Breakfast in Frankfurt, Germany

Half the fun of traveling is immersing yourself in the culture. It is fun and educational, yet can be quite challenging at times, even what seems like a simple task, like getting breakfast in Frankfurt. We could have had a full breakfast buffet in the hotel where the staff knew English. That would be been easy and delicious, but boring and not my style. For our first morning in Frankfurt, we ventured into a bakery and decided on buttered rolls for breakfast. Pointing to the rolls worked well, ordering butter, proved to be a little more problematic. I asked for butter, figuring it probably sounded somewhat the same in German. The baker vacantly looked at me. “Butter,” I repeated. Nothing! Apparently, outside of New York having a buttered roll for breakfast is baffling. It's a New York thing. So I settled for a plain roll.

The next challenge was getting a cup of coffee. There was some sort of self-service coffee maker past the baked goods and the register. Do we get the coffee first and pay for it at the register? Do we pay for the coffee and then get it? Do we pour? Do they pour? I tried to ask the cashier. We ended up smiling at each other. Nonchalantly, I walked over to the coffee machine. I picked up a coffee cup and looked back at the cashier. She kept smiling, so I smiled back. A customer said something that sounded like I shouldn’t be doing that. Another customer motioned the cashier and said, “Pay first.” Ah, good. Progress.

I picked up a cup and added milk and sugar to it. There were two levels on the coffee maker on which I could put the cup. I carefully thought about it and picked the bottom shelf. As soon as pushed the "starten" button, I could see my error. The coffee hit the top shelf and splashed all over the coffee maker, the counter, and my roll sending a thimbleful of coffee into my milk. I sheepishly smiled at the cashier and the customers, wiped up my blunder, and crawled away.

I learned an important travel hack that day. Watch locals manuever the environment so you don't end up with roll, no butter, and brown milk.