Woo ist David Hasselhoff?

My last weekend was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. After a ridiculously early morning commute to the airport outside of town and a somewhat sketchy Ryanair flight, I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, (and by in, I mean technically 70 km west of the town) with no place to stay and really no idea what there even is to do in Frankfurt.

Turns out, there's not too much. But after finding a hostel (and a new half-German half-Italian friend -- and unofficial tour guide), I saw the sights, did some shopping and drank far too much Apfelwein (apparently what Frankfurt is known for).

I also discovered, with my extremely limited German vocabulary, that people will be much nicer to you if you just try... no matter how you butcher it. Luckily, one of my roommates here in Rome spent six years in Germany, so she recorded some phrases on my personal recorder, which basically saved my life. My German for the weekend included:

*Woo ist ... toiletten/hostel/David Hasslehoff (Where is the bathroom/ the hostel/ David Hasselhoff?)
*Ine grosist bier (I would like your largest beer)
*Entschuldigung Sie (Excuse me)
*Danke shon (Thank you very much ... but FYI, they don't think it's as funny as you do to sing the Wayne Newton song)

I don't have much time to post all my pictures, but here are a few to get by until I can get them up after (or during?) class tomorrow:

This is me break dancing in front of old-town Frankfurt. The arc in the background used to be a gate that closed off the city. And of course, by break dancing, I mean that I tried to a cartwheel and I just looked like an idiot. :o)

Here's me and my grosist bier. I got a hefeweizen in honor of Kim ... :o)

This is me in front of the capitol building in Frankfurt. That's the EU flag, Germany flag and Frankfurt flag, left to right.

This is Frankfurt's financial district as viewed from the top of its mall (which was the most bizarre place I have ever seen). Apparently, Frankfurt is the second largest financial hub in Europe, behind London.

This is Frankfurt at night from across the river Main (pronounced mine), where our hostel was located.