Arrival in Frankfurt

I have been transported back to the days of taking students to Europe. Only this time my students are older than me. It has been comical to watch my dad, his neighbors, and his cousins experience overseas travel for the first time. On the plane Dad sat next to Wendy and I. He was simply amazed at our "process" of preparing for the long haul flight. Neither one of us realized we had a process. It is just something I guess we have perfected over the years. As usual on a first transcontinental flight the newbies slept none. Both Wendy and I got several hours of blissful sleep in!

We arrived to Frankfurt, Europe's 3rd largest airport, at 9:00 a.m. which is the kiss of death when it comes to jet lag (we have to stay up ALL day with some having no sleep). The very first thing the adults did was check their phones to see if there was free wifi. It was EXACTLY what our students did when arriving! After collecting our luggage and eating the most delicious bacon and cheese pretzel EVAH we headed off for an unexpected tour of Frankfurt while waiting on others in our tour group to arrive.

Frankfurt is the fifth largest city in Germany, which up until the 1990s the population included some 30,000 US troops. While taking our city tour and trying desperately to stay awake I took a few notes:

• Germany actually invited Jews to make new communities after WWII. Frankfurt has the 3rd largest community
• Turkish people are the largest immigrant group in Germany (yes we heard about the bombing. Yes we are being aware. Yes we feel safe).
• There are 4 million Muslims, 25 million Catholic's, and 31 million Protestants in the country.
• Two former EAST German's are in charge of the government, one being President Angela Merkel who is the daughter of a pastor
• President Kennedy visited Germany in 1963 and apparently it was a BIG, and I mean BIG deal. He drew huge crowds, they are still talking about it and a plaque was placed on city hall.

• They have apple cider gardens here instead of beer gardens. It is served with lemonade or water.

We visited the cathedral in downtown that isn't really a cathedral but has an honorary mention. Odd yes.

We transferred to Schwetzingen where some took a nap and Wendy, Dad, and I set out to visit the quaint city center for a refreshing beverage.

Our group enjoyed dinner at a restaurant back in the city center of some salad they all deemed the best ever, wienerschnitzel, and ice cream and then it was time for BED! 

I promise to get better at the blogging but it has been a LONG 48 hours and this chick is tired!