Frankfurt in Spring!

Just finished a great layover in Frankfurt on April 1.  The weather was great. A wonderful spring day in the mid 60′s F.  Besides having to do all my usual chores such as shopping for Easter candy, I also had a tailor attach “Stoßbänder” (special bias tape) at the bottom of my new uniform pants.  Pant legs in Germany customarily have those which make them fold better over the shoes and best of all they don’t fray that way.  This was my first trip in my new Delta Airlines uniform.  With all the shiny buttons that make our uniforms look very US Navy like.  March 30^th was the cutover day when all front line Northwest (we call us Delta North) Airlines employees started wearing Delta uniforms.  Our airplanes are also being painted in Delta livery very rapidly.  The A-330′s that I fly are being painted at the rate of 1 a week.

Getting back to my layover, late afternoon I met with my co-pilots and we headed over to Hofheim, im Taunus, a 20 minute train ride west from Frankfurt.  Getting off the train we took a bus to head for the “Waldgeist” restaurant, which has as they claim, the biggest Bratwurst, Schnitzels and Burgers in Germany.  I saw their website, which has been very popular, so I just had to check it out.  Unfortunately for some, there is no public transportation that drops off in front of the restaurant so we engaged in a nice 25 minute walk uphill to the restaurant, which is part of a sports complex out in the forest.  Amid indoor and outdoor tennis courts, there it was.  The parking lot was crowded and so was the inside with German local visitors, which seem to like the place very much.   There was plenty of room for us though, inside and out.  In the summer I definitely recommend the outside seating, especially under covered picnic tables.  We sat inside an atrium that was very hot, even with the windows open.  It was only in the mid 60′s outside.  The service was also a bit slow but once they got to our table, things started rolling.

We quickly got our beers and our food was there within 20 minutes.  I had an appetite for the Riesen Currywurst (a popular 600 gram brat with curry tomato sauce) and my co-pilots both went for the ½ pig Schnitzel which weigh about 2 pounds.  The also have a full pig one available twice as big.  The Schnitzel, according to my buddies was one of the best they have had and they were delighted and my bratwurst and the sauce were very tasty.  A complaint I had was that the sauce was not warm, which is the norm.  That would have made it perfect, but it still tasted good.   Had the staff been super outgoing and the place easier to get to, this place would be on the must visit list.  Fun loving Hooter Girls would make this place have to take reservations months in advance.  As it is the restaurant, which is actually their second (the other one near Wiesbaden), is probably already a gold mine for them.  We saw plenty of German groups of 6 to 8 people having a good time, some celebrating birthdays.  The ice cream desserts of ½ Gallon scoops were also unbelievable.  How do these people eat so much?

After our delightful dinner (No we did not take doggy bags, although they were available), the walk downhill was definitely needed.  We decided to walk all the way back to the train station.  It was through a nice wooded area and then through typical German neighborhoods.   I got back to our hotel just in time to watch German play Wales in the first round qualifier for the Soccer World Cup, which is next year in South Africa.  Germany actually played fairly good and won 2:0.  What a full day.

Til my next adventure,  Take care of yourself.

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