Just realised It's been more than a week since I landed back in Blighty but might help to post a review of the hotel etc just in case one person needs to read it out of the several billion on the planet.
First Frankfurt and Germany themselves -
I was impressed with Germany, the level of English spoken is high and good, I found no one who couldn't speak English and thankfully this helped considerably.
Most things such as train ticket machines have multi language support so you can get far enough to get tickets etc.
Public transport is clean, efficient and makes transport in the UK appear medieval, trains are spacious and clean, they seem far wider than ours, more seating, far better lighting and ventilation and you feel your traveling on a open glass carriage rather than the cramped and dark trains we have.
Buses and trams are no different, they run exactly on time, the Autobahn has a glass like surface, barely a bump is felt over hundreds of kilometers, they really know how to do transport.
The Germans recycle like maniacs, although we've started to recycle with 5 wheelie bins stuck outside every house now they don't seem to have the problems we have.
Walk into a supermarket and the bottles and packing are labeled so you know you can recycle, it will say "Cola PET" so you know it's a PET bottle.
When they are empty the Germans take them back to the supermarket and pop them in a machine, it crushes them and weighs them, when your done it gives you a money off coupon for your shopping.
You don't get carrier bags unless you ask, glass bottles are also recycled with the same attitude - I even noticed in the station the bins have 4 compartments so you can sort your glass, plastic etc, full marks on that one.
Food - you can't fault it really, the only complaint was too much of it, the supermarkets stock a vast range of stuff, far more than UK stores - the restaurants serve good food with anything meat being particularly good.
I had Chinese while there, Hungarian, Italian etc and no complaints on any of it, the hotel food was very good, I can't really complain on anything.
Some days the lunch was so large I couldn't eat an evening meal.
Now for the hotel .....
I stopped in the Hotel Mercure, Im Dammwald, Friedrichsdorf.
This is about 30 mins North (west slightly) of Frankfurt, just after Bad Homburg.
The hotel is about 10 mins from the station, it's not a long walk at all but if your lazy the local taxis charge about 3 Euro for the journey.
Next door is the Toom supermarket so no problem stocking up on bottled water etc if you want.
I stayed in a room with a balcony (most rooms don't have them), had a double bed, settee (which can also be a bed) a chair and table and an armchair so plenty of seating.
The good bits first.
Hotel room clean and tidy, normally I'm used to finding light fittings or mirrors hanging off walls but not here, everything was spotless, even the balcony was clean.
Everything worked fine, a good picture on the TV and a seperate dressing/storage area so all your clothes had plenty of storage room.
The room had a small mini bar fridge so enough room to put some bottles of water, I managed to put a litre of fruit juice in and 3 small bottles of water so no problems there.
Unlike most hotels I found this one quiet and relaxed, even with the descending Cosmos coach trips the hotel remained quiet - the only time any noise was noticed was during a wedding but even that didn't go far into the night.
Freidrichsdorf is on the edge of the Taunus region so you get hills on most sides and quite lively weather - one minute we're sitting having a drink, next it's thundering and raining.
Within walking distance is the town center itself, plenty of restaurants etc so no need for a car if your not going far.
Frankfurt is 3.70 Euro one way (I think 6.40 Euro return), this takes you right into Frankfurt Main station so no problems there either.
Food - We found out almost at the end of our stay the Fish menu was missing from the English menu so make sure you ask about Fish.
Breakfast had more than you could eat, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, fresh bread etc, fantastic honey and butter, you couldn't complain.
Meals consisted of Beef, Chicken, Turkey or Pork but the steaks were far better than anything in the UK (unless you go to Scotland), I will miss the amazing steaks.
Sometimes the hotel had a buffet and again no complaints on that - they had cold and hot food and very nice it was too.
All in all a nice hotel to stay at with friendly staff and good food - I never got to check the pool out but other people said it was fine.
Bad points -
The view from my balcony consisted of looking into the living rooms of the flats behind the hotel, perhaps not the best view but that's the way it was.
The rooms didn't have a kettle in them, just a Tassimo, so unless you like Coffee your stuck.
On some days the room service forgot to put any Coffee or sugar out so I had none, other days they let me have one then others three !
I would have liked some tea so take note of this but buying tea bags serves no purpose without a kettle.
Also small things - the room had a bottle of mineral water in (free in most UK hotels), here it was 2.70 Euro, so I went to Toom and got 6 bottles for just over a Euro.
I've stayed in hotels where a bottle of mineral water was by your bed every day, it makes a lot of difference, you get in and are dehydrated so it counts for a lot when you can have a nice drink without realising it's cost almost 3 Euro.
It would have been nice as well to have had one or two English satelite channels, 10 days watching Simpsons in German was too much.
Apart from that it was a good hotel and a good stay, I left quite relaxed knowing the trip out of Germany would be equally relaxing - I knew heart in heart that the problems would be the moment I stepped off the plane in the UK and I was not proven wrong.
Well done Germany and thanks to the Hotel Mercure, I enjoyed my trip and certainly want to return one day.
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