Frankly, This is Frankfurt

When I got into the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, Jan, my Couchsurfing host, was already at the platform waiting for me so that allowed me no time to get into any real confusion upon arrival. From the station, we walked the literal few meters to his flat which I came to find out later is right in the heart of the red light district (I should have gotten the hint from all the scandalous posters I saw all over the buildings nearby). I was glad to find out that Jan hadn't eaten dinner yet either even though it was quite late so we ventured out to find some grub. I didn't really have anything in mind as I've just been interested in trying local cuisine this whole trip but as it turns out, Frankfurt is a pretty international city so Jan ended up taking me to an African restaurant called Im Herzen Afrikas where the dishes came from Eritrea, making this the first time I had ever heard of this country, let alone eat food from there. When we got there, I wouldn't have known a restaurant existed beyond the doors because it was so well hidden and there weren't any windows in the door to see what was inside. Upon entering though, I could see that it was a pretty large space and there were people sitting in tiny little chairs crouching over their tables but we managed to walk through the sand to a table with adult-sized chairs and a table to match.

Meat options

Vegetable options

Jan ended up picking an option that contained three types of meat and three types of veggies but what he hasn't warned me about was that everything was to be eaten by hand. It was pretty cool when the huge single tray came out and all of the choices that Jan had picked were arranged on top of this type of spongey bread and we had a side of the bread as a transportation device for the different sauces of meats and veggies. There was such a wide array of flavors and some were tasty and a few were seasoned way too much but it was a very tasty meal overall and as far I can remember, fairly inexpensive.

So much food!!

Inception of food photography

After leaving the restaurant, we needed to digest a bit so Jan directed us towards the Main (pronounced "mine") River. We walked past the financial area where I saw a big Euro sign and learned that the European financial center is situated in Frankfurt. I actually knew nothing about Frankfurt before going and the only reason I had decided to have a short stay there was because it was a reasonable halfway point between Munich and Paris (I know... I ended up there a second time - will explain more in the next post). I had been messaging Jan prior to my arrival and I missed the 25th year since Germany's reunification celebration by a day but I got to see some of the remnants of it and watch a video of the light show on the river along with other events of the weekend that Jan compiled. We eventually walked to an open area that walked through the important events for Frankfurt since Germany's reunification. I later learned why Berlin was an isolated city inside of Germany because it was in East Germany but was still divided into two sections of West and East. I am starting to realize more and more that I'm so ignorant to all of these world affairs and it's amazing how easy it can be sometimes to continue living in a bubble where everything is fine and dandy with the world.

The financial building used to be right behind this sign

Walking through the years since Germany's reunification

The church right next to the exhibit of the 25 Years of Reunification

Another night view from the exhibit

Tents from the celebration

As we continued on, we walked across the bridge and I had the chance to admire the River Main and learn a little bit more about Jan and Frankfurt. Jan's job is to look at buildings and evaluate them to see what needs to be done with them to increase their price. He grew up right outside of Frankfurt I believe and his job brought him into the city. He did study English in Santa Barbara for a year and said that the first thing he wanted was a McDonald's meal which I had a laugh about. By the time we got to the other bridge, we had covered a good bit of ground so we headed back towards Jan's and I looked up walking tours for the next day and other things to do before turning in for the night.

The Main River

Locks on the bridge

Amazing night views

The walking tour the next day didn't meet until the afternoon so I walked around a bit by myself and finally purchased another phone cord! I walked through some of the same places that Jan had taken me to the night before like the new opera house and the financial district and getting to the Main River and I'm not sure how I got so turned around because several attempts at going a different direction kept bringing me back to the river. It was an odd day for me because I think that Frankfurt gave me a bit of culture shock since I've been traveling; it really reminded me of downtown Manhattan and there isn't really a better way for me to describe it than that.

