Day 30- Frankfurt

Off to the only skyline in Germany, Frankfurt. We woke up to a delicious traditional German breakfast, bread and homemade, mouthwatering Marmalade. We quickly got ready and left for our day of sight seeing. Upon arrival we ran into a huge international food festival located in front of the old opera house. Dieter explained how there is always some type of festival going on in Germany, they find a reason to celebrate anything, my type of people!

Opera House

One of the Food Festival Tents

 We wandered the city getting the special Dieter Bender tour. Again it was obvious we had left France, the buildings either had an old country side feel or a very new modern and industrial feel. All of the men wore perfectly tailored suits and at the Frankfurt stock exchange car after car was sleek, and expensive. We walked to a really neat modern building called the Zei Gallery. It had an all glass exterior with a vortex looking hole in it kind of mimicking a bullet hitting water. 

Zei Gallery

We stopped by at the old statue in the middle of the city representing famous poet Goethe. Then continued to The Roman Square were street performers filled a little squared off area of street that screamed old German town. 

Roman Square

We had delicious Japanese ramen noodles for lunch. It was slightly ironic to be in Germany and not eating German cuisine, we had time for that though. 

What was not as shocking was to be in Germany and not know the language. A huge difference from Italy. Having Thea and dieter translate and teach us the small important words such as Prost (phonetically) which means cheers, helped us feel very comfortable and less like outsiders, but when it came to ordering food Jill and I put all of our trust in Dieter as he ordered food hoping we would like it. He did a Devine job choosing delicious food, you will notice I talk about almost every meal. 

We got back to their apartment and had a very nice well needed nap before heading to a Spanish dinner. So far a good summary for Germany is eat, drink, sleep. When can I move here?

Thea was supposed to meet us for dinner but got tied up at work. I wished I could call her workplace and let them know that she needed to be allowed to come out and play! But I wouldn't get so lucky. 

The Spanish food was perfect, I was expecting something more similar to a Mexican cuisine, but that was just a silly American thought. Instead it was a spread of fresh seafood and bread with garlic in everything. Spanish food is definitely one of my favorites now.  After dinner we went to a “public viewing” of the Spain vs. Portugal Eurocup game at a near by bar. 

Public viewing

One thing I absolutely love about Europe is how every bar has the option to sit outside. We watched the two teams battle each other to penalty kicks where Spain pulled ahead for a victory. We stayed until they kicked us out, at which point we went to our friends Ali’s bar and were treated as celebrities. We headed in early for an easy night, we knew that the next day would be a little crazy, Germany and Italy would be playing each other in the Semi Finals for the Eurocup, and the entire country was going to be out to show their colors. Something that was not to be missed, or be tired for.