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Published: April 18th 2019
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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 this city that it's often referred to as "Bankfurt" or "Mainhattan". Many of Frankfurt's modern skyscrapers are clustered in the so-called Banking District, where we snapped photos as we walked through the green spaces that encircle them. One of the earliest and more renowned of these skyscrapers, the Main Tower (built in 2000), has an observation deck that is over 50 stories above street
level.
From the Opera House and Banking District, we made our way to the so-called Fressgass' (roughly translates as "Feeding Street"), a pedestrian street lined on both sides with eateries of many varieties. When we reached this area, around lunchtime, there was quite a crowd filling the outdoor terraces. We eventually decided to have lunch at the Restaurant Die Leiter, which turned out to be quite a splurge by our standards. But the ambience, food and friendly Italian waiter (Luigi, originally from Naples, Italy) made it seem worth the tab ($100), as we thoroughly enjoyed our lamb chop and fish dishes.
After lunch, under clear blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70s, we continued our walk toward the Hauptwache, a small red-and-white building that was originally built in 1730 to house the Frankfurt city militia; today it houses a cafe. A short walk from the Hauptwache led us to the Römerberg, site of trade fairs as far back as the 12th-century. The Town Hall (Römer), where Holy Roman Emperors celebrated their coronations, is now occupied by Frankfurt's city council and mayor's office. A row of half-timbered, medieval-style homes (rebuilt in 1983) sits opposite the Town Hall on
the same square.
At this point we walked a few blocks before reaching the Main River and the Eiserner Steg Bridge, an iron bridge that dates to 1869. A set of stairs leads up to the deck of the bridge, from which point there are good views of the river and Frankfurt's skyline. We continued along the south bank of the river until the Untermain Bridge, where we walked north a few blocks before locating a taxi that delivered us back to our hotel by late in the afternoon.
Tomorrow we have on tap a full-day bus excursion, and boat ride, on a scenic section of the famous Rhine River.
Dee's comments: What a wonderful day, with such gorgeous weather and interesting sights along the way! I'm in awe at the peacefulness and beauty of this city. We limped around town on gimpy legs for about 2 miles today...Yay! Ate a delicious lunch of fish and asparagus, and the walking was quite energizing. After returning to the hotel, hubby conversed at some length with the friendly front desk personnel...turns out his German is pretty good. Went out to our pizza place up the street, which really hit
the spot. Lights out by 10:00 PM.
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Cindy
non-member comment
Gorgeous weather
What a lovely day.