Last Stop: Frankfurt

I am now to my final days in Germany! My last stop will be in Frankfurt.  I now realize I went on this meandering little circle through South Germany, but I am pleased to have visited all of the places I did, and met so many new friends. Here is a quick reference photo that shows the distance from Mannheim to Darmstadt (my starting point) and my destination of Frankfurt.  I am super stoked to check out what is described as 'the most international city in Germany'.









In any case, after a night out in Mannheim, I hopped on a morning train to Frankfurt, eager to check out one final city.  

Immediately upon arriving in Frankfurt I hopped from one train - right onto another! I took a city tour on the Ebbelwei Express.  For about € 14 I was able to get a nice tour of Frankfurt complete with a glass of their famous apple wine! I wish that all tours came complete with wine.  

The tour offered a fun and unique way to view everything from shopping districts to the zoo.  Although it was fun, the alcohol quickly reminded me of my empty tummy.  It was clear the my next priority had to be food.  

The neat thing about the Ebbelwei express is that you can hop off at any stop that interests you.  Though another passenger told me that the complete tour usually lasts about an hour, I left fifteen minutes early to go and get some food.

Luckily the odds were in my favor in finding The Best Worscht in Town!  It is basically a food truck, but it entirely fantastic in its very existence.  I was able to get sausage with my choice of topping, fries and MezzoMix to drink for just €10! And it was fast.  And it was simply delicious.  

Ok, I will stop fangirling over a food truck now.

Just kidding.  Here is another picture of my new favorite restaurant.

After stuffing my face for a considerable amount of time I took a stroll around the city to check out local street art - because that's my jam.  Frankfurt-based street artists seem to like to express themselves on a grand scale, often taking up the side of large buildings.

I am off to hit up one of the local nightclubs - Luna Bar.  It is supposedly the best place to get a cocktail in all of Germany and known for incredible dancing.  I'm on my final stretch here and it's time to let loose.

Bis morgen!

Mannheim Bound! - Blog 4

Route from Stuttgart to Mannheim.

Trains in the Mannheim-Stuttgart High Speed Railway.

Hallo Alle! After an exhausting day in Stuttgart, I crashed at a small youth hostel before heading out to Mannheim.  About 85km away, Mannheim, is only slightly smaller than Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.  Anxious to get to a new city, I hopped on the Mannheim-Stuttgart high speed railway.  Though I was expecting exorbitant fares, the price turned out to be reasonable.  People fall under the category of 'youth' through age 26, which means I was able to take the train for just €48. I made it from Stuttgart to Mannheim in just over an hour.

Isn't it cute?  And oh my God - it
smelled so good from outside!

Doner from Istanbul

After the train ride I was positively ravenous. I hopped off the train and set forth into the city.  It was strange because unlike other German cities, Mannheim is laid out like a grid, which the locals told me ea  After wandering for a few minutes, I was immediately drawn to a brightly colored restaurant called Istanbul.  Though I have been in Germany a few weeks, I haven't really gotten much of an opportunity to try Turkish cuisine, so I figured 'why not?'. The restaurant was busy busy and loud, but had a fun atmosphere.  I immediately settled in with some local who frequented the restaurant.  They recommended I got the Doner, and then we all split a Cheese Pide. We got our food ridiculously fast and spent most of the meal talking about my travels. It was delicious and cheap, and my new friends recommended some great things to see in the city.  

My new friends from the restaurant had a great sense of humor and as a gag took me to see Pinocchio Indoor Kinderpark.  This massive indoor playground is built around a giant slide int he form of a volcano.  There are hanging rope bridges that connect a variety of activities such as slides, ladders and even racing cars.  Our adult admission even came with a free drink and a 15 minute stint in massage chairs.  Although we got some strange looks from people we spent a short while exploring the playground.  

After the adventure to the playground we traveled to Luisenpark  for a more relaxed atmosphere.  On the walk there we passed some stunning pieces of Mannheim street art, including these paintings on the side of fences.  This style is really popular among Mannheim artists.  

 Luisenpark is officially one of the prettiest places I have ever been.  My friends and I made a beeline through lush gardens, meticulous flower beds and around glimmering ponds to the Fernmeldeturm.  This is a rotating platform that allows you to see a 360 degree view of all of Mannheim.  It was truly incredible. 

Here is a sped-up version of the video I took on the trip around the Fernmeldeturm.  This shows the beautiful view of the city and also the grid-like layout I mentioned earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyU-LU52Io8

At the very end of the video you can see a pond where we later took a gondola ride around the park which gave us a clear view of their Chinese teahouse and aviary.  We were able to see all of this for less than €24!

I am currently staying with one of my new found friends that I met at Istanbul.  I am thororoughly exhausted after such a  great day.  More updates tomorrow!

