Frankfurt: My first winter..

Ep. 24

FRA – Frankfurt, Germany.

6^th-8^th December 2011.

“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” - Caskie Stinnett.

Me at the cathedral

Christmas is coming right on the corner, which means it’s getting colder and colder here in HK. I was prepared to have another trip to, this time, Frankfurt, Germany. I have never been search out for Germany. All that I knew is about the Berlin wall. That’s it! This time, I will go on a trip with Elvis again, and additional pre-flight information is, Kay and Olivia will be arrived on our second day. Up to more more more trip buddies!

Station!

It was said that Frankfurt flight is one of the so-called ‘golden flight’ of CX, and after operating one, I know why it was said so. The passenger profile was very educated and easy to handle, not demanding and they tend to take care of themselves rather than keep asking for assistance. During the flight (it was a midnight flight), I asked around my galley about where to go and so on and so on. They mentioned about a castle on the hill that is really famous in Frankfurt. I remembered that Afree had Frankfurt flight as well along with Val just days before us and I saw their picture in Heidelberg Castle was no good. It was foggy and you can’t see the background at all. But what’s the point of being in Germany and miss the great place? The flight was precisely smooth and happy. Everybody was happy and in a good mood. Frankfurt is also one of the Europe ports, which we’re able to do the tax refund of the goods we bought in Europe. Exciting? Of course yes! But for me, when it’s the first time I’ve been in one place, I wont allocate my time for shopping yet, I will definitely do sightseeing first.

Ticket and itinerary

We arrived at the hotel in Mainz, a little city outside Frankfurt, around 7 am. And it was still dark (blame winter!). Elvis and I start our trip right away. 8.30 am we asked the concierge on how to get to the famous Heidelberg. The train system in Germany is a little bit different from the other country I have ever been to. It was rather complicated. You can choose the destination and at what time you want to depart, one way or return. If you choose return trip then you will also know what time will you intend to go back. 

Heidelberg backyard.

Different time will result different train and different platform and different route as well. So, it was quite confusing for me. Anyway, Elvis and I bought the return ticket (we intend to be back in Mainz around 7 pm. considering our hobbies to take some good pictures of ourselves). We walked to the nearest station, which called Mainz Romisches Theater, then we took platform two, after a long thinking reading the board. The train system was call DB Bahn and the ticket to the intercity Hauptbahnhof was cost EUR 24 for each person round trip. I was intended to warm myself up, as it was only 4°C at that time, by buying myself a cup of coffee. It cost me EUR 2.5 on the vending machine on the platform and it occurred that the machine took my money away without any coffee (Elvis laughed at me). Pissed off, I look aside to another vending machine, which is snacks and chocolate bar vending machine, and spotted a pack of kit kat laid peacefully on the tray, as a sudden impulse, I took the kit kat and reassured myself that it was destined for me to replace my EUR 2.5 I spent for nothing. I shared the kit kat with Elvis and rode on the train for abput 30-45 minutes. As soon as we get off from the train, we spotted a tourist information center (lucky!) and we asked for direction, the lady then gave us a map and instructions. We walked around and enjoy the scenery, it was always amazed me how the European architect managed to build such a grand and beautiful building (I have to say, even a house looks like a little mansion).

Hiking to the entrance

We came across a crowd of people and it seems that the famous Christmas market has started. It was a custom though in European country that during Christmas period, they would have Christmas market in the middle of the city (actually in some square avenues). The participating clerks, selling all kind of stuffs including traditional food and drinks (as it was Frankfurt, it would be Pork Bun and Gluhwein – the famous hot red wine). We were tempted to visit, but we stick to the plan, not to distracted, first thing first. We continue to walk to the direction of Heidelberg.

view from the court

The weather was totally different compared to the weather when Afree and Val’s visit. It was sunny and we could see from the far, up on the hill, the side of the castle. It was massive. In order to reach the main entrance from the gate, will took you like 10 minutes hike (why should I always hike, while I went on a trip with Elvis?). The building was made of stones and it was beautiful how the pillars and windows and everything put altogether. The admission fee to Heidelberg castle was EUR 5 for each person. Entering the building I asked Elvis, “have it came across your mind that hundreds years ago, there were people who live in a place as big as this and who gonna clean all of those high and tall pillars?”, and he answered, “never mind, they got their own servants. Ha-ha! (what an answer). 

my German Riesling

From the part of the castle, which more likely as big as tennis court, we could see the village down the hill. Breathtaking! (I lost at counting how many times my breath has been taken away since I got this job, I guess it has shorten my life). Finished by the exterior of the palace, suddenly the drizzle fell down the sky and we’re get ourselves into the castle. Guess what we found? There’s a shop that sells German Riesling wine, which we could customize the label. I bought a bottle of it labeled “Shella Susantio” on it for EUR 10. Thank God that the rain stopped immediately so we could walk around the castle again and finally walked down the hill to the city.

