[Nightsky]

In April this year I visited Frankfurt and many other German cities. The experience of Frankfurt was something really special as the volcano in Iceland closed most flight connections in Europe, just hours after I arrived in Frankfurt. Everywhere I went, to trains and in the hostel I stayed, I talked by people who all told the same story; that they were trapped and couldn't get home or had to take the train home because of the volcano. My plane was expected to leave on Sunday the 18th, but I had to take the train instead to Hamburg, made some sightseeing there, and then took the train to Rostock, where I could take the ferry to Sweden. That was not what I was expecting when I got interested in Frankfurt 20 years ago before my first visit, when seeing the impressive skyline in a magazine.

Frankfurt is a very expensive city with a high standard of living. But it is also a city of contrasts. While the men in black suits walk in thought the entrances at the skyscrapers in the financial district, the red light district is situated just 2 blocks away with its many drug addicts and prostitutes. My hostel, Five Elements, was situated in the red light district, Bahnhofviertel, but also right between the main railway station and the financial district. The weather was good for being in April, it was grey the first day, but it was warm and sunny most of the time. I visited the modern parts as well as the old town. It is too bad that many people only go there to change planes at the airport, because the city itself has so much too offer. Other cities I visited was Mainz, Heidelberg, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach and Hamburg that will have their separate threads. All in just 5 days. Originally the trip was planned to last in 3 days, Hamburg was added because of the volcano.


In this thread I will present both the city and the skyline.

Let’s start with the downtown financial district:

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Mitte is the city center of Frankfurt, the city center that has the highest concentration of skyscrapers in Europe. The 2 tallest buildings in the EU are situated in this district, around the small but beautiful park Taunausanlage. The city center is very compact, you can easily walk around it and see all the sights in a day. Most buildings in this area are very modern, since Frankfurt was heavily bombed during WWII. Except for the park and the skyscrapers, many blocks were unfortunately rebuilt in a dull style, but overall it is a very interesting area.


To see all of the photos with comments and facts, visit this page on my website World Travel Images:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Frankfurt_Mitte.html

This is only the beginning...

[Bedhead]

Impressive views - especially this (http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120213.JPG) one.

[ColDayMan]

Wow! Great shots!

[FREKI]

Great shots mate! :)

[Nightsky]

Thanks! I will post more soon, from other districts...

[stepper77]

I transferred trains in Frankfurt going from Prague to Amsterdam and from what little I saw of the skyline from the train, I wished we had had more time to get out and explore a little. Looks like a nice, modern city. Great photos, thanks for sharing!

[Nightsky]

Thanks!

Bahnhofsviertel is the small district that is situated around the large and busy Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), between Westend/Messe and the
financial district. Despite the fact that the area is surrounded with glittering skyscrapers, and it is right in the center of the city, the red light district is
here. The staff of my hostel told it is safe, but it is filled with drug addicts and prostitutes and other strange people. Ambulances are also often showing
up, and there are a lot of immigrant gangs at the station. The buildings are not rundown however. Except for sex clubs and shops there are also a lot of
Turkish fastfood restaurants in the area. Frankfurt is really a city of contrast! Bahnhofsviertel is where my hostel, Five Elements, is located. As it was a
very clean hostel with free breakfast and internet and very friendly staff, it is very odd to see it located in the middle of the redlight district, next door to
a sex club with pink neon lights. But a lot of hotels are situated in the area. You can see more of Bahnhofsviertel in the section Frankfurt by night.

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[Nightsky]

More Bahnhofsviertel:

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To see all of the photos with comments and facts, visit this page on my website World Travel Images:

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Frankfurt_Bahnhofsviertel.html

[dktshb]

Wow, those skyscrapers are bulky. Beautiful city, thanks for sharing.

[mthq]

I stayed at that hostel across from that building with the Kumho Tyres sign. Of all the hostels I went to in Europe, that hostel was without a doubt the best one I'd ever been in. I think it had more to do with the location and the people I came across during my times in Frankfurt as the service was just about the same as your typical hostel. Anyways good memories.

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[Nightsky]

^The hostel you stayed at was my first choice ( I think it's called just Frankfurt hostel), but all rooms were occupied. So I stayed at Five Elements at Moselstrasse just 2 blocks to the left in this picture. And this is also among the best hostels I have stayed at!

[Nightsky]

ALTSTADT (OLD TOWN):

Römerberg is the square in the heart of Frankfurt's very small Altstadt (old town). It is one of the few historical blocks that remain of central Frankfurt after the bombings by the Americans during WWII on the night of March 22 1944. At the square is the famous Römer town hall, St Nicholas Church and rebuilt medieval half-timbered houses. The big cathedral, Kaiserdom, is also near the square.

