My Love Affair with Germany (December 2-3, 2011)

Hello Friends and Family,

I have a confession. I'm cheating on all of you. With Germany.

It started off as a mild interest in the people of the nation and has now bloomed into a full emotional affair complete with weekend flings in foreign cities.

It breaks down into two features:
- I am head over heels with the German people on exchange with me
- I am head over heels with the German language

Strange I know. People always comment on the harsh nature of the German language but believe me when I say it is absolutely beautiful and misunderstood. In fact, I am presently learning as much as possible in my spare time. In regards to the people, out of all the nationalities I have met it is the Germans who mirror Canadians the most in values and world view. Maybe it is just the ones I have had exposure to but I am convinced that Canada was secretly founded by Germany and not France or England (who are both so silly).

Back to the point.

Tina, my favorite German and frequent running partner, needed to go to Frankfurt to check out an apartment for her upcoming 6 month internship. I wanted to officially spend time in Germany (having only passed through its airport and trains) and make a pit stop at the Baha'i House of Worship. Et voila. Two weeks later I found myself in Germany.

We caught a train to Aachen, arriving around noon, and met up with two guys with whom we'd arranged a 'car share'. For those unfamiliar with the concept, car sharing is when a person who is already driving between cities posts an ad online for passengers to travel with and split the cost. It usually works out to be a phenomenal amount cheaper and provides the opportunity to meet some really interesting people. Tina had found us this car share and it turned out fantastically. There's always the chance you'll get stuck in a tiny car with weirdos for a couple hours but we had an amazing good time with two other students. The driver was a German student and the other random car share passenger was a Ukranian student on exchange in Aachen (going to Frankfurt to spend the weekend with his girlfriend). All four of us piled into a little car, Tina and I took the back seats, and we sped off to Frankfurt.

Again, I reiterate how much we lucked out that we got to spend 2.5 hours with really cool guys having awesome conversation. Another cool point, (Mom don't read this) I can now say I've gone 175 km/h on the Auto Bahn in pouring rain with terrible drivers all around us and in our car... whoops. But we're still alive and there were no accidents. Yay!

Upon arrival in Frankfurt at about 13h30 we immediately beelined for a cafe. Because we were saving our appetites for the famous German Christmas markets, we ordered a traditional apple cake to tie us over.

The crust was soooo good.

 Our first stop was to the Baha'i House of Worship at the foot of the Taunus Mountains. The location is actually in the village of Langenhain, in the Frankfurt suburb of Hofheim, Hesse. Thankfully with European public transit being as fantastic as it is, we were able to do the whole commute via train and bus. Upon arrival in the tiny village we began the trek to the building itself. Truly, it looks like you're walking into the middle of nowhere up until the moment when you spot the building itself. Much to our disappointment however, it was closed for renovations. Figures!

At least the information center had a model that showed us what the inside looks like...

Tina was such a good sport about the fact that I dragged her out to the middle of nowhere for a construction site and she did a perfect job of directing us there. Actually, she had done up a master plan of all our trains, hostels, car share, public transit for the whole weekend. It was beautiful. We made every single connection perfectly. Quite the feat.

After we found our way back to Frankfurt we went to go look at the flat. The place was so nice compared to anything I've seen in Liege and the roommates there seemed quite nice. Tina has yet to Skype the final roommate who was away. I was told that good places are so hard to come by in Frankfurt that the roommates have to approve you and you have to hope they don't like someone else more. She really liked the place so fingers crossed it works out.

Our evening was spent wandering two different Christmas markets and several cafes. It was just absolutely enchanting. There were huge crowds of people all enjoying the atmosphere of live music, a ridiculous amount of Christmas decorating, neat shopping, and delicious food.

Note the stage behind us with a live band.

Really quite crowded!

Traditional German goods for sale

More traditional Christmas stuff - a lot of it originated in Tina's region

Meat for all!

Bratwurst and Bratkartoffeln (a potato dish) for dinner.
Each market had a big tree in the middle which is visible behind Tina.

Our night was spent in a youth hostel that was teeming with a high school field trip. I was overtired so managed to fall asleep with my music playing to cover the screaming teenagers. Tina unfortunately didn't fall asleep until after 3 am. Ouch.

The next morning was spent exploring Frankfurt, including climbing to the top of a mall with a free panoramic view, until we'd had our fill and then caught a train to Cologne.

Skyscraper's aren't usual in Europe but Frankfurt is an exception. I'm not going to lie - it really felt like home to see them!

Just like in Paris, lovers lock their love on certain bridges.

Everything is verboten. It is pretty funny. This one means don't feed the pigeons :)

The Occupy Frankfurt movement was in full force.

Cologne had absolutely miserable weather when we arrived. Frankfurt had been cold but at least it had been dry. Our first order of action was a cafe and something to eat. Of course.

German torte is beyond words.

Our afternoon was spent wandering the big famous main cathedral in Cologne (which is ice cold on the inside) and the main Christmas market that was literally right outside the cathedral doors. At one point, the sun broke through and lit up the whole building. It was awesome!

Walking to the market.

In the market when the sun hit.

Our evening was spent walking around with two of Tina's friends that met up with us, going through another Christmas market and grabbing the train home.

Deustchland, and Frankfurt in particular, just felt so much better than Liege and Belgium. I told Tina I would be back yearly to visit her and the Christmas markets. Budget allowing, I mean it! Besides, it'll give me a chance to practice all the German I am learning :)

Lots of love,

Jacqueline