Saturday, April 16 2016: Day 4 Frankfurt.

I can’t believe it’s day 4 of the trip already.  Travelling to Paris feels like a week ago already!

This morning, after a lovely breakfast at the downstairs continental breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Luxembourg (hotel review blogged here) (we finally had some ‘real’ continental breakfast with all the fixings like scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, huge selection of baked goods, cereal, cold cuts, fruits, juice, and more hot and cold foods.  We ate breakfast at 7 a.m. and gathered all our belongings to leave at 7:50 a.m.

Breakfast was so good and I was full quickly.  I especially liked the pork sausages, scrambled eggs (of course), the crunchy croissant, pain du chocolate.  Yum!

There were also some cute juice boxes for kids too.

Our first goal of the day was actually to leave Luxembourg.  So fast that we were there just yesterday and already had to leave again.  We were on our way to Germany!

It’s funny because I passed out on the bus and by the time we got off, we had arrived in Germany.  I could tell because all the street names and store fronts were in German.  Haha..

We stopped by the Karl Marx House to take a photo.

Then we walked around the surrounding streets and square in Fleischstraße to take lots of photos.  It was early morning around 9:30 a.m. and barely anyone was in the streets.  It was nice and quiet.  The shops were just setting up and I got reprimanded for taking photos of a bakery lol. (German people can be quite rude blunt).

We saw and took pictures of the Porta Nigra, a UNESCO heritage site, called the “black gate” that survived the world war and remains standing and keeps its blackness.  So neat!  I was already loving Germany and its historic sites :).

We experienced another paid washroom before heading back to the bus for our next stop in the itinerary.

We then headed towards the Rhine River and took pictures alongside the shore, the beautiful tulips, and another gigantic warrior statue.  It was a beautiful day and it felt unreal to be right next to the famed Rhine River.

After some photos, we had lunch at a local German restaurant called Wacht Am Rhein where our tour guide had set up a preset lunch for us (blogged here).  We had a choice of white wine or beer and German bratwurst and sausages or pork knuckle.  My mom and I got one each so we could share as usual.

The staff at the restaurant were so nice and friendly and even the chef came out to take photos with us many times.  So fun! 🙂

The white wine was absolutely perfect and deliciously sweet!  The beer was also great. We took a lot of pictures during this meal.

We started off with a potato soup that was creamy and filled me up already a bit.  The accompanying bread wasn’t too hard either.

Then the mains came!  The bratwurst wasn’t a big one but the chicken sausage was long and delicious!  The other two were just normal hot dogs.  I loveddddd the mashed potatoes.  It was perfection!  The sauerkraut was sour and a great balance to the meaty dish.

The pork knuckle was huge and the chef definitely came out to take a picture with us for this one.

It was actually so tender and also came with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.  Even though the knife we had wasn’t particularly specialized for meat cutting or sharp, it was easy to slice through the knuckle.

Different parts of the knuckle tasted different in texture.  The meat on the outside tasted rougher than the meat underneath the skin.  It was all around delicious and tender though and really well cooked.  It wasn’t too salty either!

Since the plates were so ginormous, we couldn’t finish all the bites unfortunately.  I would have taken it home if I could.

We finished off with dessert.  It was a very smooth vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and cherry jam.  It was so good!  The vanilla ice cream was so smooth :).  The cherry jam had actual cherry meat in it.

After that, we went back to the bus and drove about 20 minutes to get to the dock for us to board the small cruiser for the Loreley Star line on the Rhine River.

It was so cool!  There were three decks on the ship and my mom and I stayed on the first deck primarily so that we could see all the sights and sounds of the cruise.

It went down the Rhine River and stopped at various points to let people off or on.  It wasn’t too windy and since it was gloomy out, I didn’t have to worry too much about the sun in my face.

 

It was beautiful to pass by the Dutch houses on the shore and view the beautiful natural scenery as well as castles atop the mountains.

Our short cruise lasted about an hour before we undocked and returned back to our bus on the other side of the shore where we first got on.

Then, we went to see the Statue of Gardenia, another UNESCO heritage site.  It was on top overlooking the Rhine River.  What a view!  The tour guide John said it was the best view of Germany.

Niederwalddenkmal is a monument located in the Niederwald landscape park, near Rüdesheim am Rhein in Hesse, Germany.

Jump shots! 🙂  And panorama and videos.

After that, the last stop of the day was to Nacht Musee, a famous square in Germany.  Lots of tourists, shops, and distinct German architecture.  I’ve noticed the distinct sharp steepled churches too.

We took some pics but since we only had an hour to explore before we had to head back at 7:15, we rushed.

We looked at the love bridge with the love locks but apparently they don’t have as many as the one in Korea.

Then we went in search of a supermarket because the adults wanted to buy some greens to eat.  We went to Galleria. Bought a suitcase, paid a washroom trip, and they bought cabbage.

I bought two sandwiches on the way back.  A salami one and a schnitzel one.  Yum!

Had these on the bus heading to the hotel and absolutely loved the schnitzel one.  So good and simple with the mayonnaise but not too crispy.

The other one was good too.  Had salami, egg, cucumber, tomato.

Hotel at Hotel NH Frankfurt Airport West.  So nice! 🙂  Yesterday’s was the best and classiest but this one has unique bathroom, multiple outlets in the room, and a comfortable recliner chair too.  Fast wifi too :).

Tomorrow we leave Germany and head to Amsterdam for two days.  I’m excited ^_^. *grateful!!*

View my posts from the other days of the trip:

• Day 1: Exploring Paris, France

• Day 2: The Louvre & Galeries Lafayette

• Day 3: Reims, France & Luxembourg
• Day 4: this post
• Day 5: Bonn & Cologne, Germany
• Day 6: Keukenhof Gardens, Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam
• Day 7: Brussels, Belgium
• Day 8: Arc De Tromphie, Bateaux Mouches, Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, City Night Tour

• Day 9: Flying home