They don't call it "Window Shopping" for nothing!

We checked ourselves out of Sick Bay today to go to the train station and buy our tickets for a lovely train trip to Amsterdam tomorrow. I dearly love train travel - having lived in England as a wee child. A big part of the fun is going to the station to see the little pufferbellies all in a row. Frankfurt's right up there with the UK - a huge station with lots of vendors - places to roam, eat, and shop.


I truly can't understand how we in America let train travel deteriorate to its current state. Nuff said on that one - I'm too prone to a snit on the subject.

I've been eating only hotel food for the last sickie week. On this - our first outing - I realized that the German's are big meat-eaters.



Did we cruise delicatessons in the neighborhood? Did we visit a supermarket? Nope! These are only 3 of the food court options for lunch at the station, at a place I chose to call the "Men in Black" eatery. It reminds me of Ireland. In the few all-in-one supermarkets there (in the 90's - most people still went to smaller shops separately for bread and veg, then meat, then other things) there would be veg, fruit, bread, a very small cold case with very few frozen foods in it, with 3 of the 4 walls being long meat cases with everything meaty imaginable. A plus in Ireland at least - when I lived there they weren't putting all the antibiotics, growth hormones and other pharmaceuticals into their animals, so you were not eating nearly the chemical load as in the States. If I sound like a vegetarian - I'm not. If I had to kill animals myself to eat them - probably instant conversion. I believe that makes me a wimp for convenience. It's not the first time I've wrestled with the idea.

You have to hand it to a station where you can buy fruits and veg (the size of those pears!!!):

...books, perfume, baked goods, meats for days, flowers, flashlights ("torches") the forgotten birthday present, and anything else you might need on your way home. Aaaaaaaaand, they had some leftover good luck piggies!!!! I just HAD to...

Got a gold coin on one side of his mouth and a Fly Agaric mushroom on the other side. This mushroom is famed for its hallucinogenic properties - piggie going on a little trip?
Piggy in a top hat.

Piggy wearing the hat with a shamrock.

Piggy inna hat with a heart. And for Natasha who wondered - yes, they are all Marzipan.

Oh yessss, I'd like one of each of those for the trip tomorrow please!!!

I've been needing a doggie fix, but this was all I found:

The real trick is NOT going INTO the stores!

I'm a sucker for a teapot any day of the week.


And just as the fashion magazines for those with more money than sense have been saying - fur is making a big comeback.

I found the "notions" store below on the way to the yarn store. Why they call sewing tools and embellishments "notions" I've never understood - even Wikipedia doesn't address the issue. Does a woman just get a silly "notion" in her head to mend things, or make clothing from scratch? Don't think so. Anybody think it's fun sewing on a button - do it just for grins? Grown men turn into troglodytes when faced with sewing on a button. "Sew on but-ton? Ugh....get WOMAN....WOMAN sew on but-ton...Ugh. Sorry - I had to bash a little. Many of the world's Haute Couture designers are men. But we're not usually married to them, are we?


I DID go into this store, as it's vitally important in any city to know where all the tools, patterns and trim are for sewing and things related to fiber. I actually bought a substitute darning needle even though I thought "why am I doing this? I'm on my way to the yarn store. They'll have Chibis!" (Good thing I did.)

This store also had furry trims in case you wanted to style with the latest.

I'm sorry to say Wolle Rodel was a disappointment. Doesn't look that way from the outside...



They had many plain colored wool yarns (I believe they manufacture their own line), some glitz, some ribbon, some fat singles acrylic, and lots of self-striping sock yarn. They also have a big section on embroidery of home linens. The tools were all German, and there weren't a lot of them. Nylon and bamboo circulars and that's about it. I was so hoping for unusual tzotchkies for knitting that you'd only see in Germany or Europe... Let's face it - I'm a Seattleite - land of a thousand yarn stores - all of which import tools and yarn from all over the world. More spoiled I couldn't be. So if you're in Frankfurt and need a good basic store with a small variety of things - this is it.

The last of the shopping must wait for a future entry. Mr. Chirpantsie needs to check his mail (and see if I disparaged him in the Blog).