Yes, to preface, I know... it's been a while since I've posted, and this post is from almost a month ago. I will try to make up for lost time as I have been lazy and have avoided blogging.
Liz came to visit me in Frankfurt during her Spring holidays from school. She arrived in Frankfurt and we met each other at Starbucks at the Frankfurt airport, even though she arrived into Ryanair Frankfurt Hahn Airport. This was convenient since the bus from Hahn stops at the airport, and I still could get almost a full day in at work with out have the hassle of driving the 90 km to Hahn, let alone the costs of taking a car to get there.
Liz was lucky, despite her misfortunes this year with traveling, but I guess I'll get on that later. It was great to see Liz, a familiar person from my "old" life. Just hanging out together and talking about things like we used to made me remember home and how happy I was in Ann Arbor. For all of you who read this, I'm really miss you guys. That's you, Anastasia, Eric, Illiana, Jin Hee, June, Stacy, Russian Club and anyone else who I spent a significant portion of my time with while in Ann Arbor.
The weather happened to be perfect, and Liz had a wonderful time being in Germany, where things run on time and function as one would expect. Liz was also excited to be in a big city, and I don't blame her. She was happy to be where there is Starbucks, Kebab, Tapas and other international things. Although we weren't able to find this certain type of cheese that's common in the Lozere which is used for this traditional dish with potatoes. She wanted to make it for me.
In Frankfurt, Liz and I met up with Markus and walked through many different parts. Since Frankfurt isn't so big, it's not hard to show it. We went to my favorite Wacker's Coffee, although I'm not coffee lover. It's worth the treat to go there and smell the aromas of the roasting of the coffee beans, and the sounds of the machines spewing steam. It's quite the place to go, and it's a local favorite among Frankfurters. We also shopped along the Zeil, the famous shopping street in Frankfurt and went into myZeil, and small shopping mall where the first Hollister had just recently opened in Europe.
We also walked down the Burgerstrasse and observed the people. If you are not familiar, the Burgerstrasse is a long street reminiscent of Kreuzberg in Berlin. It's just one street, and there you can find all types of boutiques, cafes, bars, second hand shops, and art galleries.
Last we also visited the area of Sachsenhausen, although we didn't go at night. It's basically the bar scene of Frankfurt, and I would say that because of it's central location, it's about where 80% of where all my Lufthansa colleagues lives. It's hip and urban, yet markedly German and kitchy with it's old wooden houses.
Liz really enjoyed Frankfurt, and she was happy that she had come back a second time. I guess it always helps having someone who knows where to go, and I can only thank my friends and host family for showing me the ins and outs of the city.
Since Liz and I had plans to go to Strasbourg the same weekend, on Friday afternoon, I had gone to work to pick up a rental car from the Lufthansa carpool. We purposely rented out a BMW 118d Convertible. It was awesome having a car and it was exponentially better because we had a convertible.
It was great to have the mobility of the car and it saves a lot of time. On Friday I was able to show Liz a lot of the city, and it saved her train fare as well. On Friday night, we also met up with some of the Oberursel/Friedrichsdorf "au pairs" and met them at Waxy's, an Irish pub and karaoke bar.
As Saturday rolled around, Liz and I set off for Darmstadt, to pick up Kristina and Max who were to join us for our sojourn to Strasbourg. It was great to go as a group of 4. We picked up Kristina up at the airport and then went farther to Darmstadt to pick up Max. The plan was for us to go to Strasbourg and then to Baden-Baden to spend the night. Max is from Baden-Baden so it worked out well and helped us save money, while letting us see the most.
I should not, that we had phenomenal weather, and so we drove with the top down the everywhere, including on the autobahn. I also have to say, that despite the BMW being a small car, all our stuff for 1 day and 1 night fit into the trunk, and the 4 of us sat relatively comfortable in this car.
We drove onwards to Strasbourg. The ride was relaxing and we drove at a relaxed speed so it wouldn't be too windy. Sitting up front was no problem, but those sitting in back had it worse, so driving slower on the autobahn, despite how tempting it is to go fast, made more sense. Also, it saves fuel, and since we had a diesel, we used surprising little fuel for the whole trip. I think in total it was 1/2 of a tank of fuel.
It's always funny entering another country despite being right on the boarder with Germany. Strasbourg and Alsace, given the several wars between France and Germany, and it's close proximity to Germany is a miss masch of German and French culture. In fact, I'd say it's the best of both cultures. Strasbourg is a very pretty town, scathed from World War II, historical, and built upon an island. The city is friendly, walkable and very charming.
We arrived into Strasbourg and I felt a little bit overwhelmed initially. The French had really gotten to my head and my language skills in all languages suddenly disappeared. After speaking German for so long, it's really hard to think of the correct sentence structure in French and remember all the words. What funny is, is that you don't have the feeling that you're helpless because you understand all the words and signs, but when it comes time to say something, a hodgepodge of words and poor grammar ensues. I was quite disappointed with myself, as German had basically taken over my foreign language skills, and although everyone can speak German in Strasbourg, I would have preferred to speak French. Additionally, I had noticed that my french pronunciation had become Germanified, and I lost a lot of feel for the language. I'm thinking that I need to go back to France for a week and visit someplace like the Lozere where nobody speaks English or German.
