On Sunday, David and I drove to the Frankfurt Airport and picked up Anaëlle, the granddaughter of the French couple I had lived with during my junior year abroad in Brittany, France. Anaëlle wanted to work on her English and we were happy to welcome her into our home for two weeks.
Germany is not the most exciting place to visit in the winter. The weather can pose a problem and many touristy sights, such as the castles on the Rhein, close down during the gloomy winter months. I was hoping we could think of enough things to keep Anaëlle from experiencing the winter doldrums.
Today was the last day the Turmpalast, a movie theater in the city that shows films in their original languages, would be showing
Twilight: New Moon. Hey, that counts as an English activity, right? Why not take a trip into Frankfurt?
Frankfurt is one of only three cities in the European Union that have a significant number of skyscrapers. With 10 skyscrapers (i.e. buildings taller than 150 m or 492 ft) as of 2009, Frankfurt is second behind Paris with 14 skyscrapers, and on par with London which also has 10 skyscrapers.
The Eschenheimer Turm - a 47 meter high gothic tower - is one of the few remaining towers of the medieval fortifications that encircled the city of Frankfurt. The tower was once just one of about 60 towers encircling the city. It's located directly in front of the movie theatre.
What Frankfurt looked like in the early 1600s. If you look carefully, you can see some of the towers.
Unfortunately for us, the movie theatre changed its scheduled and decided not to show
New Moon. There was only one thing left to do: shopping. Just a short walk away is the Zeil, the pedestrian zone that is the principal shopping district of the city.
The Zeilgalerie shopping center has been around since 1992, but a newly-redesigned section opened last year and I had yet to go inside.
The striking design from the outside....
....and from the upper floors inside. Here is Anaëlle, grateful that it was nice and warm in there.
We went up escalator after escalator to reach the upper-most floors, but later realized that there was an express escalator that would have zoomed us straight to the top. There were so many fantastic stores, but it was a cold Wednesday morning and the mall was pretty empty.
Snow and ice fell from the roof down this tube.
Anaëlle seemed impressed by this sparkling mall.
Just a few blocks away is the medieval Römer, one of Frankfurt's most important landmarks. It has been the city hall or Rathaus for 600 years. The building on the left is called the Alt-Limpurg, the middle building is the Haus Römer and the building on the right is Löwenstein Haus. They make up the most important part of the Römerberg or Römer Plaza.
Starting in the 12th century, large trade fairs were held on the Römerberg, drawing visitors and merchants from as far as Italy and France. The Römerberg was also the site of all kind of festivities, most importantly those celebrating the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperors, who were crowned in the town hall. During the month of December since the 1300s, this square has been the location of one of Germany's largest Christmas markets.
These buildings opposite the Römer which were destroyed during WWII were only rebuilt during the 1980s.
This street performer balanced bottles and glasses on his forehead while he played "O Susannah" on his clarinet. America can show up in some of the most unusual ways here in Europe.
Closeup of the Haus Römer with statues of two of the four kaisers of the Holy Roman Empire. The eagle is featured in the German coat of arms and is a symbol of Germany.
The Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Fountain of Justice) at the center of the square was built in 1543. The statue of goddess Justitia, holding the scales of justice but without her usual blindfold, faces the Römer.
On the left-hand corner of the Alt-Limpurg is the
Frankfurtia, the female embodiment of the city.
Another view of the square with Frankfurt Cathedral, St. Bartholomew's, in the distance.
The Alte Nikolaikirche, a small early gothic church built in 1290. It was used as the court chapel for the emperors until the 15th century.
An small, eroded detail on the side of Alte Nikolaikirche
Statue of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, in front of the Historical Museum located in the Römerberg. Today Charlemagne is regarded not only as the founding father of both French and German monarchies, but also as
the father of Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Romans.
Detail of one of the doors of the Haus Römer.
One of the first things people usually say about Frankfurt is, "Frankfurt, like many German cities, was pretty much destroyed during WWII. But unlike other cities which were meticulously rebuilt to recreate the pre-war appearance, Frankfurt was re-built in a modern style. So, it's not as pretty as other German cities." It is a shame when you consider that Frankfurt had one of Europe's largest and most well-preserved medieval centers before the war. Only very few landmark buildings have been reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner.
Here is the Römer during the 1930s....
....and in 1945.
Church steeples were often left intact to serve as visual landmarks.
As you walk around so many German cities, it's difficult to fathom the amount of work and money that went into reconstruction, whether the city planners chose to go modern or not.
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