Chris in Frankfurt

Back in October, my brother Chris had a conference to go to in Cape Town, South Africa. While booking his flights he found that he was able to get quite a long layover on a Saturday in Frankfurt (something like 9 hours), and asked if there was any chance that we'd be able to meet him there. I had a meeting in Paris the Thursday before, so decided to take Friday off and stay over Thursday through Sunday with our friends Jenny and Leo in Frankfurt. Jeremi also took the Friday off, and met me in Frankfurt that Friday. We didn't actually get any pictures of Jenny and Leo and their two girls, but we had a relaxing time with them as well.

On the Saturday, my brother's flight was arriving around noon. We took the train out to the airport, and waited at the door where we hoped he'd be exiting. Of course, he was leaving his luggage checked through to South Africa, so he didn't actually have to pass by the luggage carousel, but he was clever enough to realize that it was most likely where we'd be waiting.

When he arrived, at around noon German time, 6 am Toronto time, after having slept so thoroughly on the plane that he'd missed breakfast altogether, we handed him a beer. As drinking in unlicensed public places (like in airports outside of restaurants, on public transportation, and while walking down the street) is illegal in Canada, I still find it feels like I'm breaking some sort of rule if I drink in public here, and I knew my brother would feel the same. And so we walked down to the train station, beers in hand, and fought the urge to hide our beers every time we passed by some cops. (Jeremi doesn't have such a problem adapting to the German way of doing things, but both my brother and I were giggling nervously the whole time.)
After taking the train to the central station, we got tickets for the Eppelwei Express, an old tram that's been restored with wooden interiors, and which makes a tour through downtown Frankfurt while playing music and serving a traditional sort of cider-like apple beverage with pretzels. I thought it might be a good way to see the city with him, but had thought it was a hop-on, hop-off sort of deal, which wasn't the case. All the same, we decided to get on the tram right away, rather than getting my poor brother something to eat first.
The first train that came was also really full, so we didn't get seats at first, but had to stand at the back, by the cases of drinks. Still, it was a nice chance to have a drink and get an overview of the city. Naturally, after a couple of drinks, we really had to go to the bathroom, but there was a 5 minute stop as the train made a loop at one point, so my brother and I were able to run into a cafe, and he was able to get a coffee to go, as he was suffering rather severely from jetlag.

When he came back from the cafe he commented that he was feeling a bit light-headed in the bathroom, and I said it was probably because he'd had a few drinks at this point on a completely empty stomach, and his brain thought it was around 8:00 am. It was only then that my brother realized that the cider-like beverage (the Eppelwei) was alcoholic. We all found this incredibly funny, which may or may not have had something to do with the next Eppelwei that we drank.
Eventually we decided to get him something to eat, and stopped at the historic central square of Frankfurt, where the Römer (well-restored historical merchants' houses) are located. Here we had a few more drinks and some sausages and snacks, before bringing my brother back to the airport to continue his journey.
It was a great chance to see him, and we were able to pick up a whole load of Halloween decorations that he brought us from Canada (thanks, mom and Karen!), as well as a few contraband honeycrisp apples that were so, so delicious.