Happy Halloween!

A prayer lantern I saw in one of the narrow streets in Wroclaw: 


A little stone man trapped in the wall of one of Wroclaw's churches:


One of the very old churches at night:


Last night I got to meet up with well_bite_me in Wroclaw for a beer and some conversation, which was super cool. It's been awesome meeting people along the way while I've been away from home, and has definitely made the trip more fun. 

I flew back to Frankfurt-Han this morning and then took the bus two hours through the countryside to make it back to Frankfurt-Main, back to where my journey began. Today I'm going to explore the old area along the river and then see if I feel up to celebrating Halloween somewhere.

Frankfurt

Well, it's Halloween night and I'm all dolled up and ready to head out. It's still a little early, so I'm chilling out in the hotel lobby, using the free interent. I love this hotel. It's very modern, and my room is cozy and very clean with its own bathroom. There's a little water glass and a kleenex dispenser and a shower gel dispenser and hand soap, too. 

The hostel in Wroclaw is my favorite hostel ever, but still one must share a bathroom and sleep with other people. It's a quiet place, though, and the staff are always super friendly and helpful, and it makes all the difference. I felt more like I was staying with friends rather than strangers, and had interesting conversations with the other travelers there. Last night there was a bunch of people from Australia there and they were all really cool. And I don't know if it was all the walking I did or the sleepless night spent on the Russian train, but the bed at the hostel in Wroclaw felt like it had been made by angels.

But I am in Frankfurt now. I went out for a walk this afternoon and got all mixed up looking for the old part of town, accidentally going in the opposite direction. It was an interesting walk (went by a big power plant and some old train tracks), but a little dull after the forests of bavaria, the puppets of Prague, the ghouls of Kutna Hora and the Dwarves of Wroclaw. I haven't even been able to find a good restaurant yet, and am beginning to wonder if maybe they just don't exist here. It's all imbiss food, sushi places, Mexican, Italian and chinese. Which is cool if you're into that, but I happen to love the traditional food that comes from this part of the world (cabbage, pork, dumplings, spatzle, goulash, potato pancakes), so it's a big disappointment that there is about as much good traditional German food here as Chicago has. Frustrating. Even the beer here (Krombacher) isn't that great. Fortunately, I did find an amazing café/bakery to have tea and cake at in the afternoons. Yay for cake and tea :)

I'm beginning to look forward to going home. I feel like I've climbed enough mountains, ridden enough nightmare trains, and walked down enough old streets to last me another year. And besides, I miss O and sleeping in my own bed and cooking my own food. I miss working on my paintings and puttering around my apartment. It'll be good to get back home.