Imanuel and Brenda's Travel Blog

Our day began at the hotel where we enjoyed a wonderful complementary breakfast in a dining room with Asian inspired decor with a great view of a lush garden. We relaxed for a while in the cowhide living room chairs before heading out for a day of sightseeing. It will be hard to get use to the austerity of the van after all this luxury even if does mean that we will not have to pack and unpack everything every couple of nights. I am a bit nervous about driving and finding our way in strange country. Staying in hotels like this would be the comfortable thing to do; however, this trip isn't about being comfortable. It's about getting over our fears and insecurities and experiencing Europe to the fullest!

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Nuestro dia empezo en el hotel donde disfrutamos de un maravilloso desayuno complementario en un salon comedor con decoracion inspirada en el lejano oriente y una gran vista del frondose jardin interior. Nos relajamos por un rato en las butacas de piel de vaca que hay en el lobby del hotel antes de salir para un dia de visitar las atracciones de Frankfurt. Va a ser dificil acostumbrarse a la austeridad del camper despues de todo este lujo aunque quiera decir que no tenemos que desempacar todo cada dos dias. Estoy un poco nervioso por tener que guiar y navegar en una tierra extrana. Lo mas comodo seria hospedarse en hoteles come este, pero este viaje no se trata de comodidad sino de soberllevar nuestros miedos y experimentar a Europa al maximo.

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We again took the U2 to the historic town center, the Romberg, where we visited the Cathedral or the Dom. The Dom happened to be closed so we peered at the altar from behind the gate and tried to snap a few pictures that did not come out too good. We then walked around trying unsuccesfully to find the Romer, which has been city hall since 1405, and the entrance to the Kaisserhal or "Emperor's Hall", where there are portraits of the 52 emperors from Chalemagne to Franz II. Instead we arrived at the waterfront where we were awed by the wonderful vistas.

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Abordamos el U2 una vez hasta el centro historico de la ciudad, el Romber, donde visitamos la catedral o el Dom. El Dom estaba cerrado hoy por lo que tratamos de tomar fotos del altar desde detras de la rejo, pero las fotos no salieron muy bien. Caminos la plaza tratando de encontrar sin exito el Romer, que ha servido de alcaldia desde el 1405, y la entrada al Kaisserhal o "Sala de Emperadores", donde se encuentran las fotos de los 52 emperadores desde Chalemagne hasta Franz II. Llegamos a la orilla del rio donde nos maravillamos ante las hermosas vistas.

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We crossed a bridge to other side where we strolled down the tree-lined pedestrian path looking for the Stadel museum, which houses many works by master like Monet, Degas, Renoir Picaso, Beckmann and Kandinski. The walk to the museum was pleasant and we passed many other museums like the Communications, Architecture and Film Museum. The Stadel museum was excellent and we took our time browsing the exhibitions. A word of advice to budget travelers in order: most of the museums and attractions have an entrance fee and it can be expensive to visit all the sights. Some sights may be a better "value" than others depending on your interests. For example, given the volume of master works contained within, the Stadel was in our opinion and excellent value at 2 euros per person; however, the Kaisserhall costs the same but it is basically one room with 52 portraits. The Frankfurt history museum was even pricier at 4 euros per person.

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Cruzamos el puente para llegar al otro lado del rio y caminamos por un paseo cubierto por arboles en bœsqueda del museo Stadel que contiene obras de maestros como Monet, Degas, Renoir Picaso, Beckmann and Kandinski. El paseo fue plasentero y nos llev— por varios museos como el de communicaciones, arquitectura y cinematografia. El museo fue exellent y pasamos un largo rato admirando los trabajos que contiene. Una advertencia al viajero de fondos limitados: casi todas las atracciones tienen un precio de entrada y puede ser costoso visitarlo todo. Algunas atracciones representan un mejor valor por su dinero que otras. Por ejemplo, el Stadel que cuesta 2 euros por persona es una ganga dado el gran nœmero de obras renombradas que contiene. El Kaisserhall, que cuesta lo mismo, consiste de una sola sala con 52 retratos.

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After visiting the museum we walked back across the river on the suspension bridege, which rocked noticeably when the wind blew. The long walk back to the Romerberg left us tired and hungry and we sat down at the first cafe we encountered besides the plaza, which turned out to be twice what we paid for dinner the night before for less food plus a tip for the waitress. Another tip to budget travelers: stay away from Restaurants near major attractions. After lunch we visited de Kaisserhall, which added to food and transportation expenses blew the budget for the day.

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Despues de visitar el museo, volvimos a cruzar el rio sobre un puente de suspencion que se movia perceptiblemente cuando el viendo le daba. La larga caminata hasta el Romberg nos dejo cansados y hambrientos y nos sentamos en el primer cafe que encontramos cerca de la plaza. Otro consejo sobre finanzas: alejense de los restaurantes cercanos a las atracciones principales. Luego de almorzar visitamos el Kaisserhall que junto as los gastos de comida y transportacion nos puso fuera de presupuesto por el dia.

