Megan and I were meeting Stefan for dinner at 8 and then meeting Emrah at a dance club at 11. I was actually the one to recommend the restaurant Da Noi (italian) since I've been there with Parker & his family 2 weeks ago. The only problem was that Parker had picked me up in his car the last time and we did not know how to get there by tram. Megan is only familiar with the U74 tram which takes you to Old Town and the shopping street. Stefan gave me instructions on which tram to take and told me that because of construction it was going in a different way but will eventually dump us by the restaurant. Well, not so simple. I missed the part where Stefan told me that the tram will back track looking like it's going the wrong way. Megan & I were not familiar with the routes of this tram and when it looked like it was going the wrong way we decided to jump off at the DD Bahnhofen and took a taxi to the restaurant. How embarassing, it only took about 5 minutes. Stefan said if we had stayed on the tram it would have been the next stop!!
Anyway, we had a lovely dinner with great food. It was fun to talk about our different cultures. Megan goes back to the states in 2 weeks after a 3 mth assignment in DD. I can see that this experience has changed her. I was so impressed with her handling herself in such a foreign place. She told us hilarious stories of some of her experiences here, especially with the apt manager.
After dinner Stefan drove us to Ratinger street. I had no idea where we were going but Megan has been there before. We were supposed to meet Harald & Emrah & their friends there later that night. After parking the car in a garage we walk through this very long dark alley. In the distance I can hear so growing roar of people. It was very surreal because it sounded like a rush of people getting closer and closer. It turns out that Ratinger is a popular cobblestone street lined with bars. The sidewalks are packed with people hanging out and drinking beer. Stefan explained that the crowd of people aren't waiting to get it. They are hanging outside. It was wall to wall people and we had to walk in the street to get through. It was so loud! This is the street where the locals hang out. A couple of street over is the Alsteadt (Old Town) and that's where the tourists hang out. It's also a popular place for bachelor and bachlorette parties. Apparently it's tradition for the groom to be to dress up in outrages clothing. Megan assures me that I will see men in women's clothing tonight. There were broken glass from the beer bottles on the ground, people walk around with bottles of beer in their hand. I can only liken this scene to madri gras, it's crazy.
We eventually walked along the Rhine river where there were, again, hoards of people. There was live musis and people sitting along the steps leading to the river. It was so nice out. Stefan showed us how to tell time from the blinking lights of the Rhine Tower (168m). In this small area they call Old Town there are over 260 bars, restaurants and cafes. Somehow these places are packed and overflowed with people. Where are they all coming from? I think it's because of the nice weather. We in AZ take for granted the sunny days and nice weather. The summer here is short and that why we used to say that all of europe seems to take off the month of July & August. Soon enough it will be cold and rainy!
Stefan parted ways with us by 11:30 in order to go pick up his wife from work. By that time we hadn't heard from Emrah, not sure what happened. Megan & I decided to go into Schlosser to check it out and perhaps find the guys. It was pretty crowded and I was feeling a little claustrophic. It was a younger crowd so I was feeling a little out of place. I was texting H- to see where he was. This morning I got answer from him saying he was looking for us as well. Oh well, bad planning. We had enough and left before 12:30, it was way past my bedtime!
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