Frankfurt and Langen Germany

So it occurred to me today that I am two weekends behind in blogging and I leave for Italy tomorrow night for 5 days. So I shall attempt to post two blogs tonight, though it is already 11:10pm here as I begin typing and I am rather tired and have a lot of prep work to do... so I'll see how far I get.

The weekend of June 22 and 23 I decided to visit an old friend who lives an hour away from K-town in the quaint little of Langen. Here was a break down of my first day:

Woke up and left Kaiserslautern, Germany at around 12pm. Drove the 1.5 hours to Langen, where Franzi lives, then Caught the 2:15pm train into Frankfurt. We visited many places including where the Germans signed the “constitution” after WWII, took a ride around town on the Express trolley, ventured through the local festivals that were taking place, enjoyed some local crepes, and ended our time in Frankfurt by seeing the Frankfurt Dom or Cathedral. After arriving back to Langen we had traditional German Flammkuechen and wieners.


  Day 2:

After staying the night at Franzi’s and venturing into Frankfurt the day before we decided that she would show me around her town so I could get a real taste of daily life within Germany. After sleeping in for a bit, we woke up and had a late breakfast with her mother, after we set out to explore the city a bit. I got to see her high school, city hall, civic center, and much more. While out there was a local fair that happens in her town once a year that was happening. We went through the rows of vendors and games, stopping to shop a bit along the way.

For lunch she took me to her favorite place to have a traditional German doner. It’s a flat bread, with meat, lettuce, and a yogurt dressing. It was delicious, but HUGE!

Then, it was time to head back into Frankfurt for a tour we were hoping to take. We made it to the station in time to see the train pull off. So instead with a quick change of plans we decided to go back to her house and spend some more time just talking and catching up.

 

It was so great being able to see Franzi, the last we saw each other was when I was a senior in high school, so three years ago! Unlike a lot of my other weekend trips I have taken since arriving to German this one was very unscheduled and relaxed. I’m very happy I was able to meet her. It gave me such insight to the “real” life of living like a local.

I was able to meet her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, which was a unique experience in itself because since neither knew English well, Franzi became our translator. I just felt like I became a temporary part of the family.

The thing I love to do most while I travel is get out of the main, tourist roads and see it from the local perspective. And by making friends all over the world I am slowly being able to do just that. I can’t wait to start my life over here in a year (hopefully)! There is just so much culture, and things to see and do, the sky seems like the limit.