Return to Germany - Bruges to Frankfurt to Nordlingen

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Saturday 30th August (Day 5)

The next morning we still had a bit of time in Bruges before we had to head out of town on the train. We had a final look around the town and ventured down to the basement level of the Copthorne Hotel (at least, I think it was the Copthorne), where some original Medieval tunnels have been restored as part of a conference facility type area. There were a few artefacts and things to look at - it was quite interesting! We grabbed some lunch from the supermarket and walked to one of the other squares where there was a Saturday Market going on - people were starting to pack up, but it was a hot day so we sat next to a fountain and watched all the vendors and tourists wander around. Soon it was time to depart, so we picked up our luggage from the B&B, and made it to the train station on time, where we quickly departed for Brussels. We had a stopover for about 3 hours in Brussels, so we stored our luggage at the train station and started walking towards the centre of the city, not really having too much of an idea where we were going. It was incredibly hot and sunny outside, and it quickly became quite overwhelming, even just wandering around. However, Brussels was still quite interesting in that it was still quite ‘Belgium’, although it had much more of a big city atmosphere, and many of the buildings were more modern and relatively non-descript. As our energy started to flag, we finally made it to the small cobblestone streets surrounding the Grand Place (central square), and then the square itself, which was filled with stunning Gothic guildhalls - it was impossible to take a photo as the buildings were just too tall, but they were certainly very detailed and impressive. We had a quick look around, bought an ice cream each (which melted in about 2 minutes), and decided to head back to the train station - short but sweet!

Safely on our next train to Frankfurt (Germany), we eventually arrived safely at the central station, walking just a couple of minutes from there to our hotel. It was in the centre of the red light district, but the area was very clean and tidy, with loads of restaurants and other amenities very close by. Our hotel was nicer than the other places we had stayed so far, and we were prepared to relax and enjoy it. Germany is an incredibly modern and efficient country, so everything we needed was at hand once again - we managed to catch up on our emails, and generally not rush around at all. After we had settled in we took a walk around the (big) block, just to get a sense of where we were staying. Even though we were in a red light district, it still felt really safe, and there were a lot of people happily dining at the restaurants also - Vaughan was on a constant search for cheap bratwurst sausages, and a few places caught his interest for future reference.


Saturday 31st August (Day 6)

We woke up in the morning after a bad sleep - the clubs in the area had been really loud overnight, and it was too hot to sleep with the windows closed. Never mind - we were up and moving at least, although we suddenly realised that we didn’t really know much about Frankfurt, or what to do there. Being a Sunday morning, the central city was dead quiet! Frankfurt is the banking capital of the world, so much of the central city is filled with finance-related buildings. All the shops were closed and we were suddenly reminded of the way things used to be in New Zealand when we were growing up. It seemed strange to be in a city of Frankfurt’s size, but not be able to find anything open. We went for a walk instead, strolling about 20 minutes to the Romerberg (the old central city), where historic buildings outnumber contemporary ones, and you get more of a German feel about the place. After a look around the square and the quaint surrounding stores, we went for a quick look at the Dom Sankt Bartholomäus (Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral), an impressive building and tower that was the target of a high level of WWII bombing - however, despite a great deal of damage, the building escaped relatively unscathed in comparison to much of the surrounding area. You can see some pictures here, as it was under heavy refurbishment and covered in scaffolding, when we went to visit.

We milled around for a short time and decided to wander down towards the nearby Main River (pronounced ‘Mine’). We noticed that the road next to it had been closed, and many people were starting to gather in the area. When we got a bit closer we realised that things were revving up for the day for a giant food festival of some kind (I think it was just called the Summer Festival). The weather was beautiful and there were all kinds of things to see and do. People crowded both sides of the river, with dragon boat races running on the river every 5 minutes or so. There were loads of crafts and cultural arts, music and dancing (from around the world), as well as many, many different types of German food and drink. There were outdoor beer halls, cocktail kiosks, bratwurst grills, a fake beach, jazz bands in the park - the list goes on. It was a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells, and somehow we had a knack for finding ourselves in the middle of these types of things. We spent several hours just wandering along both sides of the river, taking everything in, before settling down at a table for Vaughan’s long-anticipated bratwurst. Afterwards, we moved to a spot in the riverside park that was just at the end of all the marquees and madness, and lay down on the grass in the sun for a few hours. It was the first time we had really been able to just sit back and do nothing in the sun on our holiday, and it was incredibly pleasant!

After a while we decided that we would go back to the hotel, where I caught up on some postcards, before heading down to a bar just around the corner from our hotel - it was very local, with outdoor seats under big umbrellas, set out on the footpath, all facing towards several large TV screens playing (of course) almost endless live football (soccer). Vaughan tried a couple of local beers, and I had some apple wine, a local alcohol similar to cider (although not as sweet). Apparently it is not very common in many other parts of Germany, so I wanted to make sure that I got to try it - it was quite nice, but the best thing about it was that it was really cold, on such a hot evening. We sat out under the sun umbrellas until well after dark. We walked down the street a short way to a nice-looking kebab restaurant that we had seen the night before - the food was excellent, and incredibly tasty! After going back to the hotel, a massive fireworks display decorated the sky for over half an hour, as an end to the festival. We didn’t go outside to watch it, but could see everything reflected from the surrounding buildings, which looked quite cool. It had been a surprising but incredibly enjoyable day!


