Day 5 - Frankfurt, Germany (2011)

Today we were supposed to go visit another castle - the Hohenzollern Castle (another 3hr drive or so) - hubby's chosen attraction. Unfortunately, since it was raining early morning we had to let go of this adventure. We anticipated the drive and the scenery itself wouldn't be that wonderful in this kind of weather. Sorry hubby, will make it up to you next time.


Our hosts suggested we just visit nearby Frankfurt and explore the main city instead. It was a good alternative, we thought, so we drove off to the city. It's really not good to have GPS in the city area. Because of the volume of traffic and number of tall buildings it's somehow more confusing to use GPS as compared to having a map! We lost our travel buddies who were in another car. We tried calling them on the radio (have I mentioned we brought our walkie talkie along???) but we couldn't get through. We had to find a parking space and hope they chose the same place we did.


After parking the car (just below the Opera House), we walked out in the hopes of contacting our travelmates. Unfortunately, we still couldn't get a clear reception from them. We knew they would have parked somewhere near cause we were planning to go to the Opera House. Then we got a call from them, saying they were already parked somewhere near the place, we just couldn't pinpoint where they were actually located. To add to the confusion, it rained heavily while we were out in the park! Luckily, we found a gazebo big enough to shelter. We didn't get soaked but we were a bit wet. We stayed there for a few minutes, called our travelmates again and set up a location where we would meet.


We decided we would meet each other at the Opera House. We knew we were close by. They were sure they were nearby. Strange as it may sound, we weren't able to meet on the spot! Hubby finally gave up, and decided we just head home. What a waste of time that would have been if we hadn't found them on our way out from the parking lot. 


After finally meeting up at street level, we decided to go for lunch somewhere near. Drove pass KFC and decided to have lunch there. Then my sis-in-law, who is a great fan of Ikea, remembered seeing an Ikea shop on our way to Frankfurt. Since we didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day, and the weather was not that good to walk outdoors anyway, we drove to Ikea. They have a kids play area where we left the kids. Of course, that was heaven for them. The parents then walk around the shop (more like sat down and took and nap). After an hour, we picked up the kids and headed back home.

Hubby had a photo shoot session with the kids while the rest of the adults went out to get dinner (doner kebab!)....

Even though we weren't able to go out and explore a part of Germany today, the kids still had fun at home. And the adults had a good day's rest to prepare for another long drive tomorrow.

Day 1 - Gelnhausen, Germany
Day 2 - Legoland, Germany 
Day 3 - Heidelberg, Germany 
Day 4 - Cologne, Germany 
Day 5 - Frankfurt, Germany 
Day  6 - Luxembourg then Brussels, Belgium 
Day 7 - Day trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Day 8 - Brussels, Belgium 
Day 9 - Brugge, Belgium 
Day 10 - Paris, France 
Day 11 - Paris, France 
Day 12 - Paris, France 
Day 13 - Versailles, France 
Day 14 - Disneyland Paris, France 
Day 15 - La Vallee Village, France (outlet shops) then to hotel south of Lake Geneva 
Day 16 - Montreux, Switzerland 

Day 17 - Geneva / Lausanne / Bern / Thun, Switzerland
Day 18 - Interlaken, Switzerland (Jungfrau - top of Europe) 
Day 19 - Luzern / Zurich, Switzerland on the way to Sulz-Glatt, Germany 
Day 20 - Black Forest day trip