Visainterview in Frankfurt

"Welcome to the United States"... This is the name of a book for new immigrants to the USA. Why do I know that? Because I got such a book today!
Yes, I am in Germany right now. The reason is the visa interview in Frankfurt. During the last half year Dave filed my visa petition, I collected all kind of documents and went to a medical exam. In mid December I received the invitation letter from the US embassy in Frankfurt for an interview today. I decided to fly into Germany (Duesseldorf) a day early and drive to Frankfurt. It is a 2.5 hours drive and I got a rental car for that. I stayed in a hotel just around the corner from the embassy. My appointment was at 9:00 but from what I read in different internet forums I decided to be there a little bit early. Actually it is first come first server.
Outside the embassy there is a window where everybody has to show his/her invitation letter and get a number. Then I had to wait outside for the security check (like at an airport). From there I walked into another big room with 23 windows. My first station was one window where I got a envelop and instructions on how to sort the documents I brought with me. From there they sent me to the next window where I had to pay the visa fee of 400$. After that I had some minutes to sort the documents and write my German address onto the envelop I got. After been called forward to the next window I had to show the originals of all the documents and a nice yound lady looked at all of them and told me that everything is okay. This is where I got the above mentioned book ;o) After all of this was done I sat down again and waited for the real interview with one of the officers there. And that was easy, too. A little bit small talk about how and where Dave and I met and when we got married. After leaving my fingerprints everything was done. All in all it took maybe 90 minutes and I was on my way home. Now I am sitting here and wait for my passport and another sealed envelop to arrive at my German address. Shouldn't take too long.