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After lunch, we visited the Museum of History of Frankfurt where we learned about the origins of the city which has been a crossroads since medieval times. We also saw a model of how the city was completely destroyed by allied bombing during World War II. Only the church spire remained standing. It was impressive! Considering the destruction of the city it is incredible how they've managed to recreate and preserve the area around the Romber.

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Luego de almorzar, visitamos del Museo de Historia de Frankfurt donde aprendimos acerca de los origenes de esta ciudad que ha sido un importante puerto comercial desde tiempos mediavales. Ademas observamos un modelo de como la ciudad habia quedado despues del bombardeo de la Segundo Guerra Mundial. Todo fue destruido excepto la torre de la iglecia. Considerando la devastacion, es increible que hayan podido reconstruir y conservar el area alrededor del Romerberg.

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One of the most intriguing things about the Frankfurt History Museum was this exhibit dedicated to the works of a local author. In it was included a book about the traditional music of our native land of Puerto Rico. I am often amazed at how far reaching the music and culture of such a small Caribbean island can be. Today, a new generation of performers from all over Latin America are breaking new ground worldwide. So far we've heard works from Shakira and Juanes blaring over the loudspeakers at department stores and on German television and Puerto Rican rappers like Daddy Yankee and Don Omar are busting on the scene in the US and elsewhere.

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Una de las cosas mas interesantes del Museo de Historia de Frankfurt fue este exhibit dedicado a un autor local quien escribio un libro sobre la mœsica folklorica de nuestra tierra natal de Puerto Rico. A menudo me maravillo de cuan lejos puede llegar la mœsica y cultura de una isla caribena tan pequena. Hoy una nueva generacion de artistas de toda latinoamerica esta abriendo nuevas brechas en el mundo de la mœsica internacional. Hasta ahora hemos escuchado canciones de Juanes y Shakira por los altavoces de la tiendas y en la television alemana y raperos puertorriquenos como Daddy Yankee y Don Omar estan sonando en el mercado norteamericano y alrededor del mundo.

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We hiked several blocks to the shopping area where we had dinner the night before. The streets seemed even more chaotic although most of the farm animals were gone (only the bunnies were left) and we saw a craftsman carving a huge owl right on the street.

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Caminamos varias cuadras hasta el centro comercial donde centro commercial donde cenamos la noche anterior. Las calles estaban aun mas revueltas aunque casi todos los animales domesticos habian desaparecido (solo quedaban los conejitos) y observamos un artesano tallando un buo grande.

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Next we wandered into Kaufhof, a giant department store where one can find anything and everything.

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Despues vagamos hasta Kaufhof que es una inmensa tiendo por departamentos en donde uno encuentra todo de todo.

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Kaufhof has something like six floors packed with everything from clothes to electronics to jewelry, groceries and an excellent cafeteria. The cafeteria has a terrace that offers an amazing view of the city so Brenda and I had dessert as we marveled at the sights.

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Kaufhof tiene como seis pisos llenos de ropa, equipo electronico, joyeria, comestibles y una tremenda cafeteria. La cafeteria tiene un increible de la ciudad asi que Brenda y yo nos comimos un postre mientras admirabamos las bellezas the la ciudad.

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From the terrace one could appreciate the size of the Esprit store across the street. Esprit is one of Brenda's favorite boutiques and she took great pleasure in browsing there the night before. I all her years as a retail manager and avid shopper she had never seen a Esprit store that big. They even had men's clothes, which is not available in the 'States.

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Desde la terraza se puede apreciar el tama–o de la tienda Esprit que hay al cruzar la calle. Esprit es una de las marcas favoritas de Brenda y ella se dio tremendo gustazo alli la noche anterior. En todos sus anos como gerente de ventas y compradora no habia visto un tienda Esprit tan granda. Hasta habia ropa de hombre la cual no esta disponible en Norteamerica.

All the walking left us so tired that we stayed in tonight but the wonderful vistas of the city of Frankfurt will remain with us forever and we hope to see more when we return at the en of October.

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Tanto caminar nos dejo tan cansados que esta noche nos quedamos en el hotel pero las hermosas vistas de Franfurt se quedaran con nosotros por siempre y esperamos ver mas cuando regresemos a fines de Octubre.

-Imanuel

We were up at 4:00 am this morning. At least we got 5 good hours of sleep. After yesterday's long flight and chaotic airport experience, this is an accomplishment. As you can see, I was finally able to upload some photos. Here's a photo of the security line at the airport yesterday so you can see what we went through. Notice how far away the entrance to the terminal is and that was when we were more than halfway through!

Our first day in Europe was a success! We arrived at Frankfurt early in the morning and soon discovered that we had packed way too much. Some of it is due to the fact that we'll be living in the camper for a time. We planned to ship some of the stuff but did not have time. All the baggage meant that we had to take a Taxi to the hotel (one that was a minivan as the cars would not take us). In the end it wasn't too bad since it was just a 25 euro ride and we did not have to figure out how to buy tickets for the train from the machine (more on that later).

