After a late breakfast in the hotel's buffet dining room, we ventured forth on foot to see some of the sights in the inner city. We walked in an easterly direction from our hotel, through very nicely maintained residential areas, until reaching the Opera House. The original building was finished in 1880, but it was gutted in the bombing of World War II, which devastated much of old Frankfurt. The current structure, rebuilt in the original style, dates to 1981, and sports statues of Mozart and Goethe as part of its entry facade. Present day Frankfurt, on the banks of the Main River (pop. 750,000), has become Germany's financial hub, and it is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bank, and many others. In fact, banking and finance are such pervasive and dominant forces in
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