When in Rome... learn Italian

Which is advice I should have followed when I went to Germany, I should have learned German. Knowing what things are and how to get there would have been nice, I think I would have learned a lot more about Frankfurt and everything. Other than not knowing what anything was really, I had a good time. I traveled there with 7 other people, so there was a good group of us and at all times at least one person sort of knew what was going on. I've also come to appreciate the pictures of stick boys and girls on the doors of bathrooms. My recommendation to anyone travelling to a country with a language you don't speak, at least learn what boy and girl is so you don't have to stand in front of two doors wondering which to go in. It saves on embarassment.

Frankfurt! The city is known for its skyline because apperantly European cities don't really have tall buildings. This is true for Dublin. They also drive on the right side of the road (woo hoo!)

Travelling to Frankfurt didn't take too long. We took Ryanair which is a low-cost flight, I think tickets were like 50euro. But there really wasn't anything wrong with the flight or anything. When we got there we ended up staying in a hostel with some of the Irish students from the flight. And then going to the closest bar (O'Rileys - again Irish) and seeing them there too. So the first night we didn't really do anything new. Except most of the people at the Irish pub were speaking German (singing kareoke in English though).

This is our plane going to Germany. We got to walk on the tarmac! I think was cool, but really it's because Ryanair is that cheap.

This is inside our hostel as we're waiting to go out/watching the Daily Show. My favorite thing is the crooked picture on the wall. It adds a touch of class.

The next day we wandered around did some shopping and generally didn't know what to do. There is a cool old-fashioned touristy spot that we hit up. We had lunch as some place and I ordered schnitzle (spelling?) and a liter of beer. Which made for a full and happy rest of my day. That night we went to a night club called Living where I was yelled at in German by some girls who thought I stole a wallet. I didn't by the way, it turned out they had checked it into the coat check and forgot. But now I know what it feels like to be falsely accused of something and not understand at all what happened or why I was picked out. Overall, it was a pretty funny experience.

Hannah and I found this tower to be pretty and asked a random German to take our picture. Turns out it is really old and part of the orignal towers surrounding the city.

Enjoying a bit of German culture.

This is the more traditional looking area. I liked it. We went to the church in the background as well. It was old and reddish colored. I don't know much else about it because I don't know German.

Sunday we went to the Frankfurt Zoo and saw some sweet animals. The rhinos are dangerous though. We also too the underground/subway to get to the zoo which was really exciting for me because I've never been on a subway before. Apperantly this is something that large cities do, create efficient public transportation. I never knew. That night Hannah, Molly and I bought cheap Jagermeister and Red Bull (yum!) and then we all went around the block to the red light district and walked around.

I assume this sign says: Caution! Rhino trained to aim urine ignorant American tourists! Hannah and I were glad the Rhino was outside and wearing a diaper (or nappy as they would say here).

The wooden door with the ironwork is the door to our hostel. Notice the prime location right next door to the quality establishment "World of Sex." We stayed in a nice part of town.

It was only on the last night that it was discovered beer was sold in vending machines.

Monday was a strange day because we didn't really know what to do. We spent most of the day walking around the shopping street again and taking pictures/buying souveniers. I mailed postcards and life was good. We got in late that night and just crashed. So all in all Germany was really cool to be in because I never thought I'd go there. And I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to mainland Europe at least once while I've been abroad.