We first landed in Frankfurt and my first taste of the culture was when we were going through customs and there was a man who tried to run through without talking to anyone. They were tackled and yelled at by the officers and I was honestly very frightened. Thankfully, I had taken the group flight, so there were several of us all there witnessing this. Our first day I spent most of my time just walking around. We finally got to the hotel and checked in about 3, but I wanted to be able to take in every moment of being in Europe. Thankfully, the plane does a pretty good job of simulating night and day, so they turn off all the lights to try to get people to sleep. I think that really helped me to not feel quite as jet-lagged when going there because I was kind of on the right track. A group of us started off by going to the nearby museum called the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. It had everything from suits of armor to sculptures of David and Goliath and many other things. I thought it was an amazing start of the trip because it included some of the history of the area as well as just some true museum pieces that I probably could not find anywhere else.
I found that walking tours were one of my favorite things because they allowed me to get a perspective that I would not be able to get otherwise, and it allowed me to learn while I was sightseeing. If I were not with a guide, I would not know many of the facts they are sure to explain. We were able to learn that the large monument in the middle of the town square has Ludwig I on the top who was a very influential person in Darmstadt. We were also able to see the first place that electricity was invented in Europe, see white asparagus on the street, a tower that the locals use as a meeting point and much more. They explained some of the history of the buildings and castles that are scattered throughout the town. One thing that stuck out to me was the fact that there were stumble stones placed all over. They were a way to remember the last place many of the victims of the holocaust chose willingly to live. Even though there was a bit of a language barrier I found that being willing to ask questions about what they were talking about and making sure you are at a distance you can hear makes the experience really worthwhile.
The last major stop in Darmstadt was Frankenstein castle. I had built up so much anticipation for myself as to what it would be because it was rumored that Mary Shelley came up with the name Frankenstein because she was nearby and could see the castle from where she was. The castle was not really a castle anymore because so much of it had simply become ruins over time. It was still amazing to see the type of places that people used to live. I think the coolest part about the castle was probably that there was a church that had many of the original pieces that made it feel as if it were taken out of the time period almost. We finally got to the end of our guided tour of the area and the guide broke the news to us that this was most likely not in Mary Shelley's view that day so it is improbable that she would have been inspired by it. At first, I began to almost feel betrayed that we had come to this place to "find Frankenstein" and that there was really nothing to find, but then I remembered that we are just at the beginning of the trail that we were following.
