Well, needless to say this Europe trip got off to a little bit of a rough start. Smooth sailing from Norfolk, VA to Charlotte, NC. But as we boarded the plane at Charlotte we were forced to wait on the tarmac for about 2 hours while they were fixing an exit light. An exit light was holding up Europe Trip III, oh hell no! Needless to say they finally got that fixed and we were in the air, only to be greeted by the 4 sons of the Apocalypse (screaming, crying kids with Mohawks 3 rows up that were in desperated need of an exorcism). Luck changed though as we ended up with the only empty seat in our row so Cierra was able to move to an aisle seat for her many trips to the bathroom! Landing safely in Frankfurt we hit the streets running, jumped in a cab, checked into our hotel, and wasted no time as we started sightseeing. Taking in the beautiful flowers at the Palms Garten, we were amazed at the many rows of colors and species that would have even made Thomas Jefferson blush a rosy red. A short breakfast and cup of coffee was nice (although we wre attacked by bees during the entire meal). After a few more stops we headed back to the hotel to catch up on a few hours sleep (6 hour time difference over here). Waking up we headed back out again and stumbled upon Romer Platz and a cultural festival down by the Rhine River. Magically when in Europe we’ve found that if you just keep waalking you’ll eventually run into something spellbinding. It was no exception today as we found a cute little square, some old homes, St. Paul’s Church, a bridge that U.S. soldiers crossed in 1945, and all that was left from the Allied Bombings of WWII. It was amazing to see a different side of Europe, old buildings and ashes that had been swept away only to be replaced with skyscrapers, hot dog stands, and billboards for cell phones and iPods. Sharing a few frankfurters (of course) we people watched as we always do and took in a few African Drum Players, a weird looking cupid fairy lady, and a few local musicians looking to make an extra Euro from those on a late night stroll. It was heavenly delight to take the first sip of a German Hefeweizen (Schoeffenhoffer), the first beer in over three months, mmmm! Yeah, I remember my first beer! After dinner we took a stroll through the square and down by the waterside eventually hailing a cab and finding our way back to the hotel, sort of. The cab dropped us off in the wrong spot, but we eventually found our way back, proving that all you need is a map, a sense of humor, and a great deal of patience to have fun and find your way around in Europe. Tomorrow, we are up early and off to the train station, where we will be traveling through Munich, Germany, Innsbruck, Austria, and finally on to our final destination of Bolzan/Merrano, Italy. Until we can post again, guten nacht and until domani, arrevaderci! p.s. sorry for any spelling, gram mistakes above, no time to check, only 30 secs. left on this machine! 🙂