I went to bed early this morning, it was 5:30am by the time I finished uploading my write-up for yesterday after briefly falling asleep. Mind you, I needed to get up by 8:30am to pack my things and check out of my Airbnb. I really didn’t want to take my bags with me on the Hop On Hop Off Frankfurt bus tour I had today (which I could do anytime between the hours of 10am-6pm) but I also really didn’t want to leave them anywhere and have to backtrack to go get them (especially when I saw the starter stop for the tour wasn’t too far from a tram that would take me directly to Frankfurt’s Central Station). Check-out was before 10am and I was leaving out by 9:52am.

I figured I’ll just take my things with me and have them on the bus (I’ll be sitting so I can just put them on another seat and these tours haven’t seemed to be that crowded). I took an Uber from the Airbnb to the meeting spot for the tour but had to wait until 11am for the city tour to begin (I had to wait about 40 minutes but there were benches nearby that I sat on and waited). I would have to find a good spot downstairs because I wasn’t about to carry everything all the way up those skinny steps so I positioned myself on the bottom as best as possible.

Every company does tours differently and this one was operated by Grayline. One thing I wish that they did that the other Hop On Hop Off bus did was give a better sense of direction as to if these sights are on the left, right or in front in a timely manner. Getting some photos and videos proved to be challenging but for the most part I think I captured quite a bit. While waiting for the bus to depart I began looking to see if there was somewhere nearby where I could try Apfelwein (this is the correct spelling) because afterall I love cider and it is Frankfurt’s specialty. I saw there was a place about a 7 minute walk away from the meeting spot so I decided after my bus tour, before going to the station to catch the train to Munich I would try some Apfelwein.

The bus wasn’t full for the tour and most people sat upstairs. I did my best to capture all the facts I heard and get decent photos and videos. The tour ended up lasting about an hour but here’s what I learned on the ride:

• There are 220 banks in the financial industry in Frankfurt
• 4/5 jobs are in the service industry
• West End is the most expensive area to live in in Frankfurt
• The Jewish community is one of the largest in Germany today
• Built in 1888, Frankfurt Central Station sees 350,000 passengers daily
• 1/3 of people in Frankfurt have a non German background
• Frankfurt has the largest intercity forest
• Apfelwein is exempt from tax and contain’s anywhere from 4-7% alcohol
• A German rule is every office space has to have daylight
• Frankfurt’s town hall hosts trade shows and Christmas Markets

After the tour considering that I couldn’t check in my Airbnb in Munich until after 5pm, it was currently a little after noon and it would take about 3 hours and 20 minutes on the train. This was the perfect time to go to Apfelwein Galerie and do a tasting. I made my way there on foot with all of my bags and thankfully no one else was in there so the gentleman could focus on just serving me. As he laid out the different varieties of Apfelwein he also explained a bit about each one (I really wasn’t concerned with that with all my stuff I just wanted to drink and go). Right in the middle of him pouring my tastings a big group came in and wanted some drinks to go. He asked if it was ok if he took care of them quickly and since I was trying to kill a little bit of time I allowed it.

Once done, he finished all my pours and I got a chance to taste 6 different kinds: Spritz, Pur, Natur, Speierling, Cidre and Rosé. My favorite was the Cidre which didn’t surprise me and the experience was worth it. Before leaving I noticed a small glass jar with something inside and asked what it was. He said it was an Apfelweine and Brandy shot and it’s best to take it right after tasting Apfelweine or after eating so I grabbed one to go for later. I noticed upon leaving that it seemed as though the Apfelwein Galeri was a part of a marketplace and so I asked if I could get food inside and he said yes. This was good because I could get something to eat from there and then head to the train station without having to worry to look for food. I ended up stopping at 2 stalls, one to get a spinach andd cheese flatbread and 2 some cilantro lime chicken in a yellow sauce with white rice (I made sure to ask about no nuts being in anything). I bagged my food and headed out towards Frankfurt Central Station.

I ended up having to walk a good 15 minutes to get on the tram but it ended up taking me right across the street from the station. I arrived at the station a little after 1pm and the next train to Munich would arrive at 1:54pm on Platform 7. Thankfully there were empty seats on the platform so I sat and waited. Right on time the train pulled up and I found and took a 2nd class seat and thankfully had the row to myself. My plan during the journey to Munich was to maybe watch a quick podcast and listen to music and do this write-up. Well I did listen to music and once the train got going ate half of my flatbread had something to drink and I drifted off to sleep. I woke up twice but taking a nice little train nap was needed because of course I was tired, I barely slept last night.

The 2nd time I woke up I told myself I needed to stay up so I wouldn’t miss my stop (this gave me 45 minutes so I just listened to music). I mapped out how far my Airbnb was from Munich’s Central Station and it was a good 35 minutes using public transportation. As much as I wanted to Uber just to get there I only want to get an Uber when I really need it so I endured carrying all of my bags with my on the train and then the bus. It was a good 3 block walk from the tram stop to the Airbnb but it wasn’t bad. I realized for the most part I made it through the day carrying all of my things (even though I didn’t want to). I was so happy to finally arrive at my Airbnb and I’m glad I got there when I did because it rained shortly afterwards. 

For the rest of the night I’m going to go ahead and do today’s post, eat my chicken dish, drink some of my Franconian wine from yesterday, wash up and be in the bed early-ish (hopefully going to sleep by 11pm as I have a castle tour tomorrow at 9:15am (and I’m so happy because this is the last tour where I’ll be doing a good bit of walking on my trip). Hope those that are following along are learning some things. Plus, I’ve been in Germany a week so far and my adventures will continue on for another week. After Munich though we are heading to another country.