I arrived late Thursday night thanks to my bus being an hour late from the start. I was supposed to leave from the train station in The Hague at 9:30am, but my bus didn't even arrive until about an hour later because of traffic in Rotterdam. Then I got to sit on said bus for about 9 hours. If it weren't for the snacks I had packed the night before, I'm not quite sure how I would've survived.
Anyway, Joanna met me at the Frankfurt central station and then we took a train to Darmstadt where she goes to university. We had dinner in one of the main square areas. I got the German version of mac & cheese and a restaurant-brewed beer (because hey, it's Germany, you've got to try the beer). We headed back to Joanna's apartment and I quickly fell asleep, because apparently sitting on a bus all day is exhausting stuff.
We started the next morning with a traditional Bavarian breakfast which consisted of white sausage, mustard, and a pretzel (we skipped the beer part). The rest of the morning was a tour of Darmstadt, and I was in awe of all the hills, trees, and general green that I saw. The city itself is a cute university town, and I enjoyed the inside scoop that I got about it.
For the afternoon we were going to meet up with some of Joanna's friends, but that idea was scrapped because of the weather, and we headed up to Frankfurt instead. When we got there it was already raining. We geared up with our rain coats and umbrella, and still managed to see all the important things. Despite the rain, I thought it was a really cool city. Big enough to be interesting, but not too big to be overwhelming.
After powering through the rain, we went to Joanna's parents' house right outside the small town of Usingen. For dinner, yet another first- raclette. Basically everyone has a little pan that they can load up with veggies, meat, and cheese. Then these pans are put into a special grill and cooked. It takes a while to get enough to eat, but it's definitely a great thing to do if you want to have a long conversation over dinner.
On Saturday, while it was still raining, we went to see a castle! The tour was in German, so I only got translated high-lights from Joanna, but it was still fun to see anyway. We got to wear giant slippers over our shoes, and slide around on the floors. Probably not what you're supposed to do, but the little kid and figure skater in everyone came out when we first put them on. After the castle we decided to make some apple strudel. It was definitely an adventure and it turned out deliciously. For dinner- schnitzel.
The next day, I was back on a bus to the Netherlands. It was an awesome weekend full of rain, food, and hills.
Darmstadt
Frankfurt
Little tourist town by the castle
Apple strudel!
Giant thing of beer
