Frankfurt

July 17, 2024 to July 19, 2024

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17 July 2024
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Regarding bikes, we saw a lot of cyclists. Most of them were commuters, shoppers, and students, but occasionally we'd see someone with panniers. As beautiful as the region is, there were fewer than I anticipated. What I really didn't expect was the percentage of e-bikes. I'd estimate that for every non e-bike there were 200 e-bikes.

We found a place to eat at the mall across the street, and AHA!... so THAT'S why so many people have Camp David shirts. It's a brand name... duh.

The evening before Klaus left we went out to a really nice restaurant to celebrate seeing each other and his NC4K adventure.

Referring back to the Introduction of this journal:
"To me, it seems like it's a lot of 'I did this, then I did that. And here's a picture of some food.' Regardless, I hope you enjoy the ride."

Here's a picture of some food:

eggplant tartare with fennel-orange sauce, fennel green sorbet, cucumber, dill oil

Morel ravioli in morel broth, artichokes, beans, and lovage

Roasted tranche and baked praline from the Allgäu pasture, beef truffle sauce, red onion jam, summer beetroot with unstuffed goose liver and corn cream

roasted Norway lobster with macadamia, crustacean hollandaise, yuzu chutney, cauliflower served in two ways

heart cherries filled with caramelized hazelnut, Gianduja ganache, coffee ice cream, and Taunus spruce sprout sauce

This is a real cherry, but the stem is made from chocolate and the pit was replaced with a toasted hazelnut.

vanilla mousse with pistachio, raspberries, "yoghurt sorbet" and salted pistachio crumble

We were really full by the end of the meal, but not uncomfortably so.

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18 July 2024
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On Wednesday, we had two goals: finish boxing the bikes and riding the paternoster elevator. Google it, they're interesting. Unfortunately, after a hike to the Hotel Fleming, we discovered it wasn't running today. They no longer make them because of some minor mechanical problems... like one death every year prior to 2002 (that's just in Germany), and the 3000% higher risk of accidents over conventional elevators. Other than those insignificant issues, though, they're really cool.

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19 July 2024
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Thursday, our last day, we completed the final touches on boxing up the bikes, then rented scooters to look around Frankfurt.

As mentioned previously, I like looking at stickers on doors, the backs of signs, etc.

And another surprise!! My friend from Italy, Marco, whom I met in 1992, came to meet us for dinner in Frankfurt. He was in Strasbourg for work and drove 3 1/2 hours out of the way so we could visit. We had a nice dinner, and spent the evening together before he headed back to his family near Trieste the following morning.

We saw these condos on the way back to our hotel.

Apparently, Patrick O'Hara and Susanna Mulligan were in Frankfurt at the same time. We were too busy vacationing to be able to look at Cycleblaze, so I didn't find out they were there until we returned home. That's too bad; I would've enjoyed meeting other Cycleblazers.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWell here I am reading your tale considerably after the fact. Dodie must have read it long ago, since whenever I tried to give a "like" I found that "we" had already liked the thing. Here are a few comments or observations that came to my mind as I ran through this:

I could not figure how a headset could break in the way shown. Would have loved to follow the details of the repair.
How or when did the lost pannier get restored?
Why was the bike shop guy crying to you about ebikes, since you were using push bikes?
Sorry to say a lot of the food did not quite look like food to me. I would need schnitzel and fries!
Your cost came in at a level that you were happy with, but still much higher than we would spend. A lot could be in the food, where we tend to take big advantage of all you can eat breakfasts, followed by grocery stores.
We received the Mosel guide book back from you today. Actually we had not looked in the mailbox for some time, because Canada Post has been on strike. We are sorry it cost so much to mail it, no doubt it would have been cheaper for you to buy one through Amazon! Thanks for the shout outs in the blog text, though!

Best wishes for the New Year. Watch for our own next blog coming up, as we will leave for Valencia to Leipzig in February. Did you catch us spending even more than you did for two weeks last month, in Costa Rica? see shelduck@blogspot.com !
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