Germany: Frankfurt

Frankfurt is not the main destination for this trip but it is our temporary stop while we try to shake off the jet lag.  We took an overnight flight on Monday and then arrived downtown by train at mid-day on Tuesday.  It was uncharacteristically warm (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in the city so even though we had to walk only four blocks to the hotel, by the time we reached our room I was very uncomfortably sweaty.  We were so very tired.  I took a quick shower and then we both took naps until dinnertime.  We managed to pull ourselves together in order to eat at the Thai restaurant across the street and then go right back to bed.

In the morning we went to the corner cafe and had a really nice light breakfast.  Hans got a breakfast sandwich on nice seed bread and I got a kind of layered pastry with cinnamon and walnuts.  Mit kaffee, of course!

We followed the Rick Steves guidebook walk through the highlights of Frankfurt.

The tour took us three short blocks through one of the city's more notorious neighborhoods, made up of legal drug use facilities and brothels.  Many years ago the city government allowed for the establishment of safer drug use sites, mostly to encourage safe needle use.  Early in the morning on a weekday the number of panhandlers and users seemed small and the large hotel-sized brothels were quiet.  The few restaurants on this stretch of road were receiving the day's deliveries.  If you've been to "The Block" in downtown Baltimore the vibe is very similar.

Quickly, the ecosystem changed and we were in the main banking district with high rise glass and steel buildings and the opera house.  From here we strolled through the daily food and wine stall market and over to a rebuilt town square, the Römerburg, meant to look like the city during medieval times.

The opera house, built in 1880, destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt in the 1970s as a concert hall

 

We stumbled upon this very unique fountain along the way.
Keep reading for a clue as to what it is!

 

An interesting building on the Römerburg.  I think it's just a restaurant now

The Römerburg, where the statue of justice has her eyes wide open and her gaze falls upon City Hall

Outside of City Hall many wedding parties were gathered.  All marriages must be performed in a civil ceremony here in order to be deemed legal.  Not pictured but just below the post there is a marker on the ground where a Nazi book burning took place on May 10th, 1933

Some neat-looking geese strolling on the streetcar tracks

 

An unplanned stop on our highlights tour was the old Jewish cemetery.  In order to gain entry we had to ask for the gate key at the Museum Judengasse next door.  Hans was handed a Yarmukah to wear during our visit.  The quiet plot was very beautiful and also sad.

This Jewish cemetery is the second oldest north of the Alps and dates back to 1272.  People were interred here up until 1828.  In 1939 the Jewish community was forced to sell their properties and cemeteries to the City of Frankfurt.  Originally this cemetery was going to leveled and demolished.  About 175 tombstones of historical or aesthetic value were removed in advance but in the meantime the rest of of the cemetery's monuments began to be destroyed.  This work was halted because it was decided that rubble and debris from bombings would be dumped on the site instead.  All around it's just so shitty and heartbreaking.  However, because the active destruction was stopped, about 2,500 headstones were saved.  After 1945 the cemetery was cleaned up, but this process took decades.  It was not until the 1990s that historians were able to properly document what remained.  The tombstones that had been removed and preserved have been moved back to the perimeter of today's cemetery.

The outer walls serve as a touching memorial to all of the Frankfurt-born Jews who died in the Holocaust.  On the wall are Anne Frank and her sister Margot, who both died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp within weeks of liberation.

We turned back towards downtown and headed to the Kleinmarkthalle, a historic old-style covered market that locals enjoy.  The many stalls crammed inside see everything from game meat to fresh fruit and veg and pastries.  There are also some very nice food stands.  We chose to eat at one of the few with a little bit of seating for a light lunch.

To be honest, my main draw to Frankfurt today was the Struwwelpeter Museum.  Struwwelpeter, or "shock-headed Peter", is a children's book that was written and illustrated by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann in 1845.  It contains illustrated stories meant to teach children about morals and proper behavior in an exaggerated, entertaining, and often violent way.  It is so embedded in German literary lore that people made reproductions of the book from memory for their children during times of war.  The book was also popularized worldwide.  Mark Twain created his own translated version but it was not able to be published until 25 years after his death due to copyright laws.

Speaking of, this book is now in the public domain so enjoy perusing the text and illustrations online here.

Frankfurt native Dr. Hoffman was a pretty cool dude, from what I learned at the museum (and with the help of Google Translate).  Midway through his career in psychiatry he was appointed as the doctor for Frankfurt's lunatic asylum and quickly changed the facility's practices so that it became a much more humane and caring environment for patients.

There was an adorable dress-up room where kids can pretend to be all of the story characters.  Sadly, none were adult sized but I found a prop for cutting off thumbs!

Now that it was late in the afternoon we went back to the Römerberg for a glass of local apfelwine, a musty and sour fermented apple beverage that Rick Steves accurately describes as "an acquired taste".

Once we were back at the hotel jet lag took over once again.  We went to another restaurant within our hotel block, this time for fusion food.  My noodles were pretty good and Hans had another curry.  Unfortunately, neither of us really slept during the night because we were either still mentally stuck in the wrong time zone or the loud music someone blasted until after 3 am kept us up.  Tomorrow we will go and pick up the rental car.