Monday's Meowment: Open Window Season

 

Pros and Cons of Living in Frankfurt, Germany

In anticipation of our impending move (and soon bid season for others), I'm doing a little 'pay it forward' to other bidders out there by describing some pros and cons of our post. I'll keep it with five of each (like I did previously with our other posts, Doha, Suva, and Tbilisi). So without further ado, here are some pros and cons for Frankfurt.

Pros:

1. Trains/Public Transportation. The train system within all of Europe is impressive. We traveled around Germany, or to another countries like Austria, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and France. For a train trip under 7 hours the travel time was about the same as flying. We just caught the bus to the main Hauptbahnhof (train station), grabbed a snack, found our platform, hopped on the train, relaxed and enjoyed the scenery, and arrived in the center of the destination city. Flying would require getting to the airport early to get through security, the flight time, and airports are typically outside of the downtown/main tourist areas, so you would have to Uber in. 

Within the city of Frankfurt, the RMV runs buses and U-bahn/S-bahn trains. Richard got a job ticket to get to work (5 stops). We purchase May a student ticket (365€ for unlimited trips during 12 months, so 1€ a day). That was the best purchase ever! May could stay late at school for a number of things, then hop on the train for 18 stops and be home (the handful of times I took the train to M's school, my ticket was about 10€ for the day ticket). We were 4 train stops from the main downtown shopping/tourist area, the kids would hop on the train to go get Boba Tea....because it was so easy! There are also lots of cyclist in German. Bike lanes for commuters and spots of on the bus/train for cyclist to ride between stops (just be careful with making turns when driving as cyclist have the right of way). 

2. Travel within Schengen Area. Germany is one of 29 countries that are part of the Schengen area, which makes travel to nearby countries super easy whether traveling by car, train, or plane! For car and train travel, moving between countries was like crossing a state border in the U.S. Typically, there was a sign announcing you were in the new country (below is entering Germany from Poland) and the language on road signs changed (and we would have to switch our cell phones over to the international plan). With air travel, you typically did not have to go through passport control and could go straight to the gate or baggage claim (again like traveling around the U.S. versus leaving the country).

3. Autobahn. I'm starting to see a lot of travel related pros....lol. So wikipedia's definition of the autobahn states "much of the system has no speed limit for some classes of vehicles. However, limits are posted and enforced in areas that are urbanized, substandard, accident-prone, or under construction." So for most of our day to day travel within the city we had a speed limit of 100 or 120 kph (62 to 75 mph). Once we got outside the urban areas, we saw the Ende aller Streckenverbote (limits no longer apply) sign and could just go and not worry about the speed limit. We weren't too crazy with our driving (around 130-140 kph) and we would be passed by like a bump on a log! We did have to be careful as there would be random speed zones (typically with ticket cameras) around an exit, valley, etc. 

4. Castles (and other historical sites). There are estimated 25,000 castles in Germany. Ranging from renovated and preserved museum like castles to piles of ruins you see on a hillside as you drive down the autobahn. We probably made it to more than 5 but less than 10 castles (it does get a little repetitive, climb to the top of a tall hill, admire the view, looking at cold stony rooms, marvel at ancient toilets, and be thankful to return home). If Clarissa was younger (while in princess mode), we may have made a bigger effort to tour more castles. There are also pre World Wars and World War II historical sites, an old country has lots of old buildings. Some of those historical buildings are churches, I think the most impressive one we saw was the Kölner Dom - the tallest church in Germany (more coming on that soon).

5. Beer/Festival Drinks. So at restaurants you always have to purchase your drinks (even water). I'm a big still water drinker...which typically makes me a cheap date. But in Germany, beer is cheaper than the water (so Richard is the cheap date...lol). The beer tastes consistent where ever you drink it (there are a lot of German regulations, so there is not a lot of room to make craft beers with unique flavors). 

Certainly you have heard about Oktoberfest (the world's largest beer festival takes place here in Germany). That runs from mid September to early October. Beer, beer, and more beer (and lots of sausage). After that starts Christmas markets from late November to early January (varies from city to city) with the Glühwein, potato pancakes, chocolate covered fruit, Christmas trinkets, etc. In January and February starts Carnival/Fasching season, late summer is Apfelwein festival....you get the idea. Just last weekend, we headed downtown and happened upon a festival. 

Cons:

1. Strikes. There are strikes pretty frequently. The airlines and airport staff were striking so frequent, we sometimes flew other airlines to just avoid the strike issue and we had one trip completely cancelled due to flight cancellations due to strikes! The public transportation regularly strikes, they would alternate between bus lines and U-bahn/S-bahn lines (so you could get to work, but it might take an extra hour or two). For a few weeks last fall, the farmers were striking. They took their tractors to the roads and stopped traffic (Clarissa was two hours late to school because the bus got caught in the strike). A "nice" thing is you typically got warning a day or two before the strike so you could try and avoid an area or plan to take alternate transportation. 

