Day 2: Frankfurt to Markranstadt

August 21, 2025

A good night's sleep does wonders, and we feel eager to greet the day today. We did keep waking up, and I was hungry as well, but still, a real bed is so great!

Rather than pay the huge breakfast price at the hotel, we walked out into the concourse for some of those great sandwiches. With drinks, a pastry, and an extra sandwich for on the train, our total was 20 euros.

As is usual for us, we were way early at the train station, so we strolled about looking at the shops. Our level seemed to have only food stores and pharmacies. The bakeries are always my favourites:

The grocery ReWe (pronounced rehvee!) was at one end, and we noted a nice hot takeout counter, with various chicken and pork parts. There was also a fabulous looking take out salad bar:

Also of interest, though we are resolved to be conservative about chocolate, was the display of Ritter Sport flavours. At 1.99 euros, they were about half the common Canadian price. A young woman just ahead of me weakened my resolve, by picking up a deck of a half dozen of them. Fortunately I am sent out looking at stores without any money!

So unlike Spain, we were told the track for our train a day in advance. And sitting by the track, we could see the position that our car would take on the platform. It is so encouraging when things are done right!

Something else that we have found that is right is Freedom Mobile, a kind of hangover from government efforts in Canada to expand beyond just the few major telecom carriers. We read about Freedom in Betsy Evans' recent blog, and were at first skeptical of the claim that a Freedom equipped phone would work in Europe exactly as in Canada. But we tried it, and it is true. It's a benefit to be able to keep our Canadian number, to easily receive those one time codes banks and others like sending, and even to converse with Canadian friends and businesses, all without roaming charges!

The ICE train to Leipzig was quite fast (about 3 hours) and smooth. The only drawback was an older lady in a nearby seat that talked to (at) the lady facing her for the entire time, seemingly without taking a breath. Since it was in German we had no idea of the subject. Not sure if that made it more or less irritating. It could not have been that bad, though, because we were never driven to take down our pack and dig out the ear buds.

Jurgen and Birgit met us at the train, and continued their tradition of extreme hospitality from there. They began by taking us to the Markranstadt Greek restaurant. These two are among the nicest couples we have ever met. At the restaurant they shared some comradery and pleasant words with the proprietor. I was surprised to find that he spoke only German and Greek. In our biased Canadian experience, Greek people usually know some English. But the principles of hospitality are universal anyway.

At the house, we were fascinated to learn the details of the solar installation that Jurgen and Birgit had added to their roof. Electricity here costs 30 euro cents per kwH, about four times our cost in British Columbia. Jurgen showed a fascinating app, that was displaying in real time the power coming from the roof, and possibly going into the battery, or back to the grid, or being drawn from the grid or the battery. Such fun!

We pulled out the bikes, which have been resting here since Spring. They were back from their session at the local bike shop, where they received all new brake systems. Meanwhile Dodie started to sort through our gear, some of which had been left with the bikes, and some more newly arrived from Amazon or other shipments. For example, I now have a brand new (yellow!) helmet. Not that I crashed the old one, but it was still showing its age.

Birgit and Jurgen are part of Birgit's very tight knit family, that is led by 90 year old Oma Kate. Living all around Kate are her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It's a most remarkable family structure, because most live within a very large compound that contains several buildings including the bakery that was the initial focus of the family.

We have become familiar with the family BBQ meal that often happens on special occasions. This will have fabulous grilled sausages and other meats, and a large selection of side dishes and drinks. Because of the baking tradition of the family, there will also usually be a variety of home made cakes. This time the BBQ was put on in our honour, though it was held at Birgit and Jurgen's place, which is a block away from the main family home. Everyone came over by bike, of course (since this is Germany), except Oma Kate, who came with her walker.

One family tradition, on occasions like Easter (let alone Christmas), is the giving of gifts to each other. We were blown away by this on one holiday that we stumbled in to, when every last family member had a gift for us! But this time, since we were the reason the BBQ had been called, they had gifts just for us. This included all sorts of bicycling stuff, a hand made and signed "gute fahrt" card, and even a fair number of euros to be used for a bakery stop! Remarkable as this is, it is actually part of a tradition wherein we even remember a time when we got lost in Leipzig and arrived in the dark, to find the whole family still assembled under a giant Welcome Canada banner!

Jo and Karla brought a gift of a photo album of our last visit with them:

Christian (grandchild level, and Sandra's husband) and Anita, Jurgen's sister.

Jenny and Sandra, Pia's (right) daughters. So they are grandchild level! Pia is the wife of Stephan.

The party began about 5, and did not break up until well after nine, when the family cycled home (except Oma Kate, on the walker!).

This leaves me a little time to write the blog, which gives me no trouble, because I am almost over jet lag, and am highly stoked up on BBQ and side dishes! And if my energy does flag, there are the high quality treats that Birgit and Jurgen have left on our bed:

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Karen PoretWunderbar! 👏
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