The bus ride from Stoughton High School to O'Hare airport went very quickly. We discussed some business, like the assignments the students have to do in Germany. They also received their Eurail passes for the trains and their first €20 for meals on day 1 in Frankfurt.
Mr. Harried and 19 GAPP students on the bus to the O'Hare airport on Tuesday.
Our flight arrived around 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning in Frankfurt, which is 12:00 a.m. Wisconsin time. Our seats on the airplane were the last few rows in the back. I sat by May and Jake. It was Jake and Courtney's first time flying, and they were both very brave. None of us slept very well, probably because it was only evening, and we were all excited. Lufthansa served us a choice of vegetarian spicy vegetables with rice or chicken and gravy. Breakfast was a roll, cheese, and fruit. The food was pretty good to much of our surprise. They also served coffee and tea, and passed out steamy clothes for cleaning our hands and face before meals. There were two movies, but I tried to sleep, so I didn't get to catch which ones they played.
When we exited the plane in Frankfurt and everyone was pretty tired, it was about midnight Wisconsin time, but already 7:00 in the morning in Germany. We took a bathroom break before heading to customs. I thought that customs would be much more of an ordeal, but we just had to show our passports. Once we reached the luggage carousel, we realized that Jake's luggage did not show up! Luckily Lufthansa was very accommodating and sent the bag to our hostel that evening.
I showed the students which signs showed the different kinds of transportation, like bus, train or local trains. We also checked out the schedules and bought group tickets for local transportation. We got on the S-Bahn number 9. Maneuvering 21 pieces of luggage on the commuter train was a bit of a challenge. We had to learn how to organized luggage to make space for others getting on and off the train. We also had to watch for our stop and be ready to get out so that no one was left on the train. It was a success, and we all exited at Konstablerwache. From there it was not difficult to find our hostel.
Ellyn and Mr. Harried check out the train schedules.
Taylor, Jordayn, Kathryn, Zach and others waiting for our S-Bahn to Konstablerwache.
While some students waited at some benches under the trees of the Zeil (the main shopping street) with all of the luggage, others went to the bank to withdraw money or get a snack at McDonald's. I was surprised that students were that excited to eat German McDonald's :-). While I was talking to the group, Dave, our tour guide, happened to be walking by and thought we might be the group from Stoughton. He gave us a tip on which bus to take towards the youth hostel.So, we dragged our luggage across the cobblestone Market Square near Konstablerwache and boarded the bus... also an ordeal getting 21 people and all of their luggage aboard! We got off at the closest stop and dragged our luggage over more cobblestone streets. At this point many of us were wondering how much further it would be, but we were at the hostel within 5 minutes. At the hostel, Haus der Jugend, we were given a room to keep our luggage in until check in at 1 p.m. At 10:30 a.m.(Frankfurt time) I gave the first family a call to start the phone tree so that the families knew we arrived safely. Everyone opened up their suitcases in the hostel lobby and searched for things to freshen up before our long day ahead.
Before heading out we carried our luggage to the next floor up to lock it in a room. Then we set out for a typical German restaurant recommended by our tour guide. The streets and alleys were curvey, so we walked in a few circles, but eventually found the restaurant. It had a beer garden feel to it, we got to sit outside at picnic tables with umbrellas over them. There was one waiter who served all of us. He did give us some English menus, so we could compare the English to the German. Everyone ordered his/her food in German and we got large portions. One thing everyone seemed to notice was there was no water, and if you ordered it, you had to specify "normales Wasser", or you got mineral water. I ordered a Cola and a "normales Wasser" with my "Panniertes Schnitzel" (fried cutlet of pork). It came with awesome french fries and a nice, big salad. Everyone learned how to pay in Germany, and how to leave a tip. If the bill was €8.50, then you can say "9 ist schon gut" (9 is good). In Germany you do not have to tip as much as in the US, because the servers make more in their base pay.
Our first meal at a German Restaurant in Frankfurt.
We were running late for meeting our tour guide at the hostel at 1 p.m., because the waiter had so many customers to take care of. Dave, the guide, was very flexible and easy going. He understood completely that when one is traveling, things don't always go as planned! Since we were able to check into our rooms, Dave said that he would go find us a good kiosk to buy bottled water while we moved our luggage and got settled in. He told the students that water is safe to drink from the tap in Germany, unless they actually write "kein Trinkwasser" near it. Germany is very good about labeling things like that. He suggested everyone get a bottle of water to refill througout the trip. The first thing we did was go to a kiosk to get water. Everyone felt much better after having some water. I think everyone learned right away that we are lucky to have access to such cheap and clean water in Wisconsin. In Germany you usually have to pay to drink water at a restaurant, and most Germans like carbonated beverages like mineral water.
