Sunday/Monday 16-17 June 2014 Sydney to Frankfurt via Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

Frankfurt 22C Cloudy

We flew out of Sydney on a Vietnam Airlines Airbus A330. Loved the 1st leg to Ho Chi Minh City. On arrival we were met, and taken to a Hotel in the centre of town to relax. It was just enough time to take a short walk down town, have a shower and freshen up before being taken back to the airport for our onward flight to Frankfurt. The 2nd half was on a Boeing 777 - a bit older and tired, one of our seats and the audio unit was broken, but service and everything else excellent.

With the 6 hour stopover, it took 27 hours to arrive at 5:30 a.m. in Frankfurt. Everything went smoothly on arrival. By 7:00 a.m., we had exited the airport, caught a train into Frankfurt, got lost and checked into our hotel.

Shortly after, we went out in in search of a coffee before our 3 ½ hr walking tour later in the morning. It seems UHT milk is the milk of choice for coffee here. It does not deliver quite the same taste as expected.

We met our English guide Ann and 12 other hardy souls and set off to see "Frankfurt on foot”. Ann is an excellent tour guide, knowledgeable and entertaining. We began at the Romerberg which is the square which was originally an inlet on the Main River (pronounced Mine) and eventually became the original centre of Frankfurt. On the square, there is a beautiful old town hall where we watched brides and their bridal parties coming and going as they were married.

The square is unique with its distinctive architecture of the 15th to 18th century buildings – however all recently rebuilt since the destruction of all the buildings in during WWII. There are only a handful of buildings that remain as most of Frankfurt was flattened in 1944.

From the Romerberg we went to the Dom – a beautiful church where we hope to climb the tower tomorrow as the views are reportedly spectacular from the top. We went to see the Cloisters, Opera House, Borse (stock exchange building), the city ring gardens, Jewish Quarter and Paulskirch. Ann also pointed out the shopping areas, streets for eating, markets (Kleinmarkt halle a fabulous market full of fresh fruit & vegetables, sausages, cheese shops and butchers – we must re-visit) and department stores. Frankfurt is very flat and easy to get around with the city centre quite compact.

In the evening, we crossed the river to Sachsenhausen to have dinner at a traditional and locally famous cider tavern (Fichte Kranzi). Started with the Handkase mit Musik, Brot und Butter which is two slices of bread and butter with another plate containing a large slice of hand cheese covered in finely chopped raw onions and vinegar. (According to the waiter, "The Musik" is due to arrive tomorrow morning....) For main, we shared a Frankfurter Schnitzel mit Gruner sauce und Bratkartoffeln. The green sauce is locally famous and delicious, a mix of 8 herbs blended and mixed with yogurt. A couple of glasses of cider rounded out the evening and we headed back to the hotel.

About the same time, Germany won its first game of the World Cup against Portugal in Brazil and the local Germans began celebrating with their car horns and much music. Apparently, they are quite fond of their football here. Quite loud, but didn't keep us awake for long....