Traveling in the Time of COVID – Europe 2021

Germany

Luckily, no issues going through Customs since we had filled out the proper documentation and were fully vaccinated. The PCR results were in by Tuesday morning, but they did not check the results, just our vaccination cards and the locator form.

After a few bad stops and starts with the Frankfurt light rail (which is very efficient, many lines with lots of stations – just a little confusing at first) we made it to the A&O Hostels Frankfurt. Another score – they let us check in early. The room was small, with two twin beds pushed together, en suite, on the 7^th floor – with no air conditioning. It took us awhile to figure out the window – it tilted out from the top. With little sleep on the plane, we crashed for about 2 hours, getting in a good nap and showers before going in search of linner. We bought a train day pass (which would have saved us about 6E if we’d done so at the airport), so we could ride the entire day for 11.5E. We happened across a nice pedestrian street, paved with bricks and lined with many shops and cafés. We settled on Monchi’s since they looked nice and had lunch specials posted. John had one – a bowl with what we think was lamb balls, rice and vegetables, I had the Beyond Burger (which the waitress referred to as a “bio” burger) that came with sweet potato fries. We wandered for a while longer, heading to the Main River (that is the name of it – the Main) and walked along the banks until we came to the Eiserner Steg- the iron footbridge that crosses the river, where lovers place their locks amongst the iron railings. 

Then we crossed back into town, finding the main tourist area with quintessentially German architecture. I was fading again, so we returned to the hotel for another nap before checking out Frankfurt at night. We explored further out via the train, and caught the river at sunset.

We wanted to find a pub, John wanted a “snack” and I just wanted a good German beer, and we ended up at “Hanz and Franz” – run by an Iranian family.  They sold doner sandwiches and a decent selection of bottled beer, and sat outside, watching other tourists get ice cream from next door. At 8:30PM, they were about to close up. We made it an early night, and found 2 English channels – Bloomberg and CNN. With window open, the room cooled down well overnight, but there was constant noise from the light rail station next door and the occasional ambulance. 

We took the 10AM train to Koblenz, a town highly recommended by European friends (Liam and Alan – who you may remember from the around the world blog). There were no readily available ubers or taxis, so we dragged our luggage the just shy of 1 mile to the area of our “apartment hotel” which worked like an Air BNB – we would get our code at 3PM, and had arrived just before one. We found a sushi restaurant with big tables, so enjoyed a meal, I discovered a lovely wine called a Grauburgunder (light, with citrus flavors similar to ones you’d taste in a chenin blanc). 

We attempted to contact the host, with little luck. As of 3:10 – no code. So John went to “ring some bells”. The gentlemen who ran the cell phone shop next door helped and called the three numbers we had for the host and finally got through. Let me describe the “apartment” as I plan to leave in a review – if ever given the opportunity. “Dear Host, the apartment was clean, and in the central city. All of its charms ended there. The 5^th floor walk-up gave us wonderful views of the neighbors’ slate roofs. It would have been nice to be informed that you hold to the philosophy that no more than 4 sheets of toilet paper should be used at any time, although the fact you only left us 1/3 of a roll with no spare should have been a clue. The flat screen TV with the roving phrase of “no signal” in German made for interesting artwork, although a bit pedantic. I would recommend that you not hire the individual that installed the shower in the future, since although renovations appear new, the shower pan was already cracked and leaked water all over the floor. This may eventually become a problem for your downstairs neighbors, not to mention your subfloor. We also thought that wifi was included, but could not find a router, and instructions could not be found. Your neighbors are obviously night people, since we heard everything from down stairs and from the street the entire night. As to décor, a chair would be nice.”

Suffice to say, we got our exercise in Koblenz! Our friends are correct, it is a beautiful town, where the Mozel meets the Rhein. The old town is walkable, and many streets only allow delivery vehicles. Café’s abound. One general observation on the taste of the Germans – we think of them as loving beer and brats, in reality, they love gelato – there were more gelato shops than bars. We were extremely lucky in the weather department, the days stayed clear. On Wednesday we rode the cable car to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The fort is now a museum, with current exhibits on wine, brandy, robbers, asparagus and of course – fort history. 

Rain was predicted for all day Thursday, but it held off and, although cloudy, we took a one-hour river tour. The tour was in German and English. The German explanation would go on for about 3 minutes, then about 30 seconds in English, often coming long after we’d passed the object/ building/landmark of interest.

In the evening, we lucked out to a free string quartet concert in the courtyard by the Academy while sipping wine at a café. I laughed when I recognized the Game of Thrones Theme as their first number. As is typical for us, we ordered our second drink, and the concert finished. After a brief respite in the room, we ventured forth again and settled at a tapas restaurant for sangria and we thought would be light snacks – the cheese was excellent, the calamari thicker than I’m accustomed to seeing in the US and resembled onion rings. We were entertained by a group of gentlemen at a nearby table who were definitely enjoying their night – we could not understand the words, but that kind of “bro camaraderie” is universal as we watched them leave, holding each other up as they walk/staggered into the night. 

Next stop – Belgium!