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Römerberg Square. The historical heart of Frankfurt with the city hall Römer in the middle and Commerzbank Tower in the background.

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St Nicholas Church

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Paulskirche.

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Kaiserdom, St Bartholomäus, or the Frankfurter Dom is the grand cathedral of Frankfurt.

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Some of the remnants of the old church.

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Kaiserdom, also called St Bartholomeus Cathedral, stands 95 m tall and is visible from the river banks of Main.

[Nightsky]

Just a few blocks to the north of the historical Römerberg square is Hauptwache, a famous busy plaza where you can find St Katharina Church and the
historic Hauptwache Building. It is at Hauptwache Frankfurt's most famous street Zeil begins. At Zeil, you can find large department stores, two shopping
gallerias and many large brand stores. Unfortunately most of its grand buildings were lost during the 1944 bombings and most new buildings at Zeil were
built in a dull modern post-war style, except for the exciting My Zeil shopping galleria. Zeil goes from the two plazas Hauptwache to Konstablerwache.
Eschenheimer Tor is the square at the historic Eschenheimer Turm. On the bottom of this page you can also find photos from the north river bank of Main.

HAUPTWACHE:

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Hauptwache is a baroque building from 1730 that gave name to the square. It the headquarters of the city's Stadtwehr Militia when Frankfurt was an independent city state.
It has hosted a prison and a police station. Now it hosts a popular café.

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Katharinenkirche, St Catherine's Church is a 54 m tall baroque church situated at Hauptwache.

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St Catherine's Church seen from Goethestrasse. As a Swedish citizen I noted the SEB bank, that has its own café!

[Nightsky]

ESCHENHEIMER TURM:

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Eschenheimer Turm. The 47 m high tower was the gate to the city of Frankfurt and is the best preserved old builting, dating from the 15th century.

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A sundial at the River Bank at Main.

[Nightsky]

ZEIL:

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Old meets new, or not? Palais Thurn und Taxis is a rebuilt building, currently under construction (2010), so it is actually newer than Zeil Hochhaus! It was originally
built in 1739, but was rebuilt as part of the PalaisQuartier complex. It has a long history and used to be the imperial headquarters among others.

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Zeilgallerie to the left and My Zeil, 2 shopping gallerias at the west starting point of Zeil.

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My Zeil from 2009 is designed in a deconstructivist style, just as the adjancted Zeil skyscrapers, also part of the PalaisQuartier complex. The architect is Massimiliano
Fuksas in Rome.

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The super cool deconstrutivist interior of MyZeil shopping galleria, that opened in 2009.

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Karstadt department store.

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My Zeil again.

[volguus zildrohar]

Leave it to Germany. Nice shots.

[SHiRO]

Very Nice!

[Nightsky]

MESSEVIERTEL AND WESTEND
Messeviertel is the area around the exhibition, Frankfurter Messe. The most famous exhibitions are the annual cars, music and book fairs. Frankfurter Messe is the world's largest trade fair organiser. Some of Frankfurt's tallest skyscrapers, as the iconic Messeturm, are situated in Messeviertel and Westend, the district between Messeviertel and Bahnhofviertel.
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Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage is the heavily trafficated road that leads from Hauptbahnhof and financial district to the exhibition area.

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MesseTurm and Pollux seen from Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage.

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Westend Strasse 1 (DZ Bank) from 1993 has a striking design. It is 208m tall and has 51 floors. On one side of the building is the modern and polish Westend area, and on the other side the red light district!

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The "Collar and tie" sculpture in front of DZ Bank.

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AROUND THE FAIR AREA:

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St. Matthäus Kirche is now surrounded by skyscrapers; Pollux, 130m tall from 1997 and Tower 185 (under construction).

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Tower 185, here under construction (2010), will be the 3rd tallest building in Frankfurt upon completion in 2011. 204m tall and 55 floors.

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MesseTurm, 257m tall, was Europe's tallest skyscraper upon completion in 1991. It was surpassed by Commerzbank Tower, also in Frankfurt, in 1997. It has 63 floors (it is still the tallest in Germany by number of floors) and is the most elegant skyscraper in Frankfurt, in my opinion.

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Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage with the Marriott Hotel.

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Europaturm seen from Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage. At a height of 338m, Europaturm from 1979 is the second tallest TV tower in Germany (after Berlin) and the tallest structure in Frankfurt.

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The "Hammering man" from 1991 is a moving sculpture in front of MesseTurm and the Trade Fair is a 21 m high sculpture that has been designed by Jonathan Borofsky. There are similar moving sculptures in New York, Seattle, Seoul and 6 other cities.

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Messe Frankfurt, the world's largest trade fair. Among its many fairs are cars, books and music. It has an area of 578 000 square meters.

