Frankfurt, the Block Forrest, and an authentic Oktoberfest

Day vier, fünf und sechs (4, 5, and 6)

If you are just starting here, read my post documenting my Day 1 or Days 2+3 first.

Frankfurt

Woke up in Frankfurt and spent the day exploring the city. The city itself is pretty modern and reminds me of a big American city—but with everything in German. According to Dario, the majority of the city was destroyed in the war, however there is an “old city” in the center where there a lot of old churches, Court houses, and other buildings dating back to the 12th and 13th century. Here are some cool pictures. While there I got to eat a traditional Wiener schnitzel!

As we explored the city we came upon these golden bricks in the sidewalks in front of houses/apartments. They represent Jews who were prosecuted by the Nazis and driven out of their homes. The bricks would give the names of the people and how they eventually died. We also came upon a memorial which had a ton of bricks coming out of the wall with the names of hundreds of Jews who lost their lives.

Exploring the Black Forest

On day 5 we woke up at 6 am (see a trend here?) and drove to the Black Forest. For those who do not know, the Black Forest is called that because it’s filled with pine trees which grow so close together that often light cannot penetrate it. We went to a part of the Black Forest that is near the town Baden Baden. There we found and explored old castle ruins called Altes Schloss.

And then we explored the town of Baden Baden itself which was super cute. One of the coolest things we found in the town were old Roman Bath Ruins where you could clearly see the outline of a bathhouse and the structure of how they heated the water and the walls. (watch the video to see what it was like!)

Wrapping up with an Oktoberfest at Stuttgart!

The night of Day 5 (October 2) we headed to Stuttgart, another city where Wasen—the Oktoberfest—was held. Because it is not the main Oktoberfest held in Munich, it was majority locals there. So everyone was speaking German to each other, which at first did make me feel a bit out of place. Dario and /I purchased tickets with a group of horse back riders (Dario rides horses) and so we at least had a group there to sit with. I ended up making friends with this couple I sat across from and after a certain point in the night, it did not matter that I did not speak German because I was singing (granted I was horrible) along to the music and everyone there was just having a great time. Everyone got a meal, and 4 liters of beer throughout the night and I got to wear a Dirndl, a traditional German dress.

The morning after Oktoberfest I woke up extremely sick (I promise you, this was not a hangover). I spent the entire day with a 101 degree fever, practically sleeping the entire day away and not having the energy to do anything else. Lucky for me, October 3rd is a national holiday in Germany (the day Germany united), and so every single pharmacy was closed for the day 🙂 I somehow made it through that day and my fever broke over night, so while still not feeling in tip-top shape, I am heading back to Scotland tonight not feeling like death.