Let us begin in Frankfurt...

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and feels refreshed as school and work begins again.

This past Monday marked the end of my four weeks traveling around Europe. I am enthused to report that the trip went remarkably smoothly and was filled with great people and places. I have come away with countless memories and pictures which I am happy to share with you! My next several blog posts will divide my trip up into digestible sections for you to peruse at your leisure.

Let me start from the beginning. I caught an early morning flight out of Dublin to Frankfurt on the 12th. My cousin/travel partner, Garnet, was waiting for me at the gate with one of my Brandon acquaintances, Everett, who is studying in Frankfurt. It was wonderful to have Everett show us around the city the first day. It was the perfect way to settle into our new German environment.

Frankfurt is one of the main financial centers of Europe; for instance it is the home of the European Central Bank which prints the Euro. It is also a major airport hub for the European continent. Its architecture is modern and professional, due largely to the rebuilding required after extensive damage sustained in the Second World War.

Everett led us to see the major sights and we shared a traditional German breakfast of assorted meats and cheeses. I came to learn that most meals in Germany are exclusively meat and potatoes, but more on this in later posts. Here is a picture of Garnet and I outside the Concert Hall.  Do I look cold?? It was maybe -5 Celsius.... Ireland is making me weak.

By far my favourite part of Frankfurt was the wonderful Christmas market spread around the downtown. In terms of vendor selection I think it was the best we saw in our travels. Everett introduced us to mulled wine, and Garnet and I tried the apfelwein or apple wine flavour. Delicious! The wine is served in souvenir mugs, which you pay extra for at purchase. If you don't want to keep the mug you simply return it for part of your money back. Thanks to Everett I also began my addiction to roasted almonds, an item which I would seek out several times in other countries.

The German Christmas market was a wonderful surprise because each vendor stall was its own small, wooden building lit up with lights. The market had an amazing selection of goods for sale, including loads of sausages, pretzels, crepes and waffles, chocolates and sweets, wooden crafts and other giftware, knitted outdoor wear, and even a carousel.

Garnet and Everett with their mulled wine.

In the picture below you can see the carousel on the right. The buildings in the background have been designed in a traditional German style which would have been prevalent in buildings destroyed in WWII.

After we parted with Everett, Garnet and I visited the Natural History Museum, one of the largest in Europe. It had an impressive display of dinosaurs and their bird collection was the largest I had ever seen. There were a couple Egyptian mummies, a copy of "Lucy" the human ancestor who lived 3 million years ago, and a neat display of various bugs. Here are some pictures:

Garnet and I only spent one day in Frankfurt, so we obviously accomplished at lot in that short time. The next day we were off by train to Munich. The recounting of our Munich adventure must wait till another blog, so stay tuned for more posts in the near future!

Shannon