Königstein im Taunus

Some stables in town

The town castle.

The Mayor's Office. There is a really nice Italian restaurant that doubles as an art gallery here.

Downtown Königstein

Small church

So, taking a break from New York, I went on spring break to Frankfurt, Germany, to visit a very good friend. He lives in a small town by Frankfurt called Königstein im Taunus, which literally translates as Kingstone on Taunus, a mountain.

Upon arriving in the airport, I had a very important goal in mind--finding airplane shaped Haribo gummi bears. I went to information, and asked where I can get Haribo gummi bears, since I couldn't find any stores near the exit--in the past, I always left Germany with several bags from the duty free store. The lady at information however, seemed offended that I would ask such a thing (stereotypes perhaps?), and just snapped, "I don't know, perhaps you should go to a supermarket." I complained to my friend that the customer service was so bad, but then again, perhaps she was not trying to be rude, since German people tend to be more direct than Americans (in my experience). Anyhow, I did end up going to the supermarket (although the airplane shaped ones are only sold at the airports).

My friend showed me his house, and I was surprised to learn that they had a bunker, "just in case." I guess it makes sense for countries that have been bombed a lot to consider something like that. Although, a side note, the country that the Americans bombed the most was Vietnam--we bombed Communist Vietnam far more than Nazi Germany. I wonder if the Vietnamese frequently have bunkers in the their house too, my guess is probably not.

Königstein is like a nice suburb full of old people. It's quite charming and has its own castle, which is beautifully lit up at night. There are some Asian restaurants--one, with sushi and udon, is acceptable. Another, called "My Thai," is the worst Thai food I've had in my life. I ordered pad kee mao, and got lo mein. If you visit Germany and want Asian food, just eat Italian (or better, German food!) instead. There were a lot of really good gelato places, which we lack in the US.

Königstein is only 20 minutes from Frankfurt, and a great place to explore some other German cities from.