The Best of the Wurst

On October 19, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes9 Comments

Most everyone knows that there are a lot of different sausages in Germany, including the one most commonly known in the United States, Bratwurst. We have had the opportunity to try several varieties of wursts and most have been extremely good. They are often, but not always, served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes or on a bun with mustard.

Rindwurst – Beef Sausage with Potato Salad

We have seen many people eating Frankfurt’s gift to the world, the frankfurter, but we have yet to try the local version for ourselves. Perhaps it is because, once we moved into our apartment, we now consider ourselves to be Frankfurters 😀. In addition to trying the various sausages, we have also had a couple different versions of schnitzel. They also have been very delicious, however neither of these German staples are very health conscious.

We look forward to trying some of these same dishes in some of the smaller hamlets to see how they vary throughout the different regions of Germany, but we will need to do a lot of walking to justify eating that much rich food. As for our favorite meal so far, we will have to say that they were each good in their own way and perhaps the quintessential experience is yet to be had. Obviously there is a wide variety of food in Frankfurt and we have eaten many different styles of food since we have arrived, but we’ll share some of those meals later.

Getting Settled in Germany

On October 17, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany6 Comments

It took a couple of weeks of looking, but we have finally found a flat in Frankfurt and life is starting to settle into some sort of routine. We have had plenty to get adjusted to during our first few weeks living in a different country, but we will share more on that later. We have said before that we will be back onto a more normal schedule sharing information, but now we should really be able to do that. We have always lived in the suburbs, outside of the central city, so deciding to live downtown has been an adjustment, but one that we have enjoyed. Work is a ten minute train ride, but another twenty minutes walking to and from the underground station. We have markets, restaurants, specialty shops, and everything in between all within a few minutes walking from our apartment.

Out of the Front Balcony (We have one front and back)

We looked at many different places, but in the end we feel that we were pretty lucky to find the place that we found in the location that we wanted with many amenities that we did not find in the other apartments that we looked at. We have done a lot of walking since we arrived and the walk to our third floor apartment (that is the fourth floor to us Americans) can be tiring at times. We enjoyed our first excursion out of the city over the weekend, which we will also share later this week, but the train system is easy to use, easy to understand, and definitely a great way to visit the surrounding countries and cities.

It has been a hectic couple of weeks, but life is starting to settle into a sense of normalcy. We are just now planning next weekend’s excursion, so we will see where our next adventure will take us. For now, it is figuring out how to communicate with our local neighbors, getting accustomed to city life, and stocking our apartment with the essentials as well as those things that will make it seem our own. We haven’t rented a place in over twenty-five years, so this is definitely an adjustment, but one that we will overcome with a smile, a nod, and a wink.

First Impressions are not Always Accurate

On October 8, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany15 Comments

When we first arrived here in Frankfurt and took a taxi to our hotel, we weren’t sure what to expect of our stay here. First of all, living in Colorado, we are used to over 300 days of sunshine per year. When it rains, it is an afternoon thunderstorm, sometimes with hail, but then the sun comes back out. We didn’t see the sun for our first 48 hours in our new city. As we were flying in, we saw lovely little hamlets with old homes and gorgeous churches, but when we awoke from a night of sleep after a long day travelling, we were greeted with bleak buildings, an American style mall, and a large convention center just outside of our window.

Another View from the Front of the Hotel

We are now a week into our new adventure and have obviously found parts of Frankfurt to be charming, although busy, and with the old-world charm that we were hoping to find. Certainly it is a modern city and was badly damaged during the end of WWII, so it isn’t surprising that many of the historical buildings have been destroyed and replaced with modern buildings. In the end, what you get a juxtaposition between new and old, which is to be expected. There are some cities that have doggedly held on to the historical sections of the city and others where the sands of time have transformed them into an interesting blend of new and old.

There is a Wonderful French Bistro in this Building

Now that we have narrowed our search for an apartment and hope to have found one by end of day on Monday. This has given us the chance to see some of the different areas of Frankfurt and we have decided to get an apartment in the Innenstadt (Downtown) and within a few minutes walking distance to the Altstadt (Old Town). We love the idea of being able to have a short walk to all of the shopping, restaurants, and street cafes. We are still getting used to days without sun, but the warmth and friendliness of the people more than makes up for the somewhat dreary atmosphere. Wish us luck on our apartment search and hopefully our next post will find us having found a place to call our home.