We spent about half the day in Strasbourg walking around. We had went to a cafe in the small square surrounded by only buildings and trees, no cars. It was quite idyllic and there were lots of students and few foreigners. This seemed like the place to go. I ordered a diablo menthe, something I remember learning in middle school french. It's a type of french soda where you mix fizzy water with syrup. Liz felt right at home in Strasbourg as she could easily communicate there.
We also stopped at some cooking shops since both Liz and Max were interested in looking around. Liz specifically was looking for a späztle (spezials as Liz calls them) press, and Max is just generally interested in cooking.
We had also gone in to the cathedral and driven by the European Commission. As we left Strasbourg, Liz decidedly felt confident to drive. We had a manual. Since everyone was fully insured with 0 deductible, the was no inherent risk and so Liz drove us out of Strasbourg and into the French countryside. We (I) decided that we should avoid the autobahn and we surely didn't want to take the l'autoroute (toll road in France) so we took the backroads aka scenic route to a small town called to Roppenheim.
Liz did a great job of driving and built her confidence as we drove deeper into the countryside. It helps having such a great teacher as your co-pilot. Driving through the countryside was funny since all the town names are in German, and most of the inhabitants are German. Landprices in France are much cheaper than in Germany, and many Germans live on French soil and build new homes there. Since Baden-Würtemburg has a lot of good paying jobs, the land prices are quite high. The same cannot be said for France though, as Strasbourg is really the only anchor for Alsace. That said, many Germans live in France to save on costs.
In Roppenheim, Max took us to a traditional Flammkuchen restaurant. Flammkuchen or Tarte d'Alsace is a thin piece of dough (like a pizza) with fresh cream, onions and ham sprinkled over it, then set to back in a huge wood burning oven. This restaurant had a separate house with this type of oven, and so a lot of guests would come and eat Flammkuchen. Not surprisingly, all the people there were German, since Baden-Baden is just on the other side of the Rhein.
We all enjoyed our Flammkuchens and wheat beers or Hefeweizen. We then piled back into the car (we only had 1 each to drink) and drove just across the river back to Germany. From there, we drove into Baden-Baden and Max drove us around the town showing us famous landmarks. It was great having the convertible and it felt fitting to be in Baden-Baden is such a car. Max took us up to the ruined Castle from the 13century, and from there we climbed to the touret and viewed the surrounding black forrest and rhein river countryside. France is easily visible as is the Voges mountains in France. Not much of Germany is visible because the Black Forrest (and mountains) block the view eastward.
That night, we went to Max's parents' house and watched Germany's next Superstar (a derivative of American Idol). It was the finale and two very thuggish looking singers were the finalists. We spent the evening just talking and watching TV and then we all went to bed upstairs.
The next morning, due to Liz's good thinking, we ate breakfast. Yes, on Sundays, everything is closed, so Liz remembered to buy some baguettes while we were in Strasbourg. So our breakfast consisted of coffee, warmed up baguette and jam. It was very European. At this point, we went into town and took a stroll. Max showed Kristina and Liz the Kurhaus and the thermal baths. Baden-Baden is exceptionally pretty and we were there at the perfect time with all the flowers in full bloom.
Later on, we headed back for Frankfurt. We dropped everyone off, and Liz and I made it home to Oberursel to cook dinner for my family. We made Pesto with Salmon filet, and in an effort to save on costs, I decided to buy a whole salmon instead of the filets. Fish is quite expensive in Germany and the quality is not as I've come to expect. Costco has really spoiled me. Liz and I prepared dinner, and I had the wonderful task of cooking the fish. I had to sharpen the knive just so that I could cut fish and de-bone it. It wasn't easy, and I will give due respect to butchers and seafood merchants who are professionals. You really are getting your money's worth when you buy a filet. Needless to say, I was able to cut it in half, but I didn't get all the bones out. However, the fish did turn out okay, and the pesto was wonderful.
In the course of the whole weekend, there was one major event going on. In Iceland a volcano was erupting and it caused all of European airspace to basically shut down for 4 days. Therefore, not only were things hectic at work and I was lucky to have taken the days off (not that I was really needed) but we were lucky to have a rental car. Additionally, poor Liz and her travel misfortunes continued, as her flight back to France (which flies only twice weekly) was cancelled and no new information would be made available until Wednesday. She was set to leave on Monday.
That meant, that Liz was stuck in Frankfurt. Luckily she could stay with me, and so it wasn't so bad. In fact, I enjoyed the company and it was nice to come home to someone. Liz finally did make it out, but by bus to Lyon on Wednesday. She decided not to take a chance flying back, given that it was unclear how long airspace would remain closed. Unfortunately, Liz had to travel overnight back to France only to encounter France's old ways. Germany was quite a reprieve from her, but in France you can't get away from the fact that SNCF train workers were striking (for over a month) and so normal schedules weren't running. In the end, I don't know how long it took her to get back, but she did finally make it.
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