FIRST STOP..Frankfurt, Germany

Hey Everyone!

So...the #1 thing people told me to do while abroad was...to keep a journal! I think the best way for me to do that is to write a blog, so here it is! =D

For those of you that didn't know, I took off on Wednesday August 25th from the Minneapolis, MN airport and arrived safely in Frankfurt, Germany after an exhausting flight on Iceland Air. Because I was an orientation leader at St. Johns University before actually needing to be in London, I had a week in there where I didn't have a place to stay....making going to Frankfurt a good excuse to occupy that week!

It was quite the flight: touch screens behind every seat that you could use to watch movies-listen to music-track the flight statistics-watch tv-etc, a complimentary drink, a chair right next to me which was vacant -YAYA!, and a stewardess who hated me! I was kinda mad though that the meal wasn’t complimentary…It would have cost me around 10 euros for a decent meal, so I opted to wait until I got to Germany. (Poor college kid being cheap you know =D)

When we arrived in Germany, my personal tour guide and host picked me up. Just kidding - She isn’t my personal tour guide but she does know a lot! Dominique (foreign exchange student we hosted) and her mother were there to take us to their home. A tiny car, four suitcases, three carry-on’s, four people, the busy city of Frankfurt, and an ½ hour later ----we were there! CRAZY

Even though myself and guy I am traveling with (Josh) were tired, we figured it might be a good to get a head start on the city because there was/is so much to see and do, but so little time.

8/26/10 –

So, the first day we went to an INCREDIBLY designed mall with this gigantic window that stretches through the middle of it! It was called MyZeil and it was AMAZING! It truly makes me want to become an architect. I have way too many interests… Then we went to the Alte Oper which in English means Old Opera House.. We didn’t see anything there, but the building itself was really neat. 

 

One thing about Germany is that there are quite a few sweet little shops around so we went down the Zeil (shopping street) just to check a few out. A quick note about that is that I don't think that I could survive in Frankfurt....financially. I swear that around every corner there is a a shop containing sweet looking desserts and other food items. YUMMY. We also went to a major “Touristy type” place called Roemer. It was a pretty sweet “oldish” type town. Kinda hard to explain, but cool at the same time. We opted to buy some icecream there needless to say, it was MAGNIFICENT! 

Next we went to the popular Eisener Steg (bridge) which was really neat to see. In NE you don’t see too many pedestrian bridges of this size. Kinda crazy! At this time in Germany there is a festival going on called the Museumsuferfest which is located along both sides of the river the bridge crosses.  I am willing to bet that there are around 200+ little “tent” shops set up for this event. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we were at the top of Zeilgalerie (on the top of the mall)…This was a great picture place as we could see a portion of city at a single location. WOW! 

Lastly Dominique, Josh, and I went to the popular Applewine Bar and met up with a friend (Sophie). Applewine is a pretty popular type of drink in Germany and Dominique thought it would be good to try. Let me just tell you, it was pretty good!

8/27/10 –

The next day we went back to the Festival (Museumsuferfest) along the river. We did a more detailed walk through and some of the stuff they had available was pretty unique. The part of myself that wanted to buy anything and everything sure kicked in, but then I realized that I am just a poor college kid with a 65 pound suitcase that I ALMOST got charged an extra 110 US dollars for on the flight over! Next we went to the Chinesischer Garten (Chinese Garden) and the Bethmannpark. 

One thing that I kinda have a love for is sweet water fountains…and this park that we went to had 6 of them and I loved it!

We spent the evening going to one of Dominique’s friends (Almuth) house, met a few people and played a few card games before going clubbing at the Kingka Club. I’ll admit, I was a little nervous about going, however, once we got there it was great! The dancing was great, the people were great, the music was great...and the bathrooms were UNBELIEVABLE GREAT! If, for some odd reason I needed to eat something off of a bathroom floor, I would totally do it on that one!! haha! 

Also, we took a taxi-cab over to the club and that was great too! It was a mercedes-benz, and it was probably the nicest vehicle I have ever been in...I was very unaware that some taxi people drive the elite! I have decided that I am going to own one of those someday….even if I'm 70 years old =D


This is me...exhausted after a long night!! 

And don't worry mom...I'm being good!

Welp…

I hope you enjoyed reading my first (of many) blog posts.

Until next time,

Matthew (OUT)!