May 13th-14th, Arriving in Frankfurt

 Monday
 Zurich gave us picture-perfect aerial views coming in. Beautiful green farm fields, tidy alpine villages, snowy mountains in the distance.  We made a mad dash to catch our connecting flight & just made it, but of course our bags did not.  We weren’t concerned since they were just late, not lost, but it made for a long day at the airport waiting for them to arrive on two separate flights. We got everything together around 5pm & picked up an easy train ride through the woodsy countryside to the main station in Frankfurt.
    The travel agency for the bus was right there, so we were able to get our tickets to Prague on Thursday no problem. Our little hotel was just down the block as well.
    The hotel proved to be a great choice. It was clean & secure, utilitarian rooms, but perfectly comfortable with a great hot shower. Breakfast is included. All at a very reasonable price, we’re all set.
    We headed out for our first German beer! Passed up a nice looking Irish sports bar/ pub for a little hole in the wall beer joint own by an Argentinean. Still, the pilsner was German & delicious. We had a no-fuss dinner at an Arabic chicken stand across the street, then one more beer at a bistro near the hotel. It’s frustrating not to know the languages around us. We were ready to hit the sack when we got back to our room.

Tuesday
The next morning, a nice high cholesterol breakfast was available in the very pleasant little dining room. We’ll have to try to be careful, but today we have baloney sandwiches. We have some chores to do, setting up our expenses and getting our next lodgings figured out. We’ll get out for a little touring this afternoon. It’s a tough cool & cloudy, but pleasant enough weather here.
    Four hours later, we’re closing in on our reservations in Prague.  We aren’t finding anything available for the whole time we need, so we’ll book a hotel four 4 nights, then take an apartment for the next week.
    At last, we get out for a little city walk. We head towards the museum district, then along a very nice riverwalk park on the Main River. The pedestrian bridge is filled with padlocks hanging on the railings, some sort of tradition, locking your hearts on the bridge or such. We’re looking for the Apfel Wein district, a neighborhood known for the apple wine of the region, traditionally filled with beergardens & pubs. We find the pedestrian area, full of bars and bistros and nightclubs, obviously a hot spot, but not much action going on today. We visit a famous attractions, a statue of a stocky, grim faced peasant woman that spits out a spray of water on unsuspecting passers-by, although since it’s so famous, how unsuspecting could you be?
    We walk a little further through the attractive residential neighborhoods, looking for a particularly traditional restaurant. The shops & bistros become more upscale as we go, arriving at a tree-covered avenue filled with sidewalk tables. Our destination is Zum Gemalter Haus, an authentic Apfelwein & sausage beergarden. The place is just gorgeous, muraled walls, open courtyard, tables full of Germans with big crockery pitchers of wine. It’s pretty smoky, so we take a table in front on the street.  We get our wine, bright and tangy. For dinner I have black sausage & liver sausage, Bob gets a gigantic ham hock, all on a bed of fresh, sweet sauerkraut with hearty brown bread. It’s unbelievably delicious, and only about $25 for it all.
    We walk back as the sun starts to fade. As we get to the river, we see a parade of police motorcycles escorting a throng of in-line skaters, hundreds of people out for their exercise on a route through the city. So cool! We stop for a nightcap at a little bar near our hotel, with the soccer match on the tv and a gruff-looking man working 3 slot machines in the corner. Our cognacs are pretty tasty.