To Stuttgart!

From Karlsruhe, I left Sabine and her aunt to head to Stuttgart. Stuttgart is the capital of the state of  Baden-Württemberg. It's famous for Swabian culture, and is a much larger city than the ones I have visited previously.  As the train from Karlsruhe pulled into the city, I was surprised at the number of sprawling hills and parks in the city.  There seemed to be a number of vineyards and small orchards too. Right off the bat this massive city seemed to have a strong connection with the outdoors. 






Stuttgart has an overwhelming number of attractions competing for tourist attention. Driven by my love of automobiles (ha ha ha), I was inclined to start visit at one of their famed manufacturers museums.  I ended up choosing Mercedes over Porsche, and though I wish I could have seen both, the Mercedes museum was awesome! The building itself had really impressive sleek lines like the cars it houses.   It was only  €8 to get in.  Once inside, it was a "barriers free" museum, so there was nothing behind glass or ropes.  The museum unconventional museum setup also featured a number of cool exhibits like full-size concept cars "driving" horizontally on the walls.  It was a really modern and creative atmosphere that lent a special sort of wonder to me as a visitor.  I ended my wandering self-tour with the racing car simulator.  It was an additional €4, but was the highlight of my visit.  Here is a link to a video I took while waiting for my turn in the exhilarating simulator:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjOpruFaISQ 

I found myself starving after my trip to the Mercedes-Benz museum. I made my way downtown to visit famed Cafe Stella.  Along the way, I got to see a plethora of amazing street art displays.  

This one in particular was in a parking garage I cut through. The attention to detail was phenomenal. 

A chalk artist right outside of Cafe Stella.

I arrived at Cafe Stella to find a warm little building with a noisy, bubbly atmosphere.  I sat with an older local couple, who proudly told me that they had been regulars at Cafe Stella for nearly 20 years (though the Cafe has been running for over 30). I told them about my trip so far and the neat things I had seen in Stuttgart that morning. As they shared my interest in art, they suggested a few more local attractions to visit.  


Cafe Stella is substantially fancier than the cafes I have been visiting so far on my trips.  They have a menu that changes daily, but features everything from traditional Swabian cuisine to Asian and Mediterranean dishes.  I ended up choosing to eat their Rindfleisch Gemüse Curry for €8,90 and treating myself to a few cups of much-needed coffee.  I thanked the couple I had shared the meal with and headed on to see more of the city.  





Fun fact: though I couldn't find any cat-related attractions in Stuttgart, there is a cat who has nearly 50,000 likes on the page her owner created.  Apparently the cat has suffered a litany of medical issues, but is really cute.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Feli-The-Cat/377642285597996

After such a fast paced day in the city, I decided to end my day on a more mellow note with a visit to Schloss Solitude.  It was completed in 1769 under Duke Karl Eugen and is in fact, not an actual castle.  It is definied as more of a palace (a grand residence) and is built in a Rococo style.  This means that the architects were heavily inclined to use pastel colors, intricate details, arches and asymmetrical lines.  The building gets its name from its original purpose - to be a secluded hunting lodge where the Duke could spend peaceful hours reflecting.  From the turn of the century to the 1960's, Schloss Solitude was a finishing point for hill races.  At the height of its popularity, the races would draw crowds of nearly 300,000 people. Currently, the building houses students.

I am exhausted from my adventures today... bis morgen!

Karlsruhe - Katze Kindergarten, Karlsruhe Schloss und ZKM

Hallo Alle!

A lot has happened since I last posted from Darmstadt.  At dinner, after visiting after the Wasserturn, I mentioned to my new friends that I was really interested in checking out Karlsruhe.  I was delighted when my friend Sabine told me she had an aunt there that we could go stay with for a few days while we explored the city.  Sabine accompanied me to Karlsruhe that night.

Karlsruhe is about 70 miles from Darmstadt, so we were able to drive there in less than 2 hours.  

The Kindergarten in Karlsruhe where Ingrid worked.  

Sabine's aunt, Ingrid, welcomed us with open arms.  She had prepared our room and after the long day we had spent in Darmstadt, we quickly fell asleep.  We awoke to Ingrid laying out the most incredible breakfast spread.  She had a few different types of rolls, seedy breaks, some fruit spreads, cheeses, fruits and an array of cold cuts.  It was INCREDIBLE!  After breakfast, Ingrid invited us to stop by her work.  Sabine laughed and agreed to come.  Slightly confused, but not wanting to offend my hosts, I agreed as well.  After a short walk from Ingrid's small apartment, we came upon the cutest building I have ever seen! Children were running and playing around a small building shaped like a cat! This was the Kindergarten where Ingrid worked. I was delighted by the creative and quirky architecture.  After a brief tour, Ingrid directed us to the nearest train stop and set Sabine and me free to explore Karlsruhe.

