December 2nd

The last day in Germany we went on a tour of Lufthansa headquarters.  We had to take our passports and get a pass to go behind the scenes.  Unfortunately, we could not take any pictures, but we saw where they meet before their flights to talk about safety and meet with the whole crew.  They have a large cafeteria for just the flight crews and a new products area for the flight attendants to touch and taste.  They have new ice cream snacks that were just fabulous, I love ice cream!  We saw the 1st class building where if you are not peasants you can be catered to before your flight and then get a Porsche ride to the plane.  Rough life!

We then went to a fancy grocery store.  It would definitely give Market Street a run for its money.

In the afternoon Carolin showed us how to make a pork shoulder, sour kraut, potato dumplings and red cabbage.  It was a very yummy meal!

Victor and Vincent after the meal!

December 1st

We had another good breakfast! Man, I would sure gain weight eating this every morning.  

This is a different park for Herr Schmidt’s morning walk. 

Then we went down to the Christmas Market in downtown Frankfurt.  This area was built in the 1700s, but was damaged in the war. Then it was rebuilt, but the city didn’t like it because it was not the same style buildings and they wanted it to reflect the past times. So they researched and built it back as close as they could. They even used some authentic materials that had been found. 

We had several hot drinks that were very good. Glühwein, which is a red mulled wine. Heißer Äppler, which is hot apple wine and Feuerzangenbowle, a fire tongs punch that was made with wine, rum and sugar. 

We took the Ebbelwei-Express, a train around the city that serves cold Äppler (apple wine) and pretzels. 

The Struwwelpeter is a children’s book with stories that teach kids to mind or they won’t get a Christmas present. 

The opera house.

Pictures from Main Tower. It is 200 meters high. 

Outside the mall.

Buying tickets for the train ride back to Zeppelinheim.

November 30th

Herr Schmidt rules the house, he gets to go every morning to the dog park for a long walk!

After the dog walk we had a huge breakfast with breads and liverwurst. 

The Scholdei’s planned a day trip to Wiesbaden, only about 25 minutes from Frankfurt.  Below is the Russian church up above Wiesbaden. 

Ropes course in the trees.

Normally there is a train that goes up to this area, but it was closed for the winter. It is powered by a water system. 

This is inside the casino building, they had a casino starting in the 1700’s. 

A large version of the traffic light guy. 

There are underground hot springs in Wiesbaden, so there are several places where you can see this and drink the water. Below are pictures from their Christmas Market. 

A bit of mulled wine. 

Inside the Catholic Church. 

Dinner at the Katoffelstubb, really good schnitzel with feta on top. (Greek style) It was Vincent’s
favorite.