When we ask about distances to and from places, the local people always tell us it's too far, but for us as we walk usually 8 to 10 km's per day, every European city is really quite compact and walking is never too far. We found this to be true as we took off on Sat. morning to head out to the old historic part of Frankfurt. You certainly can see how the city, a world known leader in finance and money affairs, has sort of given birth to huge glass and odd buildings which show up behind the old historic smaller and more characteristic facades. It looks as if the earth is giving birth and looks like the building is being pushed up and out of the older buildings that are in the forefront. The entire city is like this - the co-existence of old and new. You can't quite decide which to like better.
We befriended a Kiwi from NZ at brkfst and she and we hung out together for the day stopping and enjoying the various places and restaurants. She is just one of the many Aussies and NZ'ers on our bus trip.
The next day G and I took off to the center of the business district by the train stn and walked around. We went up an elevator that flew at 19 km/hr to the 55th floor where we could see the entire city. Took pictures, went to the washroom- all for 5€. Heh, you have to do such things to be able to find a toilet in Europe.
From on high, we spotted the apple wine festival and headed straight there. What a joy to see and know how the apples were further used after they were spent from making apple juice. The % of alcohol is like a beer but it was delicious - not at all like cider. In the booths the meat for the day was cooked over a wood fire and was laid on a huge round metal grate that was suspended by chains and was kept in constant motion. We need one of those for our family meat festival dinners. We headed off later to walk the city and ordered a pizza to take back with us for supper.
Frankfurt can easily be done in a day as the only really interesting place lies in the alt stadt or "old city" and the remainder of the city is just a working group of buildings and, of course, a red light district near the train stn. Wait a minute, I think we missed something.
