Part 3: Frankfurt
I’d like to preface this part of the journey by saying that some Journey to the Sea posts were written while I was traveling, while others after I returned back to Vienna. This section on Frankfurt was written shortly after leaving Frankfurt. It’s not super important, but I think it offers some context. Ok, with that out of the way, here's the post!
As I’m writing this section, I’m hurtling through the German countryside at 300kmh (186 mph) on an ICE (Inter-City Express). I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of being on a train that’s THIS fast. Austria has a high-speed line, but it doesn't go nearly as fast as the ICE trains. For even more perspective, the ICE isn’t even the fastest train in Europe. Spanish and French trains both go faster. We totally need this in the US. I know I’ll definitely be the first to travel to California when its first high-speed rail segment finishes in 10 years. On a high-speed train, the landscape blurs past, and tunnels come every few minutes. It’s a combination of quickly changing light and dark that’s difficult to imagine. It’s an awesome end to a seriously incredible last two days.
I arrived in Frankfurt from Bamberg on Wednesday, taking a regional train in the morning. My friend Julia (who you might remember from my trip to Regensburg about a month back) picked me up from the main train station, and we traveled together to her hometown of Oberursel. Oberursel is a small suburb, only about 30 minutes away from Frankfurt by train. It and its neighboring town of Bad Homberg are wealthy suburbs of Frankfurt, with lots of large million-dollar houses filled with “Old Money” (turns out, this is a purely American term because Julia had no idea what I was saying when I used it). Julia’s family lives in a small flat in an old apartment building from the 1960s. They moved to Oberursel for the great schools, recreational opportunities, and closeness to regional rail lines. As Julia described to me, her family’s living situation is certainly not the stereotype people associate with Oberursel. A big part of this, I think, is Julia’s Mom and Dad. As they both described, especially Julia’s Dad, being happy is more important than getting as much money as possible. Julia’s dad said, “Life is short, why spend it only working?” It’s certainly easier to do this when you’re German, though. Four weeks of vacation is normal, healthcare is socialized, and public transit is fast, convenient, and usually clean (*cough *cough looking at you, Munich).
The one big thing that the US does have on Europe is housing prices. Julia’s family had to rent for years before they could finally afford their flat. Houses in Europe are ridiculously priced. A big part of that is, of course, the lack of space. But houses here are also built differently. They are usually built with stone or concrete for walls, making renovation impossible (like seriously- taking out a wall isn’t possible). You want to make your house your own- good luck with that. Lots of Germans and Austrians I've talked to have pointed out that US houses aren’t built as well, or are flimsy because they’re built of wood. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what they expect, our houses to just fall down? I’ve even heard the “Well if they were built better they’d withstand tornadoes or hurricanes better.” Uh-huh- a tornado would blow out the windows in any German house just the same as an American one. Also, when was the last time a hurricane hit Germany? Oh, wait- never!
Anyway, I experienced the most incredible generosity from Julia’s family. I think I ate more German (well, Hessisch, to be exact) food in the last two days than I ever have. I tried every type of cheese, practically every type of meat (some of which were definitely a bit interesting), and traditional Easter desserts, including a plethora of chocolates. Both of Julia’s parents were eager to see me try every type of food they could think of. In a way to see, “What did the American think?” Honestly, most of it was pretty amazing, even the blood sausage! Although the chunks of meat suspended in gelatin with cranberries was a bit much for me.
On the first day, Julia’s family and I ate lunch together. It was a traditional meal with potatoes, German meatballs, cheese, and a mushroom sauce. Julia’s younger brother, Marwin, had to be practically dragged out of his room to come to meet me. He was a total hoot, a classic German Junge. Honestly, this is so hard to describe, but essentially a lot of young Germans male teenagers have this obsession with trying to be gangsters (specifically Turkish gangsters, but that's a whole other topic). You can point them out from a mile away because they all wear tracksuits, sneakers, and have a penchant to bring a spray-paint can wherever they go. We got to talking, and he kept trying to convince me to go out onto the Autobahn with him and Julia to the area without a speed limit and go “voll gas.” Julia was, of course, totally against this, since it was her car we’d be driving. The funniest part was when I asked him what he planned on doing after he graduated from the German high school equivalent (there’s no high school type of thing here). He responded, “Well, I’ve never really been that good at school, so I was thinking of enlisting in the army.” Julia looked at him surprised and said, “That’s news to me, when did you decide to enlist,” he responded with “Eh, a few weeks ago.” Julia’s expression was basically that of an eye roll.
