Notes About Nothing: I promise I'm not German...

I realized something about myself whilst in Germany; apparently my Eastern European features are more dominant than I expected, as I was mistaken for a German more than once and as such, more than once, was yelled at for being so rude as to not respond back in German.

The weekend in Frankfurt was a whirlwind. I felt like it was one long day punctuated by a few short naps. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and were met by Summer’s hometown friend Virginia at the station. She got us to our hostel before taking us on a walking tour of the old city. Frankfurt was largely destroyed during the War so much of the buildings are replicas of the ones that stood before, but beautiful just the same. Frankfurt is also the financial capital of Europe so the downtown area is very modern and even had the tallest skyscraper in Europe, which is minuscule even compared to downtown LA standards, they just don’t build that way here.

After listening to the all-girl saxophone quartet in the old city center for a while, we went for Thai food, it was amazing. Then we made our way back to the 'Sachsenhausen' the bar district to meet up with some of Virginia’s friends. We started an Irish pub where I finally had an official draft Guinness (pictured). It was so think and dark, like drinking a bitter milkshake. Glad I did it, but I think I can check that off my list. Then we went to a different pub where we parked for most of the night. We had a truly international table; 4 Americans, a French girl, a Belgian, 2 Brits, an Argentine, and a Fin. It was a great time, drinking great beer and people watching. The 2 men at the table next to us were being quite cheeky and even sang us some drinking songs, but they were also the first instance of mistaken ancestry, it took 3 people explaining to them that I was in fact Slovak before they finally conceded, however skeptically.

The only downside to our hostel was the lockout from 2-5 a.m. So we either had to be back by 2 or stay out til 5. Well since we only had a short time there, Summer opted for the latter option. So around 2:30 we headed to a small cellar dance club that was open all night. Despite the awkward dancing music, it was nice to shake it a little. Unfortunately though, by about 3:45, we were all totally exhausted and ready to go home but couldn't. Instead we found a popular street food stand where Summer had Kebab (German drunk food of choice) while I had a traditional Bratwurst in bread. Trying very hard to experience authentic German cuisine, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sausage was delicious. While we sat and ate, the man next to me was the second to insist on my German heritage and he was not as easily placated, although the half drunken bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand may have had something to do with his stubbornness.

We finally got home and crashed in bed just as the sun was rising. After some unsuitable rest, Virginia came to collect us to go get Mexican food at the only place in the whole city. Mexican is not my favorite, but I didn't realize how much I missed familiar food. The strawberry margaritas, Spanish tapas, and steak fajitas made for a very happy, albeit overly tired, Hannah. We also took a short ride on the Apple Wine Express, a brightly painted trolley care that takes you around the city and gives you a bottle of Apple Wine brewed in Frankfurt. I realize that there is quite a lot of references to alcohol in this particular blog, but I assure you, my participation was much less than most as I am a total lightweight. But hey, when in Germany, right.

We made our way back to England Monday morning in time to have the afternoon free for napping and laundry before starting another week of work. This week will be a short on for me since I have Friday's off, just 3 days. Things are going well at Let Me Play but I'm starting to wrap up the projects I've been working on since I only have one more week after this...crazy!

Here is Frankfurt...