Frankfurt

I forget what this building is...I think it's an opera house.

The Galeria Shopping Complex

Random castle looking building at night.

The old square that is often featured on Frankfurt postcards.

A shiny building.

For some reason, the font in my last post came out funny. I tried to fix it but failed.

I've heard very mixed things about Frankfurt. Some people said it is an ugly city, others said it was their favorite city in Europe. Both groups however, agree that Frankfurt is like the New York of Europe. It is a big banking city, with large sky scrapers, unlike most major cities in Europe that still look quite old. Since it was bombed heavily during the war, they rebuilt a lot, and seemed to focus more on new and modern buildings instead of trying to preserve existing ones. Today, Frankfurt is flourishing, and has the second largest airport in all of Europe. The first thought I had when we entered Frankfurt was that it is so SHINY! Unlike the cities full of skyscrapers in America, the skyscrapers in Frankfurt look so new--a lot of the buildings look like mirrors, so when it is a nice day, they glisten like giant pieces of jewelry. I didn't think Frankfurt is ugly at all; it's not charming, but it is impressive and more futuristic looking than all other European cities that I have visited so far.

On my first day in Frankfurt, I went down the shopping street, which is lined with these knobby trees that are ugly in a cute way. I made a goal not the buy much though, so I only visited the gummi bear store and picked up prosecco flavored bears and mango/passion fruit bears. The prosecco was disappointing, they just tasted slightly sour, but the mango was really good--reminded me of gummis that I bought from Asian supermarkets as a kid.

On my second visit to Frankfurt, I visited another friend from school. She took me to the older looking part of town, the city hall, which is a nice square with touristy boutiques. She also took me to this awesome department store with an entire floor of chocolate, which I raided. I bought an amazing rose-flavored white chocolate bar from a German brand called Schwermer. Sadly, I don't think I can buy anything similar in the states--they sell it on amazon.de, so perhaps I can get it delivered. I prepared an Easter basket for my friend to thank him for letting me stay with him. Germany has the greatest variety of chocolate eggs that I have ever seen in my life, as well as the greatest collection of alcohol filled chocolate. I had a tiramisu filled egg from a German company called...I don't remember the name, but it begins with an N. Maybe it's not German.

On my third and last visit to Frankfurt, we went to a club called Gekkos. What surprised me was that people can smoke in bars and clubs in Germany. That was kind of gross. The bar however, was very nice, filled with old fashioned looking plush sofas and velvety curtains.

I will post separately about German food!