I was surprised at the speeds our cab driver was doing on the way to the hotel. I was expecting to see aggressive driving in Italy but not so much in Germany. At one point I saw him going up to 160 Km/h in the highway. We arrived at the hotel too early and our room was not ready, so we went for a walk. The hotel is in a very trendy neighborhood and there are many funky hotels and bars around. Without knowing, we wandered into the main train station, which is the hub of activity in Frankfurt. It is not only a station but also a mall and an arcade. We roamed the shops for a while looking for a place to have lunch and sit for a while. BTW: The food here is wonderful and very cheap! We had a couple of bratwurst and a soda and I think we paid less than 5 euros. Later that night, we had a home cooked German meal for 10 euros. (There was a 2 euro deposit to make sure we brought the plate back!)

Feeling tired and jet-lagged, we headed back for the hotel around noon hoping that our room was ready. (And it was!) We went up to our room which was small (bigger than most rooms in New York City, though) but quite cozy and stylish:




We woke up around 3:00 pm and decided to go looking for a place to have dinner and walk around. We asked at the front desk and they told us that everything was near the historic center so we went back to the station. We were told that the U2 would take us directly there but using the machine to buy tickets proved more challenging than we though. After long periods of staring at the machine like idiots and a couple of trips to the information desk, we finally had our tickets. After all that work we were surprised to learn that the transport seems to run mostly on the honor system since we were never challenged for our tickets. At the city center, we were greeted by a fairy tale scene of half-timbered houses and domed buildings around a cobblestone plaza. Exploring further down the street, we came onto the city's main shopping area where upscale department stores and boutiques flanked a street where stalls selling traditional fare and German beer were mixed in with small corrals containing handfuls of farm animals. (I still don't know what the animals were for.) There were also stalls with portable wood-burning ovens where fresh bread was being baked as well as a street-corner preacher shouting loudly in German while holding a sign with the name Jesus in bold red letters. We had dinner in outside by one of the stalls served by a German lady who spoke "poquito" Spanish. In fact, we were amazed at the large number of Spanish-speakers we heard in the streets. And it wasn’t only Spaniards but people from all over the Spanish-speaking world, many of who looked like residents and not tourists. After dinner we browsed the shops until closing time at 8:00 pm. Brenda, always the fashionista, was impressed by the selection and quality of the clothes in the stores. All in all it was a great first day!

Here are some more pictures of the area around the town center:





PS: I'm writing only in English today because I have not time and this turned out to be a long one.

-Imanuel

Just a quick note to let everyone know we made it safe. The airport was a zoo and the security line seemed interminable but we made our flight on time. I could not get an isle seat so was cramped in a middle seat for most of the 7-hour flight.

Franfurt is cool and the hotel we're staying at is very cool. We're missing an electrical adapter for the computer so there may not be any photos for a couple of days since I'm using the free computer in the hotel lobby.

Later,
Imanuel

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Sepan que llegamos bien. El aeropuerto fue un zoologico y la fila de seguridad parecia interminable pero llegamos al gate a tiempo. No consegui asiento de fila por lo que estuve incomodo las 7 horas, pero no fue tan malo como parecia al principio.

Frankfurt esta bien cool y el hotel donde nos estamos quedando es bien funky. Nos falta un adaptador electrico para la computadora por lo que no podemos poner fotos por un par de dias.

Nos Vemos,
Imanuel

For years we have been dreaming of European vacation; however, we wanted to do something more adventurous than a guided tour or luxury Mediterranean cruise. We wanted the freedom to roam around and explore on our own schedule, but didn’t want to do the whole Eurorail backpacking thing. We wanted to have somewhere to keep all our stuff and a safe retreat from life on the road. The answer was a rental campervan. Camping is how many Europeans choose to travel the continent. Europe has an extensive network of campsites accessible to major cities via mass transit. The rigs in Europe are smaller but campsites have extensive facilities, including showers, Laundromats, supermarkets and restaurants. Traveling by campervan would allow us to actually “live” in Europe for a season. Deciding to travel by campervan was just the first step, much research and preparation was needed. See Imanuel’s (Camuyano’s) article in ExpeditionCampers.com for details on our preparations for the trip. Also, stay tuned to this Blog for updates from the road in Europe beginning September 28 through October 28, 2005.

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Hace años que soñabamos con un viaje por Europa, pero queríamos hacer algo más exitante que una gira o un crucero de lujo por el Mediterráneo. Queríamos tener libertad para explorar en nuestro propio itinerario pero no queríamos hacerlo por Eurorail cargando una mochila. Queríamos un lugar donde guardar nuestras pertenencias y un retiro seguro de la vida de viajero. La respuesta era alquilar un camper. El camping es cómo muchos Europeos eligen viajar por el continente. Europa tiene una red extensa de campamentos cerca de las ciudades principales. Los vehículos son mas pequeños que en los Estados Unidos pero los campamentos tienen amplias facilidades como duchas, Laundromats, supermercados y restaurantes. El viajar por camper nos permitiría “vivr” en Europa por una temporada. La deccisión de viajar por camper fue sólo el principio. Aún habría mucho que planificar y muchos preparativos por completar. Vean el artículo de Imanuel (Camuyano) en ExpeditionCampers.com para más información sobre los preparativos para el viaje. Además estén pendientes a este Blog para informes desde el camino en Europa comenzando desde Septiembre 28 hasta Octubre 28 del 2005.