Frankfurt, Big City Germany

Although we always tell people that we are heading to or heading back to stay with gamily friends in Frankfurt, we had never actually visited the city itself. We fly into the airport and then head 45 minutes south to Goldbach, where the Seubert family lives. Even though everyone tells us that Frankfurt is just another big city with skyscrapers (which it is), we did want to see it firsthand. Goldbach is part of Bavaria, whereas Frankfurt is part of Hesse. To our untrained eye, there is no difference, but they do have a different accent and some things unique to the region.

Frankfurt has a large and very nice shopping district. There is a pedestrian only zone that is a wide street with outdoor cafes and restaurants. They also have a huge mall with this interesting window that extends into the mall itself.

This is the German stock exchange that recently merged with the NYSE. Not much going on, and unlike the NYSE there are no armed guards everywhere.

Frankfurt’s Opera House is very nicely done. In front of it sits an open space with a fountain and beyond that is a small park.

Another street is like the Rodeo Drive of Frankfurt with all the fancy shops like Gucci, Mont Blanc, Jimmy Choo, and the oh so popular Louis Vuitton - this is the line just to get in.

This is an old guard house that has been converted into a café of all things. Very cool looking building that just sits on its own in the middle of a busy commercial section.

This is Frankfurt’s Rathaus (town hall). One of the nicest we’ve seen and although not as large as Munich’s, has a beautiful red hue to it and extends back quite a bit. It also has some interesting features like statues of little animals around the rain gutters and a man with his hand cupped to his ear, listening to the city.

The Rathaus faces this square with this beautiful bronze fountain and original styled buildings. These are all reconstructions because most of Frankfurt was leveled during the last stages of WWII. All the buildings in the square have been rebuilt in this style, except for an adjacent museum which is this unsightly concrete slab. However, there are plans to tear it down and replace it with something more fitting to the rest of the square.

We walked out onto a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Main river to get a great view of the city on either side of the river.

There is a street with these funny looking row houses. A competition was launched and winning designs were built. It is a hodgepodge of style and most definitely unique.

The St. Bartholomew Cathedral, with its 95 m tall spire, is an imposing sight in the city. In front of the red church are two sets of ruins. One set is the foundation of some Roman baths. The other are to some medieval buildings built on top later.

The skinny-ness of the church adds to the perception of height of the main aisle. The church is relatively simple, but has some interesting pieces like this wall mounted sculpture that we speculated about what it was.

We ended our day by popping into a few stores, including this chocolate and candy store that was beautifully laid out. Somehow we managed to leave without buying anything.