Our first train pulling into 

When Sabine and I arrived at train station we each purchased a Citykarte Solo for 4,90 €.  This was a day pass that allowed both of us unlimited access to any sort of public transportation in Karlsruhe (bus, train, tram, etc.). Though crowded, I was impressed at how cheap and effiecient the transportation system was.  Within a few brief minutes, we were on our way the heart of Karlsruhe.

Though Karlsruhe Schloss had a variety of statues
surrounding it, this one was my favorite.
The palace is in the background!

We made our way to Karlsruhe Schloss and joined in to a last minute tour.  Our guide told us that city plannes built Karlsruhe Schloss to be the center of the city.  From it, thirty-two streets radiate out to form a city like spokes on a wagon wheel or ribs on a fan. This made sense, because when Sabine's aunt had welcomed us, she told us she was glad we could come visit the "fan city".  The tour ended at the Bandische Ladesmuseum (where the admission was free because it was Friday - woohoo!). This just gave a little more explanation as to the history of the city, and the Karlsruhe Schloss's builder, Jakob Freidrich von Batzendorf.








From Karlsruhe Schloss we bought some cherries from a street vendor and took a stroll through the city. it was 11 degrees and sunny, so we took our time peeking into small shops and sampling snacks from vendors.We then headed to  the ZKM - or center for Arts and media.  They are open 10-6, so we arrived in plenty of time to catch a huge part of their silent film festival. The admission was  14 €  and included entry into both the galleries and the festival.  The film festival was extremely entertaining - it captured the history of cross-dressing in international films. Sabine and I stayed for two short black and white films before heading to check out the galleries.  

My favorite combination of art and technology within the museum was with their anniversary display.  Using touch technology, we were able to play with various ipad apps to create a holographic display of us.  This was then projected into one massive installation with the holographs of all of the other visitors.  The main hall was effectively transformed into one massive 3D gallery!  I even got to take a 3D printout of myself home. Such integration of art and technology is farily characteristic of the ZKM a curator told me.  Their goal is to transcend traditional art genre boundaries.

Karlsruhe ZKM!

Sabine and I are now headed to Cafe Palaver - it has Frühstück all day!  We are just going to walk there, as the weather is still quite warm. From what I can see online, the menu looks fantastic!

That's all for now!

Until next time,

Andrea

Darmstadt - Cafe Chaos und Wasserturm!

Ein Tag in Darmstadt ~

Cafe Chaos! So metal.  The inside had a bunch of
old arcade games and toy vending machines - some
vintage, some new.  Cafe Chaos is considered a
vending machine museum. They were fun to play with.

I woke up starving and aching for coffee. Not wanting to trouble my hosts, I left my aunt Ursula a note and took off to find breakfast. I wandered for a couple of blocks, peering at the teeming sidewalk cafes. Nothing looked too appealing until I came upon Cafe Chaos located on Mühlstraße 36.

I went inside and was greeted by laughter from a large group sitting on mismatched shabby-chic furniture.  A massive blackboard proclaimed that days specials, framed by small notes and arrows directing you around the cafe.  I was immediately swept up by the strong scent of coffee bread. A glance at the menu told me it was also affordable.I knew this was the place for me.

My delicious apple strudel! I felt sort of bad eating it.
 The ice cream was looking at me.

I ordered coffee and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream for breakfast.  Ice cream for breakfast didn't seem out of the ordinary in this quirky cafe.  I immediately joined the loud group eating breakfast in the corner.  I told them how excited I was to be exploring Germany.  I made a point of telling them how cool and original I thought Cafe Chaos was.  A girl named Sabine laughed at me and revealed they are part of a large chain of cafes.  She said they were sort of like Hard Rock Cafes.  Still, my new friends laughed it off and offered to show me some of the major cool places to visit in Darmstast.

My new friends took me on a walk through the city.  There were a number of cool graffiti murals and other works of street art.

The Wasserturm!

After a few hours exploring alleyways and shops for local art, my companions took me to the Wasserturm. According to the docents there, the Wasserturm was once a railway water tower.  It was built in 1920 in an Art Nouveau style that matches Darmstadt Central Station.  It is currently houses a small art gallery and restaurant that were both outside of my budget but really neat to observe. Apparently every room in the building contains a picture by Annette Bischoffe. The architecture was fascinating.


My new friends and I are off to hunt down dinner!
I will be writing my next post from Karlsruhe.




Quirky souvenir of the week:  I sent this to my boyfriend for Valentine's Day. It says "Ich liebe dich!" on the inside.  Hopefully he finds it as funny as I do.

...Until next week!