Stay

Flying from Madrid to Frankfurt was an easy way to get from Spain to Germany, as I made my way closer to the Netherlands to start my classes.   I got into Frankfurt after midnight, so I did stay in a hotel rather than bother an Airbnb host for such a late check in..  It was a Tryp hotel by Wyndham.  It was it was a farther walk from the train than I had anticipated.

Frankfurt is a modern city, not a small charming European town. But there is an historic district with beautiful old buildings, a market square, and on some Sundays, maybe even a biergarten!

Do

The weather forecast was for rain all day. I tried to change my train to earlier in the day, but my ticket was non-refundable, so I was stuck in Frankfurt for the day.  I was lucky to be there on a Sunday, so there were festivals and biergartens in a few places.  And I got lucky, the rain held off until late afternoon.

The first biergarten was in the historic district.  I was early, but that was not stopping me, or many locals.  They don’t mess around in Germany when it comes to serving beer.  No plastic cups here, they give you a huge glass, for a 2 Euro deposit.

Beer tastes so much better in a glass than a plastic cup.

The second biergarten was along the Main River, there was some kind of festival that day.  There was a really terrible band playing really awful American music.

The storm that was forecasted did come rolling in, but fortunately Frankfurt has a few museums, which, even if you are not a museum person, is a great way to spend a few rainy hours in any city.

There is a quirky little museum along the Main River, the Communications History Museum, which was the only one I was really interested in.  It was a fun and interesting way to spend two hours.  I had just watched the movie Enigma, and this museum even has an Enigma machine on display!

Eat

Ate a quickbreakfast at a small bakery near the train station, after locking up my luggage at the train station for the day.  Hey, at least it has some fruit!   

I had lunch at the biergarten.  Because a big beer of course calls for sausage or huge pretzels, or both.

At the end of my day in Frankfurt, I headed to the train station to move onto Dusseldorf.  On the way I had a little time, and found an amazing East African restaurant Im Herzen Afrikas.  It was insanely good, the kind of food you eat with your hands.

It is messy and you kind of feel like a kid – you don’t mind making a mess in order to get every last bit of food from your plate.  You won’t want to leave a bite behind.

Etc

I can’t say there is much reason to spend more than a day in Frankfurt, but hey, it’s Germany, so if you can find a biergarten, it’s not a bad way to spend a Sunday!