I wanted to eat like a local, and a bit of online research helped me find Ebert's Suppenstube which is owned by the meat shop across the street. We arrived at around 2 PM and the line was still long which was a good sign.

Earl had the Rindswurst Mit Brötchen (2.80 €) and Kartoffelsuppe (4.90 €) - otherwise known as beef sausage and potato soup and he opted to have sausage pieces added to his soup (there's no extra charge for this). Both were quite good and very filling.

I had the Rostbratwurst Im Brötchen (2.80 €) and Erbseneintopf (4.90 €) which is basically pork sausage and pea soup. My sandwich was great but I was not too fond of the pea soup. The soup by itself was rather heavy and was only good in small doses (I got tired of the taste rather quickly).

We shared one bottled water (2.25 €) which was more than enough for the two of us.

All in all, it was perfect since it was near the train station, in the middle of a commercial area, and it was cheap.

Frankfurt

For our second day, we went to see Frankfurt which is just 30 minutes away. We took the train from Mainz and what a fun ride that was! Well, at least I found it enjoyable. It was not an underground train so you had a view, and I think I was just so happy to be back in Europe after 18 years that nothing could dampen my mood.

I decided that since it was Earl's birthday, we would take it easy and not try to pack everything in one day - his ideal vacation is to sleep for three days straight so walking all day long is not his version of fun.

First on the agenda was to visit a couple of shops that Earl was interested in. Afterwards, we went to the Goethe House and Museum which we both thoroughly enjoyed. Earl because of the author who once lived there and for me, I just loved the rooms.

They didn't have a guided tour, but they had information sheets in English which gave details of every room in the house.

Blue Room

Kitchen and Cornelia's Room

Tickets cost 7.00 € per person.

Right before heading back to our hotel, we passed by the Altstadt (old town). Though all the original buildings were destroyed during the war, it's still an interesting place to see and also the location of another Christmas market so it was definitely a good pit stop.