2. Lack of Air Conditioning. For the most part, the majority of the year is cool or mild temperatures. Though there a few months where the temperatures get dangerously hot (thanks global warming). Summer temperatures started between June and July and would last into September. There are portable/free standing air conditioning units that are provided. We received two, so we put one in the main bedroom and one in the main living area. Outside of those areas it would be very muggy. One year, even with blinds closed and the AC running non stop, I could not get the temperature lower than 80 degrees. As someone who works from home, that was pretty miserable! (not to mention the sound of a portable AC is horrible loud, I'd have to turn off for calls or in the evenings if we wanted to hear the TV!). Here's the two units sitting in our basement....they take about a pallet of space....imagine squeezing that into a bedroom or living area! They are so energy inefficient, the big hose attaches from the unit to a bag, attached with velcro, in an open window.

It is not just the housing's lack of AC, many hotels also do not have AC or it runs non-stop and barely works. Lots of sweating going on for a few months out of the year.

3. Hard Water Causing Hair/Skin Problems. The water in certain regions of Germany (including Frankfurt) is very hard, meaning it is full of limestone from the environment. While it is safe to drink, we used a Brita filter and had to change the filter monthly (versus the three months the packaging said it would last) as it filled up with limescale deposits. We also installed filters on both showerheads as it was wrecking havoc on the skin and hair of some people in the family. Every time we returned home from a trip, we would have to run all the faucets for a few minutes as the sitting water turned lovely shades of yellow and brown. 

4. Exchange Rates/Gas Prices. Petrol prices have ranged from €1.75 to €2.09 per liter recently. So if about 4 liters is a gallon and converted to USD (about 1€=$1.10 USD)....it is about $7.50 a gallon. Oof! We were lucky in that we had credentials to be able to purchase gas on U.S. military bases/or at a particular local station duty free, but you have to plan trips out. 

This was also the first post where the exchange rate was not in our favor, so our dollars did not go as far. Fresh vegetables were not too pricey locally, but anything imported was pricey! After being without some conveniences of the U.S. the past 3 posts, we did take advantage and shopped on base a few times a month. 

5. Housing. European housing is notoriously small. So we definitely expected to downsize here (which we did) and we can't really complain as housing is a nice job perk. The building we were living in was built with rubble from WW2 in the 1950s....so it has the feel of your grandparents house with all the fun of 70 year old housing. Our kitchen sink regularly backs up and facilities determined the only fix was ripping out the cabinets to replace the drain pipes.....we opted to live with it and add drain cleaner every couple months (the next family to move in here will likely have a recently remodeled kitchen....lol). The kid's bathroom regularly got a funky smell (even worse when we had been traveling). Prior to packout, we had to stow all our luggage/stuff that doesn't get packed for the ship. The only option we had was our bathroom (and the movers will have to use the other one bathroom....lol).

Day Trip to Luxembourg

From Trier, Germany, we took a day trip to Luxembourg. It was short 40 minute drive to the American Cemetery (and then 10 minutes further to Luxembourg city).

There are 26 American military cemeteries around the world. On December 29, 1944, the Luxembourg cemetery was established, initially temporarily, to bury the casualties of the Battle of the Bulge. By the end of 1946, there were 8,412 soldiers buried here and it become a permanent cemetery. 

Monuments around the cemetery. There are two Walls of the Missing. Per the information at the visitor center, 23 missing service members have been found and their names have a bronze rosette by their name.

I had the kids look closely at the battle map showing the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland Campaign. We could see where were standing (the gold cross), and the cities that both kids schools are in (Oberursel and Wiesbaden) to the far right. It was so quiet and peaceful it was hard to image what it was like 80 years earlier.

There is only one woman buried in the cemetery, Nancy Leo was a nurse killed in a car accident. Other than a Cross versus the Star of David, the only grave marker that was different than the rest. General Patton was at the front of the cemetery with dark lettering facing his troops.

After spending time at the cemetery we drove a little further into Luxembourg city. Luxembourg is the seventh smallest country in Europe. The country is about 998 square miles and the capital, Luxembourg city takes up 132 square miles (about 13% of the country). If you recall, Luxembourg houses the judicial offices of the European Union. The landscape is large hills and small mountains.

We opted to do an hop on/off bus tour to see as much of the city in the 1/2 day we had left. We spotted the Spuerkeess Clock Tower and 19 Liberté Building (which I think houses a bank, there is a very big financial industry there).

We had lunch at a big mall in the main financial district and then headed over to the Bock Casemates which are a vast complex of underground tunnels that started as a castle in 996, became a fortification built into a rocky cliff wall in the mid 18th century, and were used as WWII bomb shelters.