Upon walking out of Jan's flat

The new opera house

Fountain right next to the operahouse

Opera house

Such a descriptive sign

Something was being built behind here

Peering through the window

Wandered back - Another attempt at taking a photo of the fountain

Walking through the park

Manhattan-like

After a few futile attempts to go to the north of the city, despite having a map, I decided to check out what was good to eat. I passed by lots of places advertising buffets for relatively good prices but a quick search on a traveling site recommended one Chinese buffet so there I headed. It was actually quite interesting people watching in that restaurant because for a few minutes, I forgot which city I was in. I might have mentioned it before but it really does come as a shock to me when Asians can speak something other than an Asian language or English fluently. But enough of that.
Upon getting to the walking tour meeting point, I met our tour guide, Benny, a couple from Texas, a girl from some other place in Germany, and a group from Israel, I believe. After more people gathered, we started on our way through the Red Light District as Benny told us about the political issues of Frankfurt. We were told of the issues surrounding drugs, sex, and crime and how the establishment of legal injection sites have decreased the number of deaths on the streets due to drugs from about 300 a year to about 10-15. Also, it is legal to use drugs but illegal to possess, buy, or sell which makes me wonder how drug use in itself is legal... We were also told that there is a huge presence of gangs with first the Italian mafia, then the Russian mafia, and now Hell's Angels and the police have learned to stay away from them. This is so surreal to me because these are things I've only really seen in movies. We were told that the first prostitutes there were the widows of soldiers and the Red Light District is conveniently located right at the train station because when soldiers and other travelers passed through, they could quickly stop by for some enjoyment and be on their way.

Red Light district

Buildings

The Hauptbahnhof right next to the Red Light District

How guests get lured in

Skyscrapers everywhere

Walking out of the Red Light District, we passed by a street with a legal injection site and I saw people right outside shooting up. Benny said that many users don't like to go into the actual building and just end up sitting outside which just defeats the purpose of the site. It was so shocking to see it in real life. A part of me is still super innocent to these things but these are real issues that I know don't contain easy solutions.
As we walked towards the financial district, Benny told us that Frankfurt is a really diverse city with 53% of the population holding onto non-German passports and 65% of the children there are of immigrants. We saw the silver tower which I believe is the building for the European financial center and were told that Frankfurt sometimes has the nickname of "Mainhattan" so I wasn't wrong on my feeling of it reminding me of downtown Manhattan.

Silver tower

From the city center, we walked past the house of the prominent German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and got taken to look at a stumble stone. The stumble stone project is part of a movement to commemorate the murdered Jews during the Holocaust and it came from the idea that these little stones used to be placed as graves and as a part of this movement, each stumble stone that is placed throughout the city is a little elevated plaque that states the name of a murdered Jew.

Goethe Haus

Goethe's house restored

Stumble stone

From the one stumble stone that we saw, we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral where I went with Jan the previous night and saw all of the displays put up listing the current events from each year since the reunification of Germany. Benny sat us down in the front of the Cathedral like schoolchildren and told us about the Holy Roman empire of Germany and how we were sitting in the birthplace of German democracy. He also informed us that the Parliament used to meet in St. Paul's Cathedral and how when Germany needed to form a new flag after the reunification, they decided to go with black, red, and gold to symbolize coming out of the dark past (black) after much fighting with their own blood (red) to look towards a bright future (gold). Pretty cool symbolism.
From St. Paul's Cathedral, we walked into this alleyway that had two paintings depicting a German specialty as well as a Frankfurt specialty. Using the paintings, Benny told us about two dishes that are special to Frankfurt, one of which is a green sauce that is typically served with hard-boiled eggs and the other directly translates to hand cheese with music (Handkäs mit Musik) which apparently is really smelly but tastes great (I didn't get a chance to try these before leaving unfortunately). Additionally, a drink specialty of Frankfurt is apple wine, which Benny said you need to drink a few glasses of to fully enjoy.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Cute little drawing atop a building

View from the Cathedral

Remnants from East Germany

Benny telling us a story

Other side of the Cathedral

Frankfurt's symbol - flying eagle

Making wine

Apple picking for apple wine

Past the alleyway, we walked into the market square which contains the Römer which acts as the city town hall. We were told that during the coronation of the emperor, the Römer would be the last stop of the parade and the statue right outside would flow with wine and each coronation, the statue would get so heavily damaged from people drinking from it that eventually, there was a small fountain for the wine that was created next to the statue for future coronations.

