Germany

Frankfurt was included as a last location of our round the world trip because we were not ready to return home yet. We were initially going to book a direct flight from Bogota to Frankfurt until we found a flight with two stop-overs that ended up much cheaper. It was more of an adventure flight as we stopped in Panama City and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately both stop-overs were only for about two hours so we couldn't leave the airport and add more countries to our visited countries list.

Eventually we arrived back to Europe and into Frankfurt. It was quite strange being in Germany. Firstly the language is not like Spanish so it was hard to get our ear used to the harsh German sounding language and we still ended up thanking everyone by saying “Gracias”. The second thing was how the traffic was quite as they don’t use their horns and cars let pedestrians cross at pedestrian crossings; this is not common in South America so it seemed strange to us.

We arrived into Frankfurt in the morning but check-in to our Airbnb apartment wasn't until 4pm so to keep awake we explored part of the city centre. A lot of German cities were distroyed during the war but Frankfurt has a small part of the Romerberg old town left standing. In this area there is picturesque buildings with stunning architecture such as the town hall and the cathedral. We crossed the Iron bridge and sat on the opposite side of the river to view the city landscape. After lunch we people-watched before checking into our accommodation and sleeping.

When we told Germans, whom we met while travelling, that we were going to Frankfurt for a few days they were all disappointed and said that Cologne was nicer. Cologne is only an hour on the train from Frankfurt so we decided to go on a day trip there after hearing their advise. Our train to Cologne was delayed by an hour which is something we have been used to after travelling through Asia and South America as none of their transport is on time but this time we were given a voucher to receive a 25% refund on our ticket. What a nice surprise! Cologne was not as nice as I was expecting maybe it was because the weather wasn't as sunny as when we explored Frankfurt but the old town didn't seem as historic. They have a nice Cathedral however it was under renovations so the saffolding took away from it's appearance.

We visited the Sports and Olympics museum. It was interesting to learn about how the Olympics began and what sports participated. However because the Olympics has so much history they rushed through the next hundred years of the Olympics’ history and only briefly mentioned the Berlin Olympics. It was a good museum but unfortunately it had the potential to be better. After getting our fill of sporting history we headed next door to the Lindt museum to have chocolate cake while looking out over the city. I must say that it was delicious chocolate cake!

On our last day in Frankfurt we went to the Dialog museum for the Blind Passenger exhibition. After leaving our phones and any other objects that light up in a locker. We were given white canes and then brought into a blacked out room. Our guide was visually impaired and instructed us how to move around the room. The aim of the tour was to "travel around Europe in the dark". We had to walk over bridges, ramps and cobble-stoned paths, cross the road and find a seat in the park. On the way we had to feel our way finding different objects such as the post box, telephone and a manikin. Finally we headed into the bar and ordered and paid for a drink in the dark. I really enjoyed the experience it was very strange on our eyes to not be able to focus on something and we really had to trust our guide when he was guiding us around the dark room. What surprised me most was how sounds got magnified to my senses. When we sat down at one stage and listened to some music and common external sounds it felt like I really heard the sounds and music because there was no visual cues to be of any distraction. I think that it was one of my favourite museums on the trip so it was nice to end on a highlight.

I can't believe that the seven months are over they flew by so fast but I would never change a minute of the seven months. I loved travelling the world and going on daily adventures with some new and old friends. It is an experience that I will never forget but also an experience that has made me determined to go home and save money to go again and have more adventures in other parts of the world.Read more