur skeleton before, but I can confidently say I have now with our visit to the Senckenberg Museum. They have many casts of various fossils and bones, but also originals too. The Diplodocus that they have is the only original skeleton in Europe (on display outside of the US). 

My friend messaged me to tell us there’s a street food festival happening: Freßgass Fest. We took the train after the museum since we were due for a late lunch. We also got to pass by the opera house since it was just outside the station! 

It was very hot, and we pretty quickly settled for a pina colada. We also got a flammkuchen and a bratwurst. The German pizza really got me full and we had to walk and do some digesting! 

This brought us to MyZeil again (the mall), until we could get into the movie theatre later. We went to the top floor food court and you can really admire the architecture of the mall from this level. The mall also had a live singer performing for folks while they ate. 

When it was 6 PM, we headed to the Astor Film Lounge: a theater. We caught a showing of the Devil Wears Prada 2 in English. They only had 1 showing in English that day, and like 4 in German. Which makes sense I guess 😅

The theater was so fancy. They allowed you to order food from your seats too and we got a cheese and meat plate with a soda. Loved the movie itself! It doesn’t try anything bold, but I feel it gives you exactly what you wanted for a sequel, and lets you reacquaint and catch up with the original characters. 

After the movie, we went to dinner at Restaurant Klosterhof near our hotel. I had one last plate of giant white asparagus, and the husband had a rösti with smoked salmon. I’m going to miss spargel so much 😦 

The next morning, we woke up early in hopes of getting ahead of jet lag and trying to pre-adjust our schedule. We bought some chocolates at a nearby grocery store, now that we knew how much space we had left in our luggage. 

We grabbed a quick breakfast at a place called Feinkost Paradies. For no reason other than I wanted to eat fried eggs and this place had a platter of literally 3 fried eggs with bread. I’m not sure if this is usually true of Germany, but not many places had air con so at 25 degrees in the morning on our last day, it was a bit stifling to eat indoors. 

After breakfast, we decided to take a walk to the Main River. The pollarded plane trees look so funny! It was nice seeing all the folks enjoying their time outdoors and relaxing in the sun. And then it was time for us to go back to our hotel and head to the airport! 

I’m so jealous of Germany’s train system. It’s amazing. We were training from Berlin to Munich and then to Frankfurt. Another place in Germany I’ve wanted to go to is Cologne and I realize it’s like an hour by train from Frankfurt. Most places are a max of 4-5 hours from Frankfurt it seems. That’s wild that you can reach the whole country by a fairly affordable and efficient mode of transport. In Canada, the train is a luxury and not only does it take a long time, it also costs more than a plane ride to your domestic destination. I understand Canada’s also bigger in terms of land mass. But the thought of being able to do day trips to any other place in the country sounds like a dream. 

With the end of our Europe adventures this time around, I’ll miss exploring and seeing new things with a pretty picturesque backdrop everywhere we go. But I’m also a bit relieved to no longer have to repack all my luggage every 2 days, and also I’ll get to see my dog again! Here’s to future adventures to come!