Just arrived in Frankfurt!
Outside of the main Frankfurt bus station
On July 1, James and I started what has thus far proven to be the greatest decision ever for summer plans: a trip to Germany! The flights went great, and since we are only traveling with our backpacks, customs and immigration were a breeze! The travel took so long, we actually arrived the morning of July 2, sleepy but excited, and revived by Rob and Linden Mueller, some of our best friends, who we will be living with while we are here! Linden and I have been best friends since the 4th grade, and when Rob and James entered our lives in college, the four of us got along swimmingly, and we have all stayed close through the years.
After flying into Frankfurt, we took the train to their town, Giessen, about 45 scenic minutes away. Linden had to go straight to work at the town's university (she only had to work through July 4, and then she gets a 3-month summer vacation break!). The Mullers are in Giessen because Linden is simultaneously working as an English teacher and getting her Ph.D. in Linguistics here. Rob works from home on the internet (kind of like James, except he has to work 8 hrs. a day; not free lance.). Their apartment is very cute and Euro. It's on the top floor, small and compact, but well-built for being small! The washer is in the bathroom, the refridgerator s hidden in the kitchen, and the Muellers have done a lot with their space. They completely furnished the place with IKEA furniture, which James and I love the look of. It's modern, practical, and aesthetically pleasing. Their apartment also looks right over onto the main pedestrian shopping district, which is full of cute clothing stores, bakeries, bratwurst stands, coffee shops, beer gardens, flower stores, and ice cream parlors. It is heavenly. What only makes it better is that everyone we see is young, attractive, fashionable, rides a bike, and seems much cooler than we could ever hope to be. We can't tell if this will be Europe in general, or if this is just a hip college town. It's sort of intimidating! on the other side of their apartment building there is a bar called "Bitchen" which is hilarious to us, but simply means "A little bit of Bitburger beer" but the translation makes the bar, well,
bitchen!
In one of the many nice residential neighborhoods
Rob, James, and I more or less strolled around the pedestrian district, with James and I having to pick up our jaws every few feet from them falling off our faces based on what we saw. Each house could stand alone as fantastic. Each bakery was worthy of visiting. Each cute outfit begged to be tried on. Each flower needed to be smelled. Each coffee needed to be drank! We were honestly in a mixed state of delerium and euphoria from the lack of sleep and sheer joy of German life. We feel so glad that we will get to taste real German life in a smaller, non-tourist town instead of fast-paced metro Berlin or Munich where every one might be a tourist, and we might feel guilty about taking it at an easy pace.
Linden and I in front of some Beatles painted box
When Linden returned from work, we went to their favorite Doener (
dooh-ner) hole-in-the-wall restaurant (the best kind of eatery, I think), truly Turkish-run! A doener is like a Gyro served in soft flat-bread, with lamb or beef, lettuce, red cabbage, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and a choice of garlic or yogurt sauce. They were humongous and tasty! We had our doeners with beer (cheaper than the water), was a filling and delicious meal. Then, because it stays light out until 10:00 pm (much better than the year-round 6:00 pm Guate curfew), the four of us wandered through some pretty neighborhood streets, with me snapping a picture every 2 feet of every building, because each building was different and full of its own detail! The mixture of old-style and ultra modern buildings kept us interested the entire time.
These two buildings, classic and modern, were right next to each other in a residential neighborhood.
We also found a beautiful church (one of many, I'm sure) in the neighborhood, too.
We found ourselves wiping stupid grins off our faces all of the time because we were so gosh-darned happy and amazed at the culture, lifestyle, and beauty of it all, guided by some of our best friends in the world. We feel so lucky to be on this vacation! After this long, long day, Rob and Linden let us sleep to our heart's desire, which ended up being 13 hours! Then, we were revived for Day 2, with no real jet lag leftover, ready for our next fun day in Germany!
A sonpopo 
A sonpopo who has already lost its wings
