My trip to Frankfurt this past weekend was about everything I expected from it. Kendra and I went to meet Brad there and spend his last night in Germany with him / see him off to the airport. We got there earlier on Thursday evening, walked around the Stadt a bit, and saw the Römer -- the prominent cathedral overlooking the city, which looked a lot like the Freiburg Münster. It was also funny because I saw the Fachwerkhäuser and a lot of things that were definitely featured in my high school German textbook and its section on Frankfurt am Main. Kendra and I also took a series of really touristy photos in front of the Euro statue, and Kendra made a joke about us definitely being locals... And then we were asked for directions in Frankfurt by three different people, one of them immediately afterwards. For dinner we went back near the Hauptbahnhof because there were a lot of restaurants directly on the street leading from it, and hit up this place called Kakadu's which was Australian. I got a kangaroo burger -- because what else would you get in Frankfurt? -- and it was good but I didn't really notice a huge difference between kangaroo and beef, except maybe it was leaner. We then met an overwhelmed-looking Brad at his train and helped him carry his stuff to the hotel right across the street from the Hbf. As always when I travel with Brad, I just accept the fact that I'll find out our agenda as we go along, and this time was no exception. I had been pretty sure we'd be staying in an Airbnb, but it turned out that his mother had booked him a hotel room. It was funny because the doorman totally didn't think we belonged there. Sure, we looked a bit disheveled from several hours of bus or train travel, and Brad from carrying all of his stuff, but I didn't think we were that shady of characters.
The doorman was all "can I help you?" Brad: "yeah we are staying here." Doorman: *extremely skeptically, albeit politely* "Do you have a reservation?" Brad: yep. After we got to the room Brad attempted to repack a bit (which is always fun, especially when it's several hundred degrees) while we played crappy music from the 2000s and also Hamilton and goofed around. We went out for a bit and chilled in the park on Willy Brandt Platz by the giant glowing Euro statue. After several more shenanigans we eventually went to bed. At this point people in PSIADA were talking about the Brexit... And I really wanted to stay up to track the results, as Joey and Carver were commenting on the polls and it reminded me of this past not-semester whenever we'd track primary results at Pat's... But I fell asleep with most people assuring that a Brexit wouldn't occur... So that was a mistake. I couldn't believe it when I woke up. But more on that later, probably. We went down to breakfast, I spectacularly Iced Brad, he collected the last of his objects, and we headed for the train station. As we were leaving the room, I pulled out the keycard from the room (because it was used to activate the lights). "Do we need this for checkout?" Brad: "I've never checked out of a hotel in my life!" I laughed and threw the key at the bag of trash in the hall, and we hurried down the steps. We were about to go out of the door when the reception called to us "Haben Sie abgechecked?" "Oh nein," Brad went to the desk. Do you have the key?" they asked. Brad turned to me. "Do you have the key?" "One moment please," I said calmly, then left and went back upstairs to collect the key from where it had luckily fallen beside the trash can. I cracked up for a moment when I made eye contact with Brad from the hallway but he kept a straight face as I handed it to him. In retrospect this was hilarious. I mean, I really calmly and matter of factly went to go get the key, but what on earth were the reception people thinking? Like, where could I have gone? It was obviously not in the room because I couldn't go in there without it, and we didn't have anyone with us, so there was no logical place for me to have left it. Also, as Brad continued to checkout, the lady was like "Wait you had three in a room?" "Uhoh," I thought. "Was that against the rules?" Brad really swiftly and smoothly responded in German, "Nah, they're just helping me carry my stuff to the airport. I'm flying back to the us today." I was extremely impressed at his quick and logical cover. The reception then wished us a "Gute Reise!" And as soon as we left the hotel we burst out laughing. "That was such a good cover!" Kendra and I told him. "Yeah I dunno I just lied really well." "It's a character flaw," I responded, making Brad crack up (as it was a reference to a long running joke here.) Brad then said , "I'm just glad they didn't ask why you were eating the brunch then." Which is true. Oh man. That concierge must just have so many questions right now. We then walked Brad to his train (after he asked the coolest looking DB man ever for instructions) and waved goodbye. For me this was also interesting because Brad I clearly remember the day Brad left for Germany, because none of us knew Brad was going... (okay, well obviously I knew he was studying abroad, I just didn't know when he was leaving). I still remember that I worked in the YMCA in the morning, I texted him on my break for help with my PUNC Committee, and then I went to sit in the HUB with Carver and Quill before UNCA dinner at Panda Express. We were in the middle of stalking our future roommates on Facebook when we saw that Brad had commented "brb going to Germany" on Facebook, and we each asked the other one, bewildered, "Did you know Brad left today?" and I was especially confused, because I never would have bothered Brad about random PSIADA questions if I knew he was trying to make his final preparations before going to the airport. So anyway, it was interesting for me to have such clear memories/experiences with both the beginning and ending of his study abroad experience. Well now what? Kendra and I wondered. We eventually decided to wander over to the museums and pick one. It was excessively hot and humid, even with just our backpacks, so we took a long respite in a park along the river. We contemplated going to this art museum, but instead went to the communication museum, which was really cool (and cheaper). The top floor currently had an exhibition on German advertising through the decades after the war, and it was really cool to see the development of different brands, especially how some German brands came back after the war, or how advertising worked in the DDR. We only had a few minutes to look around the bottom floor -- the permanent exhibition -- which was a giant floor with different mail wagons and telephones and radios and telegraph machines, but I got to read a little about telegrams sent from the Titanic which was cool. We then went and got lunch back by the Fachwerkhäuser, and even though it was like 90 degrees and hot meaty German food wasn't quite top of my list, I got the Frankfurter Schnitzel and Apfelwein, figuring I may as well go all in to try the local delicacies, and they were actually pretty good. We then meandered over to the Goethehaus -- and even though we only had 15 minutes, we decided to go tour it quickly because it was only three euros for students. It was pretty cool to walk around, in hindsight. Then we bought ice cream and hurried back to the Hbf, only to discover that our bus was delayed indefinitely (it turned it to be an hour late), so we had the pleasure of sitting in the hot sun with hoards of other people waiting for it. After far too many stops and my phone dying we finally made it home, barely beating Brad back to Freiburg (before he made it back to America). Originally Kendra and I had planned to go out, but by the time we both washed all of the bus off of us, neither of us were exactly feeling it anyone, but I was starving so I suggested we go buy Döner in the Innenstadt. As we were making our way of StuSie, we passed a CASUALLY ON FIRE DUMPSTER, which we had no idea what to do about, but no one else seemed concerned! Eventually the police and a firetruck came as we waited for the Straßenbahn. It also started to thunder and downpour, and Kendra wanted to go back, but I was really really hungry, so I convinced her we should continue our quest for Yufka. I then came back, Skyped with Graham, and went to bed.
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