At about 1:45 p.m. we started our tour with Dave. He gave us the history of the bridge we had to walk across to get to the other side of the Main (pronounced "mine") River. Then we walked to the city building commission and Jewish area of Frankfurt. Dave gave us a historical and geographic overview of Frankfurt using a giant city model. He pointed out some important historical facts about the Holocaust and Jewish history. Hitler was not popular in Frankfurt, so at first the Nazi party was very unpopular there. Parts of the original Jewish ghetto were located in the building where were near the city model. The city building commission is connected to the Jewish Museum. The Jewish ghetto excited since the middle ages, and there were several pogroms throughout history and certain periods of time when Jews lived in or out of the ghetto.
Dave gives us an overview of German and Jewish history in Frankfurt using the city model.
The former Jewish ghetto, doorway show how small the living spaces were. Mr. Harried takes a picture of the archeological site inside the Jewish Museum.
Just outside of the Jewish Museum is the Neuerbörner Platz, which originally was called the Judenplatz (Jewish Plaza). Before Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass-when Jewish buildings were destroyed and burned) there was a Synagogue, but now there is now a memorial plaza. There is a wall that surrounds the medieval Jewish cemetery there. The gate is locked to prevent any vandalism from Neo-Nazis. Dave told us you can go in, if you give the front desk of the Jewish Museum your passport. The wall surrounding the Jewish cemetery has thousands of names on tiny bricks, of which are also the names Anne Frank's family members.
Dave explains the memorial site to the group.
One of the Holocaust victims from Frankfurt.After seeing the memorial we walked towards the Klein Markt Halle. On our way Dave showed us a medieval city wall in Frankfurt, which surrounded the former Jewish area. The Klein Markt Halle is a market with a huge variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, candy, desserts, bakery, and more. At this point fatigue really started to hit everyone. Most students walked straight through and sat down for a break while a few shopped for 15 minutes.
The former city wall from the Jewish sector from 500 years ago.
Hauptwache is the center point of the Zeil, the main shopping area. It was originally built as a police station and jail, and today it is a cafe.
Afterward we visited the plaza of the Frankfurt stock exchange, which is one of the first stock exchanges in the world. It is also one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world today.
The students enjoyed climbing on the bear and bull statues at the Stock Market.
Eschenheimertor (medieval gate tower in the city).
Then Dave took us to the alte Oper (old Opera), which is known as the prettiest ruin in Frankfurt. The people wanted to preserve it, so even though it had been abandoned for years, the citizens decided that they would restore it instead of tear it down and build another sky scraper. The alte Oper is used all of the time today, and Frankfurt has a very quality, well known opera culture.The students also got to see where Goethe, the Shakespeare of Germany lived in Frankfurt. We learned that Goethe was very important to literature and the German people are very proud to have him in their history.
We walked to the building where Germany's first democratic constitution was formed in 1848. Dave explained to us that many Germans, known as Forty-Eighters left Germany during 1848 for places like Wisconsin. They left because the lower and middle classes wanted to change Germany so that they had more rights. They also wanted a united Germany rather than having many kingdoms inside of a giant empire ruled by aristocrats. The Fourty-Eighters were disappointed that the aristocracy defeated their revolution. Many of these Fourty-Eighters immigrated to Wisconsin, which is why we have so many people with German heritage... and it's also why we have famous German-American breweries. He also explained that Australian wines are also a result of Fourty-Eighters from the wine-growing regions who immigrated there.
The next stop was the Römer, or Roman in English. This is a famous landmark in the center of Frankfurt that has been in existence since medieval times. Today the city hall is located here. The entire Plaza has beautiful re-constructed half-timbered houses. Frankfurt had been completed destroyed by allied bombing in WWII, but the front facade of the Römer was one part that stayed intact. Dave showed us a memorial on the ground of where book burning took place during the Nazi period. Some famous authors of burned books we recognized included Jack London, E.M. Remarque, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx.
The Frankfurt city hall, known as the Römer.
Memorial of the book burning that took place in this square during the Nazi period.We took a group picture at the plaza and moved on to the ruins from a Roman bath house from the Middle ages.
Our very tired group after a long journey and tour of Frankfurt.
It was impressive to see such ancient structures in a city that also has new and modern buildings. Frankfurt, like many German cities, was destroyed by allied bomging at the end of WWII. It was re-built in the American occupied sector of Germany which is the reason it has a quite American appearance in comparison to other German cities.
For our last stop we went to St. Bartholomew's Gothic cathedral. In the 1300's many emperor were elected in the cathedral during the Holy Roman Empire. German kings and emperor-elects were also crowned there between the 1500's and 1700's.
At this point everyone had really been hit by jet lag and sleep deprivation, and it was time to go back to the youth hostel. Some students elected to go spend some time shopping on the Zeil before bed at 8:30. Although several people hung out in the cafe at the hostel to watch the women's world cup, or play giant chess on the balcony, several people went straight to sleep to get some energy for tomorrow's adventure to the Rhine River sites.
What a day!
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