Frankfurt, Germany

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Date: 26.02.2005
Destination: Frankfurt, Germany
Day: 1

At first, this trip was not intended but because there was still another day left in our 6 days Eurail ticket, we were able to take this short trip south. The trip was a short one, just 1 and a half hour. Frankfurt is supposedly the economy capital of Germany and has the most high rise buildings in the whole Europe! Nicknamed Mainhattan of Germany.

We reached there near noon. This place is like a typical city in Germany, clean and safe. After exiting the main train station, we walked toward the old town, as usual. Along the way, we saw some high rise but frankly speaking, nothing really special. It is not "that" high and can't even compare to Kuala Lumpur. Some has unique features, such as in a half cylinder shaped but mostly just normal. Then in a park along the way, just infront of two tall buildings, there was a Euro sign. This, I think was one of the landmark of Frankfurt. Further down the road, we reached the old town.

This old part of the town is called the Roemerberg, a site for big Christmas market. A city hall is situated here and just opposite it are a row of Medieval house, some of the traditional town house of the yesteryear. As Frankfurt was largely detroyed during the war, this part of town was actually rebuild accordingly to the original houses. A fountain is located just in the middle of this small square with souvenir shops and a lot of restaurants around. This is the most frequent place in Frankfurt and just behind the square, there was a bridge with a great view of the high-rise building in Frankfurt.

We walked across the bridge and there was a flee market set up just at bank of the river. Eventhough it is freezing winter, there are still a lot of people setting up stalls selling everything, from antiques, old books to bicycles and food. We then walked back to the old town and just wandered around, finding something to eat. We came across to a street with restaurants on both side, then reaching the Alte Oper, the old opera house. The further we walked, the more high rise we passed through but the more we realise we were missing! We walked into some housing estate but we felt perfectly safe as this is Germany!

We just walked around more high rise buildings until at last, saw something more familiar, the Euro sign. So, after touring the so called "Mainhattan" of Europe, we went back to the train station and start our short journey home. Frankfurt to me really is just a normal city, nothing too special, maybe except the Roemerberg, which is why I don't intend to be back anytime soon...

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