Sunday 1st September (Day 7)

Another day in Frankfurt with very little planned, we slept in and then headed to the supermarket, laundry and local bakery, where we pottered around and stocked up on supplies. It started to pour with rain very briefly, and it became incredibly humid. Once we were properly organised after lunch we went across the river to an area called Sachsenhausen, which was more of a suburban and traditional area. There were all kinds of tiny cheap local stores, which we poked around in on our way through to the Adolf Wagner pub - we had read about the pub as being a really good one to go to to get local food and alcohol, as well as having a great beer garden. We thought we would give it a go, and it was well worth our while. We got there early enough to score a nice outdoor seat out the back (there are plenty of nice sets inside as well), and we ordered a Handkase mit Musik (hand-cheese with music) - a round cheese soaked in oil and vinegar and topped with onions (your bowels supply the music, apparently). It was really tasty but neither of us suffered any ill effects. We had some more apple wine (you could buy it by the jug), and just sat around enjoying the atmosphere and making conversations with the staff. After a while it started to get quite busy and we could see that it was a very popular place with the locals. We decided to stay for dinner, with Vaughan ordering the largest pork chop he could find, and both of us enjoying more local food in general.

We eventually left before we had too much to drink (apparently apple wine is something that people often end up drinking too much of because they don’t realise how potent it is), and strolled back towards the city. The sun had almost set when I remembered that we had been going to visit the Main Tower Observation Platform - it was only open for another half an hour, so we hot-stepped it back to the financial area and made it just in time to buy tickets. Up we went, over 90 stories above the city, to a fairly large lookout platform where we could see Frankfurt from a 360 degree perspective. We managed to catch the last of the sunset up there, and then spent some time just snapping a few photos of the city. On the way back to the hotel we passed through the financial area again, where a large Euro symbol (in lights) was on display in front of some of the bigger banks. The small surrounding park area seemed to be an attraction for wild rabbits for some reason, and we spotted over 20 of them, eating the grass and jumping around, in the small space - it was quite amusing, and really cute! Frankfurt had turned out to be more enjoyable than we had expected.


Frankfurt - Nordlingen

Monday 2nd September (Day 8)

The next morning it was time to pick up our rental car, which we had booked in anticipation of a German road trip. We had always wanted to see the German countryside and drive on the autobahns, so we approach the day with much enthusiasm. After getting lost we eventually found the rental car place, but they had already given our car to someone else - never mind, they came up with a brand new Mini Cooper instead. It was pretty lush inside and I was worried that Vaughan wouldn’t fit, but it turned out to be surprisingly spacious. We cruised through the city one last time and then headed out of town, with Vaughan failing to give way at one point at this weird autobahn intersection, and almost driving straight into a van. Crisis averted, we ventured on, cranking up the mini’s very effective stereo, and giving the speedometer grief. Despite the fact that we were often travelling well in excess of 160kmph, many cars with larger engines still managed to fly right by us as if we were standing still - it really was quite crazy!

The German countryside was beautiful, with many rolling green fields and traditional barn-like houses. We noticed that there did not actually seem to be a great deal of animals in many of the paddocks, and sometimes very few crops as well, so we weren’t certain on what a lot of the land was used for. We were forced to detour due to road works, which resulted in an unexpectedly enjoyable adventure through even more picturesque towns, and past several remote hillside castles - this was more like the Germany we had wanted to visit, and we were loving every second of it!

We eventually made it to Nordlingen, a quaint medieval town, still surrounded today by huge walls (that I imagine were part of the original fortification). The township was tiny and filled with confusing cobblestone alleyways, rather than streets, but we eventually found our hotel, which was located in an old monastery (which had later become a mill). The orange roofs of all the buildings looked spectacular and some of the buildings had been preserved incredibly well over time - it was easy to see the medieval influence that remains, especially when you approach one of the 5 amazing gates that allow you to travel in and out of the central walled area.

We had a bit of a relax at the hotel and then ventured around some of the inner streets, sussing out all kinds of pubs, restaurants and cultural shops. There wasn’t a lot to choose from due to the size of the town, which was actually a welcome relief to a degree, after the expansiveness of Frankfurt. Someone gave us a map of the town and we went on a walking tour that was outlined on the map, taking in the sights of wonderful old German houses (some falling to pieces, but just as cool) and of the medieval walls and gates. At one part you can even venture up right onto the top of the walls and walk around the edge of the town that way. There were also a few waterwheels located around the town, and window boxes with beautiful bright flowers hanging from all the houses. It really was quite a quaint and breath-taking town. After our mini-walking tour we had some fantastic pasta at an Italian restaurant below the Nordlingen Cathedral (St George’s Church) - the tower itself is very impressive (it’s called the Daniel, for some reason), and you can see it here. The staff who took our order didn’t speak any English, so we had fun trying to read the German menu and then make an order - Vaughan did a particularly good job. He ordered a very nice meat and mushroom type pizza, and I had spinach gnocchi. One of the other staff members seemed very interested that we were from New Zealand, so we just chatted for a while, before heading back to have a look around all the facilities in our large hotel complex. Very nice! Onward…….tomorrow brings on another trip to Munich!

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