Christmas market

Of course you can guess where would we stop next. The Christmas market! We bought ourselves a good pork bun, which became cold within 5 minutes due to the weather. The wind was crazy! Elvis and I try to keep ourselves warm by running around and keep moving, keep busy so that we can distract our concentration from being cold. We strolled around Heidelberg city and I bought 8 packages of hazelnut knopper wafers (requested by boyfriend) and some souvenirs. Ah! I even bought a pair of glove, as 1 is not warm enough. Seriously it was freaking cold! 

piece of Heidelberg

We got back to the station at around 5.30 pm and rode our train back to Mainz. Something funny happened. We were so unsure about which train should we got on, and when Elvis entered the train, the doors were closed and I was left outside. Panicking, I waved to the guard and he was kind enough to reopen the train doors. Fortunately, the train was equipped by heater system to keep us warm, we fell slept for nearly 1 hour and nearly missed our stop. Got off from the train, I felt like I was drown into the icy water. It was damn windy and I was shaking already, runny nose, and definitely run as fast as I can to the hotel. I was checking the weather indicator in the lobby at it was only 1°C. No wonder! I fell asleep as soon as I close my eyes. Woke up at 3 am, got online to chat with my bf, and go back to sleep at around 5, while waiting for Kay and Olivia to arrive at 7 am (I have left my room number on a piece of love letter to Kay in the reception).

My breakfie.

At 7 am, the impatient me, came down the lobby and met Kay just when she about to enter the lift. I followed her to her room and she said it was too early to go out and it was still dark anyway, so she will take a nap for a while. So the hungry me decided to grab herself a breakfast down the street and agreed to go out with Kay later. I grabbed my breakfast in the nearest brasserie, just on the corner of the street. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to explore the area, but more because it was colder than yesterday, I even add a layer of clothing inside my winter coat. I chose to have a cheese croissant and a cup of hot chocolate in a peaceful morning for EUR 6.5. 

Kay and Me

Praying

I went back to the hotel and it was raining. I called Elvis and guess what? He was sick, had a fever and seriously, his voice over the phone was horrible. So he wished me and Kay a good day as he will stay inside his room and recovering. Kay and I have a lot in common, we’re not shopping ladies, and we valued more about exploring places and took a very good picturesssss... with a lot of S-es. We waited for the rain to stops and finally we can start the Mainz exploration by the time of 12 pm. What does Mainz offered to us? Dom Cathedral, churches, Christmas market (this one is larger), and we decided to have a good dinner later (recommended!: Pork Knuckle) at a beer brewery. 

Leaves and me

We strolled around the city, get into some cathedral, prayed, an let the atmosphere taken our mind away. Churches and Cathedrals in Europe are things that you will never want to miss whenever you got a chance to visit Europe. The ceiling was high and tall, painted in such a beautiful harmony of color. The pipe organ was huge and tall. I could remember that Kay keep muttered “Oh man! Oh! Awesome! Crazy!”, yes, it was so crazy how European built their churches and cathedrals. If I am not mistaken, we’re got into not less than 3 cathedrals and we stopped by the Christmas market around 3-4 pm. We shared a glass of Gluhwein (the warm red wine) that cost EUR 4, and after finished it you have the choice of either take the glass with you as a souvenir (the glass has the Christmas market printed on in) or return it to get your EUR 2 back. We also shared a traditional snack with applesauce that for us it was tastes more like banana fritters.

a very christmas-y diorama

We continue on exploring the city as the weather getting more and more harsh to us. Every time we felt the wind were too strong we will enter any shop to our right or left, just to enjoy few minutes of warmth. It was absolutely unbearable cold plus wind! I even question myself how are we gonna survive until we reach the hotel. By a great effort from two superwomen like us (SuperKay and SuperShella), we managed to get ourselves, swearing all the way, to the hotel. It seems that both Elvis and Olivia wont join us for the dinner so we (once again) will fight with the weather no matter what to have a good dinner.  This time, we were better prepared, we brought along our brand new warm bottle, put it inside our winter coat and hold it tight to keep our hands and stomach warm. 

Happy Christmas

We asked a very clear direction about the location of he beer brewery (we can’t afford any lost, every minute counts in the weather like that), and we finally got ourselves inside the restaurant and met Olivia and Kay’s set of crew in the other table. The restaurant was called Eisgrub-brau. It was traditional made of bricks and the tables were made of woods and it was so crowded inside plus the heater system (now I praised the one who invent a heater), it was so warm inside. We found ourselves a table for two and agreed to share the steak, coz the pork knuckle is just too big for both of us. The dinner cost us about EUR 10.95 for the steak and for the drinks (I forgot! It most likely of me to have a hot chocolate). Something silly happened at that time. I told Kay that I feel a guy across the room keep staring at me, but we keep on enjoying our dinner and our conversation at that moment. Nearly at the end of the dinner, a guy came over to our table, asking us some questions and said that his friend was interested on us. Wow! That was new! Ahahaha. We simply respectfully said that we’re leaving Germany tomorrow and has no intention to go out with him.

a kiss from Mainz

There were countless time when we nearly finished on a topic of a conversation, looked out the window sill, and automatically search for another topic. Why? Because we could imagine just by looking out, how cold it would be outside the restaurant. We finally decided to leave the restaurant at around 9 pm. and that time we were walked fast (read: run) holding each other to keep ourselves supported, and finally we made it into the hotel lobby. As soon as the heater system of the hotel hit on us, I felt like my body began to functioned as normal. Until today, my Frankfurt trip is still the coldest winter I have ever encountered. Winter is a season that Indonesia never and never will have. During 22 years of my existence on earth, as a normal girl, I look at those magazines with the whole winter collection, coats and boots, are something super cool and look forward to experience a country with winter someday. But after encountering Frankfurt winter, I swear to myself by the time of it that I hate winter already. So see you Frankfurt! Hope it will be summer next time we meet!

Freaking Cold.

“Be stubborn. Let no people decide for you, for this is your life and yours only.” – Me.