Frankfurt, Germany (Sunday, May 6, 2007)

Catching the 5:00 AM coach to Frankfurt am Main meant that I could rest and relax in considerably more comfort than the airport cafeteria floor. With the exception of the driver's quiet jazz music coming from the front of the bus, there was no other noise since I was one of only two passengers on board for the 1-3/4 hour ride to the city. I dozed off in the dark bus, and awoke later to a giant haze-dimmed red globe rising over the skyline of Frankfurt as we approached the city from the west.

The coach dropped me off in front of the massive Frankfurt train station (Hauptbahnhof). It was a good starting point since it was one of the few places open at 7 AM Sunday morning, and I could easily get a breakfast pretzel.

Front of the train station.

Frankfurt has long been the financial capital of Germany.

The skyline view from one of the footbridges over the Main River shows the mix of old and new buildings. Most of the city core was destroyed in WWII, so many of the "old" buildings are actually reconstructions.

After crossing the river, I made myself comfortable on a waterfront park bench and sat for several hours in the morning sun people-watching, reading a book, and listening to my iPod. According to Wikipedia, Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral across the way starting hosting coronations for kings of the Holy Roman Empire as early as 1356.

My park bench was beneath this church, which is directly across the river from the Cathedral. The two buildings seemed to have competing bell-tones every 15 minutes.

Römerberg, the central square of town.

Steins and crystal on display in a storefront. Next door was a window packed with concrete garden gnomes, which would have made perfect gifts for everyone had I a way to get them home!

Impressive stone and glasswork at one of the entrances to the Cathedral. This portion was probably built after the 1867 post-fire reconstruction.

Before catching the return bus back to Hahn Airport to make my second attempt at meeting the Schwerbach Hostel shuttle (this time in daylight) for my Sunday night stay, I made sure to visit one of the outdoor eateries in the funky Alt Sachsenhausen neighborhood. I picked the "Affentor-Schänke"("Ape's Gate"), a place tucked back on a cobbled street that looked to be popular with the locals.

Based on advice from a friend familiar with the region, I ordered one of the local specialties, "schweinehaxe" (roasted ham hock). The local couple sitting next to me laughed when I took a picture of the giant hunk of meat and bone, but they also shrugged and gave me that, "I don't blame you" look. I took my time and a few glasses of Apfelwein to eventually finish off the entire thing (not the bone) for a memorable and delicious German dinner. Unfortunately in taking my sweet time, I cut it really close to the time I needed to catch my bus back to Hahn Airport, and I didn't much enjoy trying to run about two miles in 20 minutes back across town and the river to the train station with both my loaded backpack and that monster in my stomach weighing me down. I ran hard and there was no threat of me losing my dinner, but consistent with this trip's developing theme of ill-timed transportation mishaps, the bus pulled off the curb and drove away right as I got to within 200 feet of the back of it. Fortunately the buzz from the Apfelwein kept my spirits up, and I was able to shake off the fact that the next bus to Hahn would leave 2 hours later, putting me in the same position as the night before - trying to catch that mystery Schwerbach Hostel shuttle from the airport in the dark.

Stay tuned to find out how that went...