I'm 29, Swedish (so forgive me if my grammar or spelling is sometimes a bit odd!) and I live in West...
I'm 29, Swedish (so forgive me if my grammar or spelling is sometimes a bit odd!) and I live in Westcliff on Sea, Essex.
Member since:10.02.2001
Reviews:33
Members who trust:3
I used to go to Frankfurt am Main all the time when I lived in Germany and it is the ugliest city I have been to. However, it does have its uses. For shopping it is good, there are several department stores around the town centre (around Hauptwache and on Zeil in particular) and plenty of expensive up-market shops can be found on Goethestrasse. It has a couple of 'original version' cinemas, where English films are shown undubbed. The main shopping street is Zeil, another good one is Leipzger Strasse, which is conveniently close to the Palmgarten, a park. The slightly more laid-back Sachsenhausen is a good place to be if you fancy some apple wine and West End is good if you fancy a stroll around quiet residential streets. For food, go to Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse or why not to my favourite chicken and fries place. It’s just a few doors down on the right hand side of the road directly opposite the railway station’s main entrance. You can’t miss it, there’s almost always a queue outside and the chicken is seriously good.
To get to the town centre from the station, you can simply walk through the red-light district, down either Kaiserstrasse (best option) or Taunusstrasse. I found it quite intimidating the first time, but I realised it's actually not dangerous and in the end I used to walk around it after dark on my own with confidence. The red-light district is where most of the cheap hotels are, but it’s not the best place to be and there are better, but still cheap, hotels in West End and Sachsenhausen.
One of the two major Frankfurt dailies, Frankfurter Rundschau, has a very good 'what's on section' a few times a week (I forget which days), listings magazines are Frankfurter Journal, Frankfurter Woche and az. Frankfurt is not exactly a ‘happening’ place, but it has a few theatres and concert venues. The annual Book Fair is not to be missed if you are in the area.
Because Frankfurt was bombed to smithereens during the war, most of the only buildings still standing are around the pretty but small Römer square. This is where the Christmas Market is held, which is enjoyable and pleasant. The museum area (Museumsufer) on the south bank is worth a look, there is a fleamarket on Saturdays and the museums are open every day but Monday. There’s plenty to see because of the variety of museums- Liebighaus (sculpture), Deutsches Filmmuseum, Deutsches Postmuseum, Museum für Völkerkunde (ethnological), Museum für Kunsthandwerk (handicraft), Städel (gallery) and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum. The skyscrapers are worth a look too, the nicest one is Messeturm, that’s the one that looks like a pencil. To get a good look at the city there is a roof above a large record shop that’s open (please forgive me, I never paid any attention to which shop, as I never thought I’d be writing about it) on the main shopping street. As Frankfurt is not pretty, the view is not breathtaking, but you get a good view of the area. Frankfurt also has a zoo, but I have not been there.
Frankfurt is not a tourist destination, but if you are going to Germany, going here for a few days will do you no harm. Because of the new-ish architecture it is not pretty and you might find that the locals are not the friendliest. However, for some strange reason, I sometimes miss it so I guess something appealed to me. Before I go- two things. All shops close very early on Sundays and after 4 o’ clock almost nothing remains open. Because of this, Sundays are the best days for going to the cinema or leaving the city. Also, Frankfurt is not the drugs capital of Europe for no reason and if you don’t like seeing people shooting up, prepare yourself.
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Have only been at the airport in Frankfurt...thank you for the 'great read'...LL
From_The_Continent 18.02.2001 00:40
Excellent, very accurate report about Frankfurt. I have lived therefor two years and can fully support everything you have said about it.
Modena 14.02.2001 23:30
Hi, just read your informative opinion and profile, I am interested in politics and current affairs too, particularly economic ones, I wish Ciao offered more scope to write these opinions, regards, Modena
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Feb 14th, 2001
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