Hilton Garden Inn - Airport

After dropping off our rental car, we began following signs to the on-site hotels.  It was quite the adventure!

After various twists and turns, we found the Hilton Garden Inn!  It is nearly co-located with the Hilton Airport.  They occupy different floors in the same building.  The Hilton is of course, far more expensive than the Garden Inn :)  We did not explore.

Woo hooo - 10th floor!

Our room had an INCREDIBLE view of the area across from the Frankfort Airport.  This panorama doesn't begin to do it justice. 

Breakfast was a bit of a let-down.  It was billed as "free cook-to-order" breakfast.  Hubby did eventually get a custom omelet, but that station wasn't open when we arrived, and Wifey never did figure out what else was available for order. 

These eggs are just adorable!  

Before leaving we took a quick stop by the Business center and printed our tickets for the next week and a half!  SO EXCITED!!  Wifey was surprised to learn that German keyboards aren't the same as American ones and had a bit of struggle typing our email address to log in.  She overcame, however.   

Frankfort - General Meandering

After dinner, we made it over to Römer.  This has been the local city hall since the early 1400's when the building was sold to the city by the Römer family.  It's ironically German.  And oh, goodness, was the surrounding plaza FULL OF TOURISTS!  We spend most of our time in Germany in pretty non-tourist areas.  Even visiting Trier, you see more local tourists than the international hoard.  

Near the Römer is the Eisnerer Stag.  This is a pedestrian bridge where people attach padlocks.  We're pretty sure it is somehow connected with romantic love?!  We went there,  we took a picture. Lookey: 

Leaving the Bridge, we enjoyed a pedestrian street and came across the local high-end Carhartt store.  We were saddened that this year there were no traditional coveralls laid out as high fashion, however the exclusivity and prestige of the store did not disappoint.  

A local bookstore had the German Settlers of Catan on sale - if we wouldn't have had to haul it all over Italy next week, it'd have been a tempting purchase.  Even more tempting was this Luther board game!  Also on sale for 10 Euro!  Perhaps we'll pick it up on the trip back to America!  Who wants invited to the game-play party!?

Frankfort = More Döner

Tomorrow we leave Germany and fly to Italy for a while.  So of course ... Döner for dinner! Well Döner and Pizza. We rode the subway from our airport hotel into the city, planning to visit the
Römer area.  Wifey's perfect geographical memory failed and we ended up getting off the train one stop early.  As we walked the "10 minutes" from there to our destination (yeah, that was 10 minutes driving directions); we saw this little Döner shop and decided to stop for dinner.  

The margarita pizza was good.  Not pictured was a completely average Ayran.  

Hubby found the Döner completely unimpressive.  Here's a pic, nonetheless.  

He did, however, get to customize his own level of spicy!  

Thai :(

For dinner tonight, we ate with friends at Khao Thai Cuisine.  Wifey has been sick for the past several days and that peaked tonight.  And she hates Thai.  

Husband ordered food:

Wifey had the kids chicken strips and fried rice. 

Don't worry - tomorrow (cause we can either see the future or we blog a few days late :)) wifey will have hubby buy her some good meds from the local american store and she'll be close to as good as new!

Trier

Before work today we enjoyed a quick, rainy field trip to Trier, DE.  For a period of time, Trier was the capital of Roman Empire.  Of note, one city gate remains from that time period: The Black Gate.  This part of the old city wall remains because for a period it was converted to and incorporated into a Monastery.  The most noteworthy part of this site was remembering Pastor Randy describe the city gates during Biblical times as centers of meeting and commerce. It was in the city gate that Boaz confronted the alternate kinsman redeemer and eventually took responsibility for Naomi and Ruth.  Rahab's home was part of a city wall.  These were massive buildings! 

Near the Black Gate we boarded a double-Decker buss for a city tour.  It was nice to be out of the rain; and we enjoyed the English language narration via headset! 

The first stop where we exited the bus was at the local Colosseum.  While we know this will not compare to the Colosseum we anticipate visiting next week ;) it was till quite an architectural marvel.  We walked around, under, and on top of this outdoor amphitheater.  

We even 'visited' the handy vomitorium! This may or may not have been where Romans would vomit to make room for more feasting.  Hunger Games memories, anyone? 

Another stop along our tour-route was at the top of a hill-top vineyard.  It provided stunning views of the city. 

A couple quick "rainy-day" pictures just for fun! 

Just before heading back 'home' to work, we had a quick lunch at the Ristorante Pizzeria San Marco.  It was so-so.  

During our lunch, we ate food (Pizza, jager art schnitzel, Lasagna, whatever Hubby Ordered)

And for dessert, Ice Cream Spaghetti and Coffee Ice Cream. 

Döner

Döner is a term for a type of meat originating from Turkey/the Ottoman Empire.  The meat is seasoned and stacked/smooshed together on a pole into the shape of an upside down cone.  It is then put in front of a vertical heat source and cooked while spinning in circles.  

 As the outer layer is done, it is shaved off and served. 

 The most common way that we've seen Döner served is in a bread pocket along with some veggies and a spicy sauce.  

 The most common way that we've seen Döner served is in a bread pocket along with some veggies and a spicy sauce.  Wifey's research shows this is actually a pretty German version of Döner.  A related dish is the Greek gyro which is more popular in the USA.  While technically Döner refers to the meat which has been cooked as described above, in common use, folks refer to the fast-food dish (meat in bread pocket with veggies and sauce) as Döner.  Kinda like how hamburger is both the ground up meat as well as the finished sandwich on bread with toppings.  

raw Döner in NOLA, USA