We ended our trip to Germany with three nights in Frankfurt. We had planned this trip around the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt on November 5. Arriving on Friday before the Sunday game gave us just enough time for the pre-game activities and a tiny bit of sightseeing.

Day 1-ChampionShip

The Chiefs organization had secured and decorated a ship, appropriately named the ChampionShip (we have won two Super Bowls in the last four years). We found our hotel (Holiday Inn Frankfurt-Alte Oper), checked in, changed and headed for the ship. We had a few minor hiccups on the route from Deidesheim, but we made it in time. Just like the Holiday Inn in Munich, we were able to check in early due to my Platinum Elite status. Our room was smaller than the one we shared in Munich, but it was still a nice room. The hotel also had a restaurant/bar area that we ate at several times. Even though Munich is larger than Frankfurt, Frankfurt gave off more of a big city vibe.

After we were done at the ChampionShip, we ventured over to the Altstadt (Old Town). The Altstadt was largely destroyed during World War II and is a reconstructed version of the original that dated back to the Middle Ages. We happened upon a large group of Chiefs fans having a beer. We had one and talked briefly with a man at our table who questioned the “costumes” many of us were wearing. This particular man was from Amsterdam, but many Germans also had no idea what the NFL was. Many others had not only heard of the NFL, but also had a favorite team. This stop was also one of the few that only took cash. When the man from Amsterdam didn’t have the correct amount of Euros, his companion offered dollars, which were accepted. We had read before the trip that cash was required at a majority of places, but we only encountered a couple of places that only took cash.

Day 2-Sightseeing and NFL Events

We started the second day on a boat tour of Frankfurt along the Main River. You can choose to do either direction or both and we went both directions. It was nice to see more of the city without walking the entire time, but we did walk a bit after the tour and stopped at the NFL hosted event in town. We also ran into our friend that we watched the games with in Munich. Later in the day we went to a Chiefs event hosted by German fans and then stopped for Pizza Hut in the train station. There was corn on the veggie pizza once again and I was glad that I had ordered cheese once I realized that. Overall it was a pretty low-key day before the main event the next day.

Day 3-Game Day

Tickets to the game were hard to come by, so we ended up getting a package deal for a pre-game event and game tickets. We headed to the pre-game event a bit early. Food and drinks were included and they had both breakfast and lunch items. I had a great time listening to the two NFL legends and discussing the NFL with my German neighbor.

After the pre-game event, we headed to the game. We tried to go to meet up with our friend from Munich, but they didn’t let us go to that section. We headed up to our seats towards the top of the stadium. There weren’t any rails to hold onto, which was a little concerning, especially after the game when the ground was slick with beer and other drinks.

The Chiefs started out with an offensive bang, but the game got away from them for a bit. Thankfully the right team won. There was a halftime show that featured Nico Santos. I had been watching The Voice of Germany clips on YouTube before the trip and Nico was a judge on previous seasons, so I exclaimed “Oh, Nico Santos!” when his name was announced.

After the game we headed to the one train station nearby, with the masses. I was a little worried about being crushed, but we made it safely to one of the many trains that stopped to pick people up from the game. We ended the last night of our trip with a late dinner at the hotel.

Review

We had a great trip to Germany. I would love to go back and explore more of Bavaria and to see the Black Forest for the first time. We didn’t have much time in Frankfurt, but I preferred Munich. Our hotel in Frankfurt was nice, but I would caution anyone staying there to be aware of their surroundings as one direction leads to an area that we were warned about. Others who went to Frankfurt for the game mentioned the area around the main train station as an area to avoid. We agreed that the Old Town is a nice area to visit. I’m sure there are other areas that are nice to visit that we missed since we didn’t have much time outside of the game and events. Let us know in the comments what places you would recommend visiting in Frankfurt!