Grandkid Trip 2, Germany to Start

And now for Grandkids Trip #2. For this trip we are taking our middle boy’s oldest son to Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and more Germany.

The trip started out with just Germany and Austria, but then he asked if we could visit some battlefields which happen to be in France. Our son thought that CERN would be interesting so we added Geneva.

As it turns out this trip to Europe is totally different than any others we have taken. Lucian was studying world history and asked if we could see some of the sites. We have never bothered ourselves with the World Wars and the impact they had on Europe, or the sufferings of Jews (gays and women with mouths that call these guys out) and all of the other outcasts. Now with all of the hate that is going on in the US these issues are becoming relevant.

Our trip started, on Monday. I had reserved a flight for all of us to fly from CA on Wed, with a flight for us to fly from Vancouver to LAX on Tues afternoon. I thought there would be plenty of time to get from the ferry to the airport on Tues, but after 2 ferries in a row being late, I was not so sure. We decided to take the ferry to Vancouver on Mon, stay in a hotel, fly Tues to LA then from LA to Germany on Wed. Justin met us with Lucian on Tues.

Wed morning was like the usual morning of flying to an international destination. Lucian hasn’t been so far so this was a little new for him.

First stop in Europe was Frankfurt. We have flown in and of Frankfurt several times but have never stayed over so really didn’t know anything about it. I’m a bit surprised at ourselves for ignoring Frankfurt!

Our flight was super late into Frankfurt so we dropped our bags in our room and went out walking, I was starving.

Dale and I decided to go the right on the main street from the hotel and after walking thru green spaces found the Opera House. The restaurants just outside of the Opera House were way too fancy for the likes of us. Then, we by chance wandered down a side street, later learned that it was eat row or something like that. Rows of outdoor restaurants. We stopped at a little market/restaurant and found that nearly everything was gluten free. The owner told us that we should have the frankfurters, after all we were in Frankfurt. Sounded reasonable and tasted fabulous.

After an early night to bed, we had breakfast then got ready to do the Rick Steves city walk to orient ourselves. We bypassed the Junkies and the Red-Light areas, as we were not ready to encounter that.

It was fun, ducking into churches, watching, and listening to the local street performers play Vivaldi on accordions or dance and do acrobatics on the street. Those are experiences that just don’t happen everywhere.

We went looking for dinner as recommended by Rick Steves but the restaurant was closed for remodeling. We then asked some locals for a place without tourists, who recommended a restaurant that mostly locals eat at. And it was, we were the only ones who seemed to be from another planet.

After a dinner of sausages, sauerkraut and potato salad we were tired and happy.