From what we can tell, Halloween is not largely celebrated over here. On the 31st, we saw a few costumes, but there wasn’t any extra candy at the store and no one was ringing our doorbell... but that didn’t stop us from celebrating! Earlier in the day, Amy made mummy-licious brownies, carved a pepper (because there aren’t pumpkins to carve), and made homemade pizza to celebrate the holiday. We spent the evening sipping Glühwein down by the Rhine (Yes! It’s finally back!) and watched the Halloween episodes of Friends, Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, and Modern Family. It was a wonderful Halloween evening.
On Friday, we took the train to Frankfurt. We had a free weekend and decided to knock another city off or list. We spent the day admiring the city sights, including the beautiful red sandstone making up St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral (aka Kaiserdom), Römer (the old town square), the Opera House, and the Eiserner Steg pedestrian bridge. We crossed the bridge and wandered through the Sachsenhausen neighborhood and stopped in at Adolf Wagner for a scrumptious lunch. The local sitting next to us recommended the baked fisch mit pommes with a side of Frankfurt’s special Grüne Sosse (green herb sauce) and of course a glass of Apfelwine (another Frankfurt special. It's similar to apple cider and served using an elegant blue Bembel). It was all delicious! With full bellies, we set off to admire the foggy skyline and continue our stroll around the city.
We took a break back at the hotel before the start of our evening festivities… Halloween Burg Frankenstein. We stopped by Chipotle (yes, the American Chipotle!!!!) for dinner, then met our friends at the train station. We took a train, followed by an eerie bus ride up the mountain, eventually arriving at Frankenstein’s castle (the castle that Mary Shelley likely based her novel on).
To loosen up, we took a couple of shots at the castle entrance, then made our way in having no idea what we were getting in to. We knew that at this haunted castle, the monsters and zombies were allowed to do pretty much whatever they wanted… at one point the short girl in our group was lifted off her feet, placed in a box, and the two large zombies sat down on the lid and proceeded to bang on the top of it with their weapons… meanwhile the rest of our group stood in disbelief at what had just happened…
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| Our friend is in that box! |
As we wandered through the castle ruins, we observed and witnessed other monsters and zombies putting people in headlocks, stuffing straw down their coats, and most typically grabbing people and tickling them (we were victims ourselves…). We saw Chuckie wandering through the crowd with a machete as well as nuns from the Exorcist, and of course, Frankenstein himself. We braved our way through a slaughterhouse and a clown town, stopping for a quick photo with one of the clowns (look at Jeff’s face!). We trudged through the mud, up the hill, next to the "swamp" and through the ruins, all the while, keeping an eye on our surroundings.
We enjoyed some fantastic people watching while waiting in line for the live torture show. Here, the ghouls picked two random people from the small audience and proceeded to tie up their arms and legs and tickle them. Then, with the guy, they rubbed ice all over his bare stomach and put the ice cubes down his pants and gave him a wedgie in front of everyone! You can’t make this stuff up! It was crazy! We’ve been to haunted houses in the states, but they have never been this extreme. The whole experience was one of a kind and it was so unique celebrating Halloween at Frankenstein’s castle. Unreal!
After an evening of spooks, we eventually caught the bus back down the mountain and waited for our train at the tiny rural station. We found a hut to hide in which blocked the wind and we passed the hour wait by playing several rounds of Heads Up… such a great game!
We woke late on Saturday, enjoying a lazy morning before setting off to see a few more city sights. We stopped by the Kleinmarkthalle, a packed indoor market full of fresh fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, and spices. We treated ourselves to our first authentic coconut where the lady hacked off the top before giving it to us with the straw. We wandered over to Paulskirche, a round church that was used by the first democratically elected parliament in Germany, and we took another look at the city from the Eiserner Steg since the fog had cleared and we could actually see the skyscrapers.
We wandered through the shopping district, admiring the gigantic escalator inside the main mall as well as stopping by the new Chipotle for lunch (when it’s available, you have to enjoy it!).
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| The ultimate Brat-Master |
And finally, we ended our tour of Frankfurt at an adorable Christmas market on the top of a parking garage. We enjoyed a steaming hot glass of Glühwein, the sun shining on our faces, and beautiful views of the skyline.
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