Le Tour Cliché - Part 5

PINOYexpats Meet

Early the next day, J dropped us off at the downtown Starbucks for breakfast. I could hardly contain my anticipation in meeting Ruth and Raquel. Meeting two of the brilliant thirteen (naks, syempre kasali kami ni Melissa doon! Hehe!) that make up PINOYexpats was something I was really looking forward to. It was like seeing old friends. These are the people that I probably have emailed to the most in the last couple of years because of all the brainstorming email sessions that we have before each issue. So there we were eating all the fatty Starbucks pastries and chatting on, sometimes reverting to Tagalog, as Hubby patiently listened and looked on. The conversation did not disappoint, and I didn’t really expect it to. After all, how can people who are such fun to read be bad conversationalists? :) Too bad, the other nine members couldn't join us!

Ruth, moi, Melissa and Raquel

After our cups of Joe and sweets my body could have done without, Raquel and Ruth had to run off to their respective commitments. After making reservations for the Thalys for our departure the next day, Melissa took us on a walking day tour of downtown Frankfurt. We stopped for a taste of the local frankfurter and some beer in the square called Römerberg, where Ruth met up with us again after class. It’s a beautiful, historic square that was leveled during bomb raids in 1944, but was reconstructed after the war.

As we tried to figure out the best way to go around the city, Ruth had the great idea of taking the Ebbelwei Express (Apple Wine Express) for a tour. They are these festive and colorful trolleys that serve the city’s famous Apple Wine or cider, the city’s drink of preference and some pretzels while they take you to all the sights in Frankfurt. It was a really fun way of seeing the city without wearing out your feet. We couldn’t have had a more enthusiastic tour guide who, in my book, is the German with the most winning and endearing smile. We asked him to take our photo and he actually asked the driver to stop so that his hands wouldn’t shake. The driver happily obliged. :) In preparation for the World Cup which was to open the next day, there were humongous television screens scattered all over the place, even in the middle of the river. There was just no way anyone in this city could miss the game unless they lived under a rock.

Our feet put on some more mileage after getting off the Ebbelwei Express going around the shopping districts and the Alter Oper, Frankfurt’s beautiful old opera house. I wasn’t surprised when our feet (or was it our stomachs?) led us to the local Häagen-Dazs to cool off kuno with different delectable ice cream concoctions. Our day of sight seeing might have ended there but our day of eating didn’t.

In the evening, Melissa and J took us to the apple wine tavern, Adolf Wagner for a truly German dining experience. Pinoys that we are, Melissa and I ordered their version of the crispy pata to share, the Haxe. When she ordered one for us to share, I gave her this look that clearly said I wanted my own piece. She laughed and assured me it was big enough. I’m glad we shared because I was waddling like my pregnant friend when we left the place. All my misgivings about eating after the *pant-ripping episode I had the previous day, which I conveniently forgot to mention in the previous entry, were tossed aside. Ang sarap sobra! It was a great way to cap our very memorable German experience.

Early the next morning, we tearfully said our goodbyes and told Melissa and J that it shouldn’t be another eight years before we saw each other again, and that it was our turn to host them in Boston. O ano, Melissa, kelan?

*After our day in Heidelberg, I carried JP up the stairs into the flat. As I bent to set him down, we all heard a loud rrrrrrrrIIIIppp! Of course, everyone started laughing as I felt a cool breeze envelop my rump area. My lime green undies showed under the 5-inch rip of one of my favorite casual pants. It's a good thing that it happened when we got home. Obviously, all the romping, tumbling and falling I did in Heidelberg stressed my worn out non-stretch pants. The non-stop eating didn't help either. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever it was, my butt was obviously more than my pants could handle at that moment. Melissa and J now have a souvenir of our stay with them.