The first view of the European Continent coming into view.

Farms in the Netherlands.

Farms in Germany. If you are looking for more details, you won’t find them here. We are exhausted and have been traveling for fifteen hours now.

More of Germany from high in the sky.

Approaching the Frankfurt International Airport and passing over the Rhein River as we do so.

Best welcome at an airport ever! Caroline and I were met by Stephanie, Katharina, and Klaus Engelhardt here in the city of Caroline’s birth, Frankfurt, Germany. We are on vacation and will be moving further down the road at a point, but for now, we are here to visit family.

After a small snack with the Engelhardt’s, we walked over to our dinner reservation, which, when I made it I didn’t know was around the corner from Klaus and Stephanie. Shortly after we arrived, Jutta was delivered by taxi, and we were ready to grab a table. This was my first time seeing my Schwiegermutter (mother-in-law) in five years; back then, it was an emergency visit due to her breaking her hip. Although I was incredibly jet-lagged it was still a wonderful moment with all of us sitting down for dinner.

“Handkäse mit Musik” was my appetizer of choice as this is one of the typical Frankfurt dishes and is never found in regions beyond the state of Hessen.

My entree was “Schnitzel vom Kalb mit grüner Soße” or schnitzel with green sauce. This is another taste of Frankfurt, difficult if not impossible to get anywhere else. I could have eaten this for dessert, too, but vanilla ice cream with hot raspberry (Heisse Liebe or Hot Love) spoke to me.

Caroline opted for asparagus and boiled potato with hollandaise. White asparagus is not available year-round, and we were lucky to get this dish as we are moving closer to the end of the season; of course, she shared it with me.

Our re-acquaintance with the traditional flavors of Frankfurt happened here at Speisekammer Restaurant, where we opted for a table outside. By the end of dinner, I was falling down tired from the jet lag; as a matter of fact, for a moment, I nearly fell asleep at the table and had to excuse myself to walk around. The first day of this vacation is now firmly set in the column of perfection.

Due to being in the air the better part of our day, we only collected 3 miles of walking or 5 km and hiked up a minuscule four floors.