Walking into the market square

The Romer

The fountain of Justice which used to flow with wine for the coronations

Unique buildings of the square

After the Römer, Benny told us the story of the student book-burning that I learned about in Berlin and showed us a plaque dedicated to that event as well. Then, the last place that we went to was the top of a shopping gallery that offered a view of the city. It was here that Benny concluded with saying that Frankfurt has been noted to be the seventh best city to live in. I think after hearing this and knowing my reaction to this statement did I realize that I'm not a big city girl. I've loved a lot of the smaller cities that I've visited but had no major attachment to Frankfurt. I'd say it's a nice place to visit and I'm glad I did but it wouldn't be on my list of potential cities to live which is also how I feel about Manhattan so there's that.

Book-burning plaque

Headed for an amazing view of the city

i_mon_top

After the tour, I went back to Jan's and shortly after he returned, I suggested that we go for a run because he told me that he typically goes for runs along the river. I figured I needed to do something more than my regular walking so I took advantage of that statement he made the night before and we headed out. Now, I've been experiencing a mild case of tendonitis in both of my Achilles but I thought it would go away with time but this run proved to mess with my form and before long, I was getting shin splints so we cut the run short and walked to the grocery store to get some things for dinner.
I had told Jan I'd do the cooking and I had decided upon lettuce wraps but the grocery store we went to seemed to have sold out on much of the produce by the time we got there so with no heads of lettuce in sight, I switched my meal idea to burritos. Getting ready to do some heavy duty chopping, I got handed the smallest knife ever and spent the entire ordeal confirming Jan's bachelorhood. Jan had never had fresh guacamole nor ever wrapped his own burritos before so it was pretty fun to watch his attempts. Random fact he told me as well was that the only Chipotle in all of Europe is actually in Frankfurt and it's a tester to see how it will do in the European market.

Smallest knife ever

It doesn't even look like I'm holding anything...

Burrito night!

Yum

How he decided to wrap his. He called it innovative

Second time around

The next day, I had planned on meeting up with some Couchsurfers before leaving for Paris so that was all that was on the agenda. Eden was just arriving in Frankfurt that day from Ireland because she was going to be an au pair for a year and better her German and she had a few hours before meeting up with her family so she had sent out some feelers on the Couchsurfing website to see who was in the area and wanted to meet up. I, along with one other person, responded and he was also hosting someone so I met Jeremy, born and bred in Frankfurt, as well as Kyle, his Couchsurfer from Philly. We walked around a bit chatting about all kinds of things such as what brought us all to Frankfurt and the typical traveling stories before getting to the place with the rooftop view I saw the day before. Jeremy had recommended that we grab lunch here because I would be able to pay one price to fill a bowl up as much as I could and we shared some dessert as well.

Meeting place

Some sort of market we passed

Lunch and dessert

Back on top

Snapchat geotags

Jeremy had brought his very nice camera out with him and he was snapping photos here and there when we went onto the roof to admire the view and then he took us to the longest free-standing escalator. It's always nice to be with a local because Jeremy took us over to the bull and bear statues outside of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange while we sipped on some apple wine that we purchased. Then, before the rain started to come down hard, we strolled over to the old opera house and along the way, Kyle was teaching me a bit of German. All three of them spoke German to some extent so it was nice to be able to point to a sign and ask them to teach me what it said.

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Kyle and Eden

Photo courtesy of Jeremy

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Frankfurt skyline and some new friends!

Selfie!

Cool sign I passed by

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: On the long elevator

Getting to the top

Headed towards the watch tower

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Apple wine by a tower 

Stock Exchange

Stock Exchange buildings

Cool buildings by the Stock Exchange

Random statue

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Outside the opera house

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Opera house

Photo courtesy of Jeremy: Album cover

Opera house 

Along the top reads "Dem Wahren Schönen Guten" (To the true, beautiful, and good)

Learning German

Before long, it was time for me to catch my train to Paris so we spent some time hanging out by an overhang trying to avoid the torrential downpour before making a run for it. Eventually the rain had stopped on our way back to Jan's so I gathered all of my bags, said my goodbyes to my new friends and hopped on the train to give Paris another visit.

Downpour

Trying to collect water in cups