MissTick
Thingish Things

Frankfurt "happened" to us on the last day of our trip. Our flight was from Frankfurt airport, so it made sense to arrive there earlier and take a look around. First impression from the city was that somehow we’ve got lost and accidentally arrived somewhere else, which is not Germany. So different it was from any other cities that we saw so far. And I mean this not as a compliment, actually. I suppose, it was more of the disappointment as my expectations didn’t come true. I cannot explain why, but the whole place just didn’t feel like Germany at all. At first, of course. In reality Frankfurt turned out to be a cunning place that likes to confuse visitors with the image of unclean streets, chaotic traffic, shady avenues of sex shops and very complex street map. In fact the map we’ve got of Frankfurt was totally useless and was presumably created with the evil purpose to confuse the tourists even more…but as we adventured far "inland", suddenly the city opened his secret heart for our eyes. 

The secret heart was its beautiful Romerberg Square. A so very German, I believe you cannot go more German then that. The trick to it is, however, that it’s all a reconstruction, since Frankfurt was heavily destroyed in 1944. Still, Romerberg is the focal point of the city, it’s the most famous post card. It features half timbered houses from 14-18th centuries neatly lined up around the square, a sweet little church Nikolaikirche - an early-gothic creature from 15th century, painted with the merry red&white, the 16th century Fontain of Justitia (Justice). Beautiful historical rumours tell the story how in 1612 wine flowed from the fountain instead of water at the coronation of Emperor Matthias. They say this practice has been revived by the city fathers on special occasions. Whichever history this place has survived, it is clear that Romerberg is the most prominent place of interest in Frankfurt.

The other side of the city is the modern district. The skyline that helps to give Frankfurt nicknames like "Little Chicago" and "Main-hatten.". It is beautiful…in her own way…we had a chance of a little glance over this contemporary beauty when crossed the river Main returning from the Museum, which we also managed to “briefly run through”. 

This museum, by the way, deserves all the praise for its great collection of the famous paintings. Bottichelly, Rembrandt, Rubens, Bosch…it was a pleasant surprise to find such a treasure where you least expected. For sure Frankfurt’s museum of art compensated our disenchantment from the Stuttgart’s Gallery. 

Despite of confusing diversity, Frankfurt certainly deserves much more attention then we were able to give him. Our Frankfurt adventures took off the wrong foot, as we’ve been trying to find our way to the not-to-be-missed sites. But the directions were unclear, the streets nowhere close to be straight and en route we managed to give away our time to the places that could’ve been easily missed. But then again, we've seen something maybe unimportant, but still truly amusing, like a church that is not really a church, but a "symbol of the German democratic movement" (the place where German National Assembly, the first freely elected parliament of Germany, was created in 1848),  there is a beautiful round-shaped meeting hall inside of it and you can even get up on the rostrum (I could've make a speech too, I suppose, but I didn't have anything worthy to say to the public)...we walked along wierd streets that were crammed with the oriental shops, stalls right in the middle of the pavements, creating middle east illusion in the middle of Europe...we even accidentaly ventured into the red-lights district (just because we've been trying to find our way to the station of course ;-) )...

We might've missed the sites that every guide book reccomends... But hey, there is an interest in that we know now that there is something we haven't seen yet, which encourages for return…for the more…more visits, more exploration, more interesting and fascinating things to discover.