Anyway, both of Julia’s parents were enormously kind and helpful over the two days. Each day they insisted on making a hot meal. On the second day, since it was Holy Thursday, they decided to make the traditional Frankfurter meal of Grüne Soße, a thoroughly delicious mix of ingredients (don’t ask me to describe what was in it because I don’t know), potatoes, and more meats.
That same day (Thursday), Julia took me on a tour of Frankfurt with her friend Isabel (Isa for short). We traveled all around the central city and walked around the riverwalk. Frankfurt really is a fantastic city, and highly underrated (although its mass transit could use some work). Many people move through it since its international airport and train station make it an important transportation hub. But people rarely stop to visit it. For context, like most German cities, it was flattened during WWII. Essentially nothing exists from the original city. All is not lost, however. A section of the old town was reconstructed about 10 years ago, so there are a few quaint streets remaining. Despite this, Frankfurt surprised me with how pedestrian-oriented it was. Its downtown is filled with massive pedestrian promenades and upscale shopping malls. Isa insisted that we go shopping through one (which I accepted, although begrudgingly). But I shouldn’t have worried, since shopping was more fun than usual. Isa recommended we try going into the budget fashion store called “New York.” Turns out this is a popular fashion brand in this part of Europe. The store was essentially chock-full of shirts with random names from places in America printed on them. One shirt said “Los Angeles Basketball Club” on it in the classic Lakers colors. The shirt I decided to buy, was a Chicago one, of course. I won’t even bother describing how ridiculous it is, it’s easier to see in pictures.
To end the day, Julia invited me to a classic German game night with some friends. Turns out board games and card games are still a huge part of German culture (as I learned in Bavaria early in the year). I had a blast playing all the games, although once again, it was pretty difficult to play once specific cultural oddities came up.
The last day in Frankfurt was a sad one. As if to represent the mood, it was a miserable cold and rainy day. Julia’s dad insisted that he drive me to the station, mostly to finally get me on the Autobahn. He lamented that it was raining since he couldn’t go as fast as usual. To my surprise, that still meant we hit over 100 mph (I believe the speedometer was at around 170 kmh). We arrived at the train station only 15 minutes after leaving!
DB Rant
Ok, remember the happy optimism of the beginning of the Frankfurt section, with me all giddy to be flying through the German countryside? Well, that quickly changed. After arriving in Cologne, the train picked up more passengers. Significantly more passengers. In classic Deutsche Bahn fashion, the train was overbooked. Not overbooked by a little bit too, like on a plane. No, it was overbooked by at least 100 people. So I spent the last three hours of my train journey standing in the middle passageway between two carriages with 15 other people. I did meet some nice people from south Georgia (the state, not the country), so that was nice. I’d say that of all the things I was taught about Germany, the incredible nature of its rail system has been the biggest letdown. Deutsche Bahn is a complete disaster now. Almost every train is late, especially ICE (high-speed) trains, and it's far worst than the Austrian national railway. I’d understand overbooking by a few people, but 100, that’s insane! Oh, and my train was late too. To top it off, after arriving in Utrecht in the Netherlands, which was my next destination, I had to use the barcode from my DB train ticket to get out of the station. The Netherlands has this bizarre, complicated, and downright stupid system where you have to use your transit pass or train ticket to leave or enter any station. So you’re literally locked into the station unless you use your ticket to get out. To my luck, the DB train ticket failed to work upon scanning, so I had to get a worker to manually open the gate for me once I showed them my ticket. I’m blaming this on DB, but the Dutch system doesn’t help.
Oh, don’t worry, the Dutch transit system will come up again in a future post real soon. Just a small bit of foreshadowing. . .
Great Bad Homberg pics and how about that Chicago football jersey - what a hoot! How cool that your random meeting of Julia and friends in Quebec City (or Montreal - couldn't remember) on your spring break leads you to visiting her and her family in Frankfurt Germany a year later.....love it!
ReplyDeleteRereading your Journey to the Sea post again. Julia's family was so nice! Shirt cracks me up too!
ReplyDeleteForgot to put my name. That was by Mom:)
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