Well we were able to walk around one castle, but unfortunately it wasn't open on the day we were there. I guess I was expecting the castle to look like the ones in the fairy tales. Since, this was my first time to see a castle, I was little surprised to see castle ruins instead of a castle that a king and queen would have lived in. Nonetheless, the walk around the castle was nice and relaxing. No one around but us...if the castle would have been in China or India, there would no doubt have been a gazillion other people.
This a photo of the Konigstein Castle ruins. The thing that always amazes me about the old structures that I have now seen in China, India, Germany, etc. is that there is nothing this old in the U.S. Nothing that even comes close to matching the age of these places. There is a lot of history to a place like this.
Another thing that amazed S and I were the stands at the Christmas market. You are probably looking at this photo saying to yourself...what's so special about it? Well, S and I are use to seeing every day permanent stands here in Chennai that look like the Big Bad Wolf could blow over with barely a huff. These temporary stands that are only put up for a month or so looked so nice and sturdy...not to mention the time and effort that went into decorating the outside of them.
We were about a week early for the big Christmas markets to be open. We went into Frankfurt on Saturday and walked around. There were a ton of little stands that were being prepared for the opening of the Christmas market this weekend. Don't know if you can see clearly in the above photo, but even with the Christmas markets not yet open, there were a ton of people out. I can only imagine what it is like this weekend with the opening of the markets. Keeping track of our group of 10 in this crowd was not always the easiest...especially since we looked like everyone else. At least when we are touring places in Asia, if we get separated from each other, we are much easier to spot being the minority "white" people.
This is one of my favorite photos from our trip of our friends' son, Adam. He's almost 3 years old and couldn't quite figure out why the sign was on the ground. He even tried to put it back upright!
At the end of our walking tour of Frankfurt, it was time to stop for some frankfurters and beer at a German restaurant. Can't go to Germany and not have beer and frankfurters! Somehow with all of the bread, Thanksgiving dinner, bratwursts, frankfurters, and other food I ate during our trip, I managed not to gain any weight. Probably because my body needed the extra calories to keep my metabolism going so I wouldn't freeze to death! I just hope the same holds true for the 3 weeks I'm in Illinois. Normally I gain weight when we return to Illinois, but I'm hoping that my body will just burn up the extra calories to keep me warm. I guess I need to do a pre-Illinois weigh in this weekend, so I will know in a few weeks time whether or not this theory is true.
OK, I'll do one more post on our Germany trip in the next few days. You have to bare with my minimal postings the last few days. Since returning from Germany, I've pretty much been going non stop preparing for our trip next week to Illinois. Of course, I can't complain too much to S...he tells me I have it sssoooooooo rough since he has worked about 80 hours this week, and it's only Friday. Plus he has to work tomorrow. OK, I guess he wins!
On Friday, the traditional biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S., we went to a Christmas market in Koblenz. It was just a small market, and we didn't end up buying much. However, we did have a blast eating at all of the food stalls. Plus, the drive to Koblenz was very peaceful...part of the way we were driving through the beautiful countryside of Germany, and the rest of the time, we were on the interstate. If I didn't know better, we could have been anywhere in the U.S. Traffic in Germany is definitely along the same lines of traffic in Illinois. S and I decided not to rent a car while we were in Germany. Having not driven much in the previous year and coming from riding in India's traffic, we didn't feel that it would be safe for us to try to drive in unfamiliar territory. Nonetheless, under different circumstances, I would definitely have no problems driving myself around in Germany.
Another thing that amazed S and I were the stands at the Christmas market. You are probably looking at this photo saying to yourself...what's so special about it? Well, S and I are use to seeing every day permanent stands here in Chennai that look like the Big Bad Wolf could blow over with barely a huff. These temporary stands that are only put up for a month or so looked so nice and sturdy...not to mention the time and effort that went into decorating the outside of them.
We were about a week early for the big Christmas markets to be open. We went into Frankfurt on Saturday and walked around. There were a ton of little stands that were being prepared for the opening of the Christmas market this weekend. Don't know if you can see clearly in the above photo, but even with the Christmas markets not yet open, there were a ton of people out. I can only imagine what it is like this weekend with the opening of the markets. Keeping track of our group of 10 in this crowd was not always the easiest...especially since we looked like everyone else. At least when we are touring places in Asia, if we get separated from each other, we are much easier to spot being the minority "white" people.
I can't remember what exactly these building are...I want to say city offices but could be wrong about that...anyway, I just think they are very cool looking German architecture.
This is one of my favorite photos from our trip of our friends' son, Adam. He's almost 3 years old and couldn't quite figure out why the sign was on the ground. He even tried to put it back upright!
At the end of our walking tour of Frankfurt, it was time to stop for some frankfurters and beer at a German restaurant. Can't go to Germany and not have beer and frankfurters! Somehow with all of the bread, Thanksgiving dinner, bratwursts, frankfurters, and other food I ate during our trip, I managed not to gain any weight. Probably because my body needed the extra calories to keep my metabolism going so I wouldn't freeze to death! I just hope the same holds true for the 3 weeks I'm in Illinois. Normally I gain weight when we return to Illinois, but I'm hoping that my body will just burn up the extra calories to keep me warm. I guess I need to do a pre-Illinois weigh in this weekend, so I will know in a few weeks time whether or not this theory is true.
OK, I'll do one more post on our Germany trip in the next few days. You have to bare with my minimal postings the last few days. Since returning from Germany, I've pretty much been going non stop preparing for our trip next week to Illinois. Of course, I can't complain too much to S...he tells me I have it sssoooooooo rough since he has worked about 80 hours this week, and it's only Friday. Plus he has to work tomorrow. OK, I guess he wins!
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