Frankfurt in my heart, mustard on my bag,
Trip Start
Nov 30, 2007
1
4
34
Trip End
Jan 17, 2008
Frankfurt,
Germany
Sunday, December 2, 2007
So I did Frankfurt, or at least the three hour version of it -- after a half hour gate delay, an hour of screwing around in the airport before, and leaving two hours to go from the city to the flight, that 7 hour layover got real small real quick.
It was neat in some ways; I like most European cities, particularly when the available comparisons are Canadian and American cities
I think this is the bankng district.
. But it wasn't a huge deal, I guess. Partly because I wasn't really travelling through Frankfurt because of a love of Frankfurt so much as because I had to stop over somewhere and Frankfurt has a better airport than London. Also partly because I was originally going to meet a friend of mine who's currently living in Germany, but she had to go to the Canadian Embassy 9in Berlin at the last minute. Le sigh.Anyways, Frankfurt. First step was taking the S-Bahn (tram) to the biggest train station I could find. Because train stations are awesome, and who wants to miss that? From there, I walked through the classiest seedy district I've ever seen; it was awesome. Sex shops on every block, but all in classic architecture with well laid out urban form. Damn, I love European urban form.
Thence, over through the banking district, looking at the various skyscrapers all the way. For some reason, every time I'm in a city with a structure by Lord Foster, (in this case Commerzbank, but see also: HSBC, St. Mary Axe) I wind up with a hundred photos of the thing. Lord help me when The Bow's done.
THAT'S how you do an urban car dealership.
A bit of getting lost on sidestreets later, I came upon the Römer, the City hall, which was originally built out of combining a handful of adjacent half-timbered houses, then bombed, then built again to look the same.
The plaza outside (I assume Römerplatz) w as filled with vendors and stalls, and, indeed, it seemed like a market on every pedestrian street I went on thereafter, which was pretty magical. There were stands selling farmer's produce, various knicknacks, and a wide variety of snack foods, so I ate, at various points, some sort of fried thing with applesauce (that may have been potato pancakes), a sausage on a bun (Thuringer - didn't see any Frankfurters) and a streusel made with sour cherries. Awesome. I also took the opportunity to smear spicy mustard on my camera bag.
Along these various pedestrian streets (most notably the Zeil, the longest pedestrian mall in Germany, I believe) were, along with a multi-story H&M every block, a wide array of other shops and services, and the Zeilgalerie, a 7-story or so shopping mall built in a very narrow space by building as a spiral; each revolution took you up one floor in height, and past about a dozen stores and services
Part of the market. Pretty awesome.
. The highlight of the Zeilgalerie is that someone had the genius idea to put a viewing terrace on the roof.There's an astounding view from the rooftop, down the Zeil and another pedestrian mall, towards the skyscrapers of the banking district, and it's free. We could use one of these, say, along 17th Avenue or something. After marvelling in the view fr a while, I strolled down the Zeil to Konstablerwache, which is a plaza (hosting a farmer's market, in fact) and also a U-Bahn/S-bahn station, which whisked me to the beautifully efficient airport, and whence to here.
Oh, I should also mention I've completed the ceremonial Losing Of The Pedometer, so this trip has officially begun.
