FRANKFURT GERMANY AT CHRISTMASTIME

We returned from Frankfurt Sunday night with a sack full of goodies and an appreciation for our mild winter temperatures and comfortable apartment. Although the weather there was not extreme, it was good old fashioned winter, snow and all. Although we hit a streak of dry calm and partially cloudy weather, it was still way too cold for me! But we managed to keep warm and we certainly kept busy.
Frankfurt is the home of Goethe, as well as an international banking capital and a very old city that was pretty much bombed out during the second war and has now rebuilt itself into a model of the financial capital of Europe. The stark contrasts between new and old are seen constantly. The ancient Roman baths ruins are right next to the ruins of a medieval castle, which then sits next to a major Norman church, near a modern museum housing the show “Summer of Love,” showing art of the hippy era. We explored the area around Frankfurt and Lampertein where our friends from Syracuse Gene and Nancy now live. The area is really scenic and helped by Christmastime, which is a real big deal here! The Christmas markets (Weinachmarts), all of which feature hot spiced wine (gluhwein) kept us warm and happy looking at all of the lovely things to buy. We bought a little, too.
But I never can get those German words, sounds or spellings, to roll off of my tongue, or even straight in my mind. I feel more than competent in Spanish and Italian and even French now, but I haven’t a clue what the German stuff I hear means. It really is frustrating to me. Steve is very good at learning and pronouncing German. Fortunately, Germans are almost all less lazy than me and speak pretty good English.
So here are a few general shots and then stay tuned because I’ll be writing a report on the Shirn museum’s hippy art exhibit, the red-light district where our hotel was located, as well as the London road show version of Rent that we saw at the English theatre there.