Unfortunately, the Bock Casemates were closed and we couldn't walk through the tunnels. We hiked up the trail to the top and saw the remains of a tower. We also saw a modern arched bridge and narrow roads.

After hiking up the cliff, we hopped in the car and started to head back to Trier. We found a castle en route to Trier that we stopped at. We couldn't go in the castle (looks like events only), but we were able to roam the grounds. 

Grand-Château d'Ansembourg, also known as the New Castle of Ansembourg, is one of the castles in area called the Valley of the Seven Castles in Luxembourg. For a new castle it still has a lot of old looking sections.

I nickname these the annoyed teen girl statues.....eye roll and a girl asked to do a chore....lol.

The first time I recall seeing a male statue holding a child, how progressive.

Lots of beautiful roses in the gardens (we could hear yard work being done, but did not run into anyone).

Cool old stone shed with an archway to another garden.

More roses growing on walls, and gooseberries growing on a vine.

Cool entry to a secret passage within the hedges (the temperature was much cooler inside but it was full of annoying little bugs attacking you).

A arched doorway on our way out and a stone bridge going over a small stream.

After walking the grounds, we headed back to Trier, Germany, for the night. We drove home the next day.

Long Weekend in Trier, Germany

Trier, Germany, is about a 2.5 hours from Frankfurt. So when we had another long weekend in May....we took another weekend trip. Trier has the distinction of being the oldest city in Germany. Trier was also inhabited by the Roman Empire during the first century (and was used as one of the Roman Empire capitals).

Trier sits on the Moselle River valley and is a highlight stop for the "old people river cruises" (as described by Clarissa when we saw a boat dock and unload....lol.

We stayed near the river and saw lots of cute houses and restaurants.

Our first destination was Porta Nigra (Black Gate), which is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps!

As you can see, the gate was undergoing some renovations so we could not go up in the gate but we could still admire its size and great condition.

We headed into the city center by passing some fun lego brick traffic barriers.

We wandered around the town square before heading to the High Cathedral of St. Peter in Trier, the oldest episcopal church in Germany (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Construction is said to have started around the 330s and has been rebuilt and added onto since. So it contains a multitude of architectural styles.

The church is said to house the Seamless Robe of Jesus, but if you remember from when we visited Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Georgia , they claim to house the shroud also. Regardless, there was a sanctuary chamber that houses a robe. It was crowed and the glass not easily seen through, but it was very ornately decorated and you could climb up some stairs to visit.

Outside from a courtyard the different architectural styles are much more noticeable. 

Very pretty church organ pipes - I don't think I've ever seen a floral pattern before.

After the church, we meandered around the city on our way to the Roman baths (Kaiserthermen in German, also called the Trier Imperial Baths). 

Until we found the gate in the city wall.

This, now grass filled, area was the piscina (semi-circular heated pool).

Part of the Alderburg Castle - built onto the baths in the 12th century.

Before getting covered up for the castle, this semi-circular area was piscina II - another heated bath. 

The kids resting in the porticus - a large open square.  

I think the most interesting thing, was from this view point on the city wall, there was an artist rendition of what it looked like back in the day. The thing that was hard to visualize was this whole area was covered with a roof (which makes winter bathing much more believable). (Yes, all the people figurines are enjoying the baths nude).

I think the neatest part was being able to explore the service passages underneath all the baths. The staff would be able to access the numerous furnace chambers that warmed the floors and the baths.

We wandered around the passageways for a while. It was so fun to just to wander the imperial bath ruins by ourselves, we could touch walls that have seen so much! Any ruins we've seen in Italy is much more guarded and restricted.

After leaving the Roman baths, we refilled our water bottles (it was a warm day) and rested. We found some gelato on our way over to the Moselle River. They had the cutest lights and a fun twist to the statue on the wall.

We found the Roman Bridge. An old wooden bridge was built to cross the river in 18/17 B.C. In 45 A.D. a stone bridge was built down river a bit from the current location. The pillars for the current bridge were built in 150 A.D.

We kept walking along the river to two old treadwheel cranes. From the bridge we first happened on the "Old Crane" (Alte Krahnen) that was built around 1413. 

We walked a 130 feet and happened up on "Younger Moselle Crane" (Krahnen) built in 1774.

The new crane was operational until 1910 and the old crane was renovated and is still operational. Only problem is due to river having catchments installed to supply cities with water, the water level is no longer high enough to allow usage of the cranes.

On the opposite river bank, St Mary’s Column sitting atop the Pulsberg mountain. 

The next day, we drove over to Luxembourg which is less than an hour away from Trier.....(stay tuned!). The following we day, we headed back to Frankfurt.