Then we followed Harald to the train station with our luggage in tow. While we were waiting for our train to arrive, the high-speed ICE train (InterCity Express) pulled up at our platform. Now that was a cool looking train! Too bad we weren't taking it! Harald tried to get tickets for it, but it was full.
The ICE Train
Then came our train. It was not as sleek looking as the ICE, but it was nice inside. We found our assigned seats, stowed our luggage overhead and fell back into our seats. The long week was finally starting to take it's toll on us.
Our Train
Our plans were to take the train to Frankfurt, check into a hotel and head out to meet Harald's sister for dinner in town.
The train headed out toward Frankfurt. My intention was to try to get some sleep, but that was not to be the case. There was too much to see out the window. The train ran along the bank of the Rhine river and there was a tremendous view. First of all, every other ridge had a castle on it. We were constantly passing all different kinds of boats heading up and down the river. At one point, we were racing another train that was on the tracks on the other side of the river.
Then I started to notice a strange looking crop that was growing along the sides of the steep hills on either side of the river. What could that be? After thinking about it for a while, I concluded it was grape vines. This must be wine country! The thought made me very thirsty, indeed!
When we finally reached Frankfurt, our train stopped in a brand new train station, not the big old one we were in the week before. This train station was at the airport. It was a giant dome of glass.
We followed Harald to the street where we climbed into a couple of taxies that took us to our hotel. Our hotel was the Airport Hotel Tanne in the town of Kelsterbach. We checked in, lugged out suitcases up stairs (no elevators again!)
While Jeff and I were unpacking in our rooms, Jeff started to mess around with the radio. It was a little bit after 18:00 Friday evening (12:00 EST), so I asked Jeff to see if he could tune in the Rush Limbaugh show. "No way", Jeff said, "they don't listen to talk radio over here." "Maybe not, but they do get Armed Forces Network", I said. So, Jeff played with the dial for a second, tuned the radio to 873 kHz, then wham, Rush was on the air! As I said in an earlier chapter, Jeff and I enjoy discussing US politics, so it was a treat to be able to hear what Rush had to say today. I'm a Rush fan. (Please no e-mails if you're not!) Jeff tends to disagree with Rush's opinions, but likes to listen anyway. When I told Jerry we listened to him he commented that Rush is polluting the airways over here, too!
In case you're not familiar with Rush, he's a conservative political commentator with a three-hour talk radio show in the US. He is very popular, syndicated on nearly 600 radio stations, but is also very polarizing. Many people love him and many hate him, depending on their ideology. You can listen to his program live on the internet from his web site from noon to 3:00 p.m. EST.
At the top of the hour, however, the Dr. Laura show came on the air. They apparently only carry the first hour of Rush. That's when we turned it off. Neither of us can stand Dr. Laura. It was time to go to dinner anyway.
Then we all met back in the lobby to head out for dinner. Harald had directions to the train station, so we followed him on a 12 block hike. We got to the station, bought our tickets and proceeded to wait. The train pulled up exactly on time and we were off. Our destination was a brewpub in Niddapark called Wirtshaus Wäldches. We had to transfer to another train line in Frankfurt to get there. The train ride took about an hour, but it was interesting to look out the window when we were traveling above ground.
We were rather late, so Harald called his sister on his cell phone to tell her where we were. When we finally got to the brewpub, it was very crowded. Fortunately, Carmen and Mike had a table waiting for us.
We had a long day and were very tired. We were glad to finally get to sit down and relax. I don't know what Jerry ordered, but it came out in a big metal pan that looked like a dust pan. I'm sure it was good, but it looked as if they just used the pan to sweep it up off of the floor! The portion was huge and Jerry couldn't finish it all.
Our picture taking attracted the attention of some people at a nearby table. A girl there seemed to have the eyes for Jeff and started taking pictures of him. I suggested Jeff take a picture back at her. I'll have to see if he has on that I can include here.
However, Jeff was either too shy to talk to her or was not interested. Anyway, it was getting late and we had to catch a train back to the hotel.
As far as beer is concerned, (this was a beer tour, after all), they had a brown ale and what they called their stone beer. I think the stone beer was a lager. Both were refreshing, but nothing to write home about.
The restaurant was decorated like an indoor beer garden. There were trees all around and hops hanging from the ceiling. On our way in, we passed a large copper brew kettle in the middle of the room. I'm not sure if it was real or just for show, as I could see real brewing equipment through some windows near the door.
When we were finished with dinner, we walked back to the train station. Mike drove his car there so they could say goodbye to us as we got on the train. It was so nice for them to meet us there for dinner. That was an excellent way for us to finish a wonderful trip!
The train ride back to the hotel seemed longer that the one going out. The walk from the station the hotel seemed longer, too. But, we made it back and had no trouble falling asleep.
Next, Home!
