Continuing with my aim to visit smaller cities that I'd never been to before, I made a short tour of Western Germany. For these five days, I met up with Ryan, and good friend from Los Angeles.
Frankfurt
I was so happy to see a familiar face! Ryan and I set out for some good food and fun in Frankfurt.
Do you think I overpacked?? Haha...this is a huge fake backpack outside of a travel good store.
Is there a choo-choo train coming? Love this sign.
Love going in bookstores, especially old ones. What old bookstore is complete without a spiral staircase?
Heidelberg
One of our two day trips from Frankfurt was to the beautiful town of Heidelberg. We toured this huge castle at the top of a tall, tall hill.
This cask is about four people tall! When the King of the castle had people over, this is what they drank from.
At some point in the past, a bomb exploded and tore a huge hole in this tower. The huge chuck that fell off is still just sitting there, collecting moss.
The beautiful view of Heidelberg from the castle on the hill.
Of course, it rains now and again. It wasn't crazy, but we definitely had to just hang out under an overhang once in a while.
Here I am thinking "Is it done raining yet?"
Mmm...fresh chocolate cake from a local bakery!
This is our couchsurfing host, Ronnie, taking us out for a proper German dinner at his favorite restaurant. We saw this random sign and thought it was a good pic opp :)
This is a local apple wine that was very mild but refreshing.
Weinerschnitzel! Despite popular belief, it's basically chicken fried steak, not a sausage. Served here with potatoes and a delicious green herb sauce.
Some times I don't know whether I want to eat it or just sit and stare at it. I love local cuisine!
Rudesheim
The next day we took the train up the Rhine River to the town of Rudesheim. Northwest of Frankfurt, this city has a lot of vineyards, and a lot of tourists. Along the Rhine from Frankfurt to Rudesheim, small castles dot the countryside. Speaking of tourists, here I do my best impression of one.
We took some cable cars over the wine country. Beautiful, so beautiful.
A view of the countryside from the cable cars. On that tiny island in the middle of a river sits a very small castle.
Ryan and I having a little fun at the top of the hill.
These little tourists trams really give me a chuckle. It looks like a train, how funny!
Just look at how green that is. If you look closely, you can see people walking down the path. What you can hear is that they are singing songs at the top of their lungs and laughing the whole way.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the city of canals. And so many house boats!
When you're really hungry, finding a sandwich shop that makes a great sub is like finding the end of the rainbow.
Ryan was so happy to find some bicycles parked on the street. So, I did my best awkward impression of him here.
We took in a show at Book Chicago, the local comedy theatre. There's a lot of comedians here from L.A. doing shows several nights a week. Not bad!
Is there anything more delicious than chocolate?? How about a store full of them?
The canals at nighttime.
The Pancake Shop! Just one, big ol pancake. That's what they make. This one has ham and pineapple.
I visited the library - yes the public library! It was a rainy day, and so I thought I'd check out the state-of-the-art public library by the train station. Guess what? Almost no books in English. I was actually surprised!
I found this cool teepee in the kids section. I make my own fun :)
Now here's an unusual place. It's called Febo. And for the most part, it's a fast food place that's open late...where you buy everything from these little windows. They have a counter with a worker, but it's much more fun to put your coins in the slot and receive a prize.
Is it good? I'll let you use your imagination. Just look at it.
