The alarm went off early at 7:30 as we had to catch a 9:12 train to Gernsheim to visit with Christoph Sotriffer, my office mate in Marburg, and his family. Kyle did not want to get up, but we had to get going as there is a train only every two hours. We made it to the station in plenty of time to get breakfast from a bakery, even getting a donut for Kyle. The 40 or so minute ride down was fine. Christoph met us at the station with Mathilde, who is seven months younger than Kyle, and Jonathon, who is two and a half. I probably could have found their apartment again as I had been there a couple of times before, but I wasn’t 100% sure.

We had a very nice visit. Kyle enjoyed playing with Mathilde and with Jonathon’s wooden trains. Edith made a delicious brunch. It was great to see them again (and to meet Jonathon and Teresa, who is eight months old). Kyle was unhappy that we had to leave (as we didn’t have such cool toys), but we made a brisk walk back to the station to catch the return train. (We didn’t make it with tons of time. Missing it would have been a pain since, as on the way down, there is a train only every two hours.)

Back in Frankfurt we took the streetcar to the R?merplatz as Kyle had been insisting on riding one. We’re going to be taking one quite a bit in Munich as our apartment is right next to a stop, but Kyle is not known for his patience. We spent a couple of hours walking around the market again. It was much busier today, which we expected, but was still enjoyable. We picked up another Gl?hwien and some sausage for us and a candy cane and popcorn for Kyle. (After eating a handful of popcorn, he decided he wanted cotton candy which we had offered.) We finished by walking up to Hauptwache (a central area on the main pedestrian shopping street) and checked out the decorated windows at Galleria Kaufhof, one of the two main German department stores. The windows at Macy’s in NYC are much nicer. A quick ride on the S-Bahn and bus and we were back at Joanna’s for a final dinner and visit. (Her cooking is very good as it’s somewhat exotic being African based and wonderfully delecious. I think I’m going to try and replicate the cabbage dish she made for us as some point.) Kyle really didn’t want to leave, and, in truth, neither did we, but we had to get back to the hotel to back up for our trip in the morning to N?rnberg (Nuremberg). It was a wonderful weekend in Frankfurt as we got to see several friends from our time in Marburg. The market in Frankfurt is also quite nice. I doubt we would have visited Frankfurt if it hadn’t been for our friends, but we did enjoy it. We’re really looking forward to our few days in N?rnberg, home of one of the largest and most famous Christmas markets.