last day in Frankfurt

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We took the S-bahn back to Offenbach and sat across from a kid wearing a Utah t-shirt listing the places to go hiking. We spoke to him and his father for a little while and they made sure we got off at the right stop. People here are really friendly, from our experience, though maybe it helps that we look so clueless.

We went to Stephen and Oliver's apartment on the "penthouse" of Offenbach's "skyscraper" (the 14th floor). It was beautiful, with a long terrace full of plants, and a modern white decor. The dinner table was nicely decorated with a big pumpkin in the middle, which turned out to contain homemade pumpkin ginger soup (apparently pumpkin is the new food trend in Germany, they've recently discovered it). This was followed by sticky potato balls with roast beef and brussel sprouts and lots of wine, and then a taste of home: apple strudel and vanilla ice cream.

I sat next to a man named Patrick who told to me about his time living in hostels in California and his interest in live music, which they only have here at big concert arenas. Jan and Nurlan left around midnight and Patrick and his wife left not long after, but Markus and I stayed for several more hours. Markus and Oliver and Marian, a guest who did not speak English, drank a good deal more and got into a conversation about whether it is appropriate to wear any sort of religous attire in the public sphere (that is, if you are a teacher or something), which is a hot topic here. This was followed by a playing of "Springtime for Hitler" from the play The Producers, and an even more impassioned discussion about whether Germans are allowed to laugh at anything related to the war. It was a very interesting discussion (though Oliver fell asleep in the middle, at the table) especially to be had with a group of gay men, who would have been under attack, too.



We got up fairly late again the next day, had latte macchiatos and eggs and salami, and went to Rudy's apartment in Frankfurt. His boyfriend and his childhood friend were also there. We had some champagne and then set off for the Goethetower, a very tall structure in the woods near Frankfurt that overlooks the city. On the way we passed through a large area of small houses on larger plots that Frankfurters rent to garden in. It was about a 45 minute walk to the woods from the city center, a sort of strange sensation. Rudy showed us which berries we could eat, and we had a little snack of hibiscus and grapes on the way back. We had beer at a cafe on the Main river and talked about plans, and Rudy (who works for Lufthansa) asked the table where he and his boyfriend should go for the weekend - Monaco or Greece. We all then went back to Markus and Nurlan's for dinner ("one-pot") and watched the TV show "Tatort" or Crime Scene, which has been running for 30 years and nearly everyone in Germany watches. We understood very little but still enjoyed it, and went to bed soon after.

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