To wrap up Lads on Tour,™ aka the short stint with my friends around Europe, we ended up all together in Frankfurt two nights. To clarify, I didn't contribute to the destinations list because I was on board for whatever was proposed, but the reason we chose Frankfurt is because that is the most common place to fly back to the US for Zoe! As a matter of fact, a lot of people have layovers and such through Frankfurt, but many will never step outside of the airport to explore it, a shame, really.
We arrived around 10:30 to Ritter Hotel which was, unbeknownst to us upon booking, in the heart of a little clubbing and pub street. I guess we arrived at the perfect time because every single little bar was popping OFF. We found ourselves at the first bar and I got a Jaegerbomb which scared me because if I know one thing it is NOT to mix caffeine and alcohol but it actually tasted quite good and that was my first time having Red Bull I guess. The music and lights were lit, and upon Zoe’s request to check out the lit side of the bar, we did just that and let me tell you WE brought the party. The crowd was mostly soccer moms and then we showed up and my most recent dance move is like a Tik Tok kinda vibe, something along the lines of a dab. Very very fun. And we had many delicious mixed drinks there with fun themes and I got hyped up, as always, when the ReggaeTON started bumping.
We left around 1 AM to grab some stuff at the 24 hour market and then hit up one other place which was having a 90’s music night. We paid the cover to enter but didn’t get any drinks there. This was an awesome time but the crowd was a little creepier here so we watched each other’s backs. The peak was probably square dancing to Cotton Eye Joe, with all the Germans singing along, despite the fact that we were probably the only Americans in there.
The night ended, as all good nights do, at the döner shop with some delicious pommes (fries).
We hardcore slept in the next day and upon waking up and realizing I reeked of cigarette smoke (clubbing will do that to you in Europe) I showered up and we started our day around 11 AM by walking across the river to a lovely brunch spot, where once again I was #shook by the cheap prices for a full meal. For the first time on my travels, the menu had no English, indicative of how Frankfurt really ain’t an international destination. But I loved that. This was perfectly timed because I think it rained during our meal and none at all for the rest of the day.
Next we walked to Romerburg, the old town Frankfurt, which dates back to the 15th century! This was really cool to see because bombings in Berlin and other parts of Germany mean that cutesy old European buildings are few and far between. I would compare this little village to Legoland, yes, with the colorful buildings and most importantly, a Mickey Mouse playing accordion in the middle of the square. We then walked along about a mile of skyscrapers, very rare for Germany which has done it’s best to maintain a charm by avoiding tall buildings. We had no real agenda again so we messed around with the birds in the park and Zoe slid into to the DM’s (there is a DeutschMarket, similar to Walgreens, and it just says dm so we got a vid of her sliding in).
We eventually ended up at the Goethe University Frankfurt which is apparently where Born of the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation studied! Chem nerds, am I right. We took advantage of the warmth and restrooms and then continued onto the Central Park of Frankfurt, Grüneburgpark, but we had our eyes set for the TV tower which, much like the Space Needle, beckoned us to the top. Unfortunately, a long long walk in the direction and the building is surrounded by blockades and despite Google Maps saying it is open, it is NOT accessible to tourists.
So there we were about 2 miles from anything in Frankfurt and we couldn’t go to the top so we turned around and yeeted to the nearest coffee shop, which was still 20 minutes away.
We worked our way back to our hotel slowly, including crossing a lovely bridge full of locks that lovers had put on the railings.
For our last night to go to a few more bars and one more last döner. The Irish Pub I would not recommend because it was kind of lame and creepy, but Stevedoo (shoutout to my dad) was the vibe we were looking for. Finally, with a little bit of sadness realizing this was the end of Lads on Tour, I grabbed a Cafe Mate for the road at the 24 hour market. Boy will I miss those bad boys when I'm back in the states. It's literally like Yerb but carbonated and inexpensive and 0.5 liters!
If you’re thinking of visiting Frankfurt, I can tell you there is nothing too exciting beyond Romerburg area so definitely don’t stay for longer than a half-day or day. Even Germans will tell you that, although lots of Germans don’t like it because of the skyline. Regardless, it was a lovely little excursion and is worth visiting in my opinion.
We said our good byes at 5:45 AM the next morning, grabbed an 80 cent pretzel for the road, and I hopped on my first Flixbus of many, bound for Utrecht, Netherlands!