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The backside of the trade fair looks much cooler, but is hard to see from street level. It has 9 exhibition halls. In 2007, Messe Frankfurt organised a total of 112 trade fairs, of which 68 abroad.

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Festhalle Frankfurt from 1908 is the oldest building in the fair area. The Festhalle is one of the most important buildings of the late historicism. The architect is Friedrich von Thiersch.

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Details of the brown granite exterior of MesseTurm.

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Marriott (the building is also called Plaza Büro Center) is Frankfurt's highest hotel. It was Frankfurt's tallest building when completed in 1976. It has 47 floors.

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Messe Torhaus. It craves a lot of effort as a pedestrian to get to this place and take a photo of this postmodern building from 1985! The building is only 116 m tall, but is worth to see because of the design by Prof U M Ungers.

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Skyline and "Man with hammer".


The photos with more comments can be found at:
http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Frankfurt_Messeviertel.html

[LSyd]

great tour. Messeturm...reminds me of Bank of America Atlanta.

i like the funktastic tower on the right.

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-

[Nightsky]

GOETHEHAUS

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born at Grosser Hirschgraben 23 in 1749. This beautiful house in old Frankfurt (Altstadt) is now called Goethe-Haus. It was
bought by Wolfgangs grand mother Cornelia in 1733. It was destroyed during the 1944 bomb attacks, but was rebuilt 1947-51. The house got its
baroque facade in 1755. I visited all 4 floors that were open to public, and the art museum that were dedicated to Goethe.

Goethe was a polymoth, mostly known as a poet and a writer. He became mostly famous for the very influential works The Sorrows of Young Werter, and Faust.
Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature in the 18th and 19th centuryies enlightenment, sentimentally, sturm und drang and romanticism. He has also
inspired the gothic movement.

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The Sorrows of the Young Werther.

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The art museum Goethe museum.

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This is how the Goethe-Haus looked like in 1849.

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The room where it is rumoured that Goethe wrote parts of Faust.

[Nightsky]

Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen is the so called "apple wine district" located on the south bank of River Main, opposite the city center and its skyline. Sachsenhausen is considered a wealthy and very nice district and have a lot more buildings with a historic look then the city center, because it survived the bombings better.
The district is pretty large, almost like a city of itw own with a population of 56 000, and have many taverns and ciderhouses that produce their own apfelwein located in atmospheric half-timbered houses. Legend says that Charlemagne, the emperor of Romans from year 800, who expanded the Frankish kingdom into a Frankish empire (Frankfurt means the Frank fort), settled his conquered Saxons (Sachsen) here.

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Sachsenhausen skyline dominated by Main Plaza, and MainTriangel. I visited Sachsenhausen two times the same day.

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Dreikönigskirche, the tallest church in Sachsenhausen, is a gothic revival church from 1875.

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Henninger Turm. This 120m tall building from 1968 is currently unused and there have been plans to tear it down. There used to be an observation deck on the circular
top section, a shame it is not there anymore since it would be a great possiblity to take photos of the skyline from afar. It was originally built as a silo and was Frankfurt's
tallest building until 1974, hard to believe today!

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There are many pubs and taverns in Alt-Sachsenhausen, the old part.

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The picturesque are of Alt-Sachsenhausen come alive at night. I only visited daytime unfortunately.

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Frankensteiner Strasse! The text is about Knight von Frankenstein.

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Hard Rock Café.

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Main Plaza. Only 88m tall and 24 floors, but it has a significant brick facade and is one of the few highrises on the Sachsenhausen side of Main. It has a hotel and residences and was built in 2001. The architects are Kollhoff und Timmermann.

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Mitte's skyline mirroring in Sachsenhausen.

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Schweizerplatz.

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Schweizerplatz is a major tram hub. The trams drive right through the plaza.

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Schweizer Strasse, the main street in Sachsenhausen-Nord.

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Skyline seen from Sachsenhausen.

[KevinFromTexas]

Frankfurt definitely has a different feel than any other German city.

[phillyskyline]

Leave it to Germany. Nice shots.

Ditto guy!
:cheers:

[Nightsky]

Frankfurt International Airport - and the volcano on Iceland!

Frankfurt's airport is the 3rd most busy in Europe, the 9th busiest in the world and one of the most modern ones.
So it felt strange to see the airport from the top of the Main Tower, with not a single plane in the sky because of the volcano on Iceland that made all European flights cancelled just hours after my plane landed in Frankfurt! When arriving with a Lufthansa Boeing 737 from Copenhagen early in the Thursday morning (7.30 AM) I was impressed by the size of the airport, and the heavy traffic I experienced when going by the bus that catched the passengers. Not only trucks, cars and buses where meeting the bus, sometimes big commercial airplanes crossed the road in the airport so the bus had to stop while driving to the other terminal! Little did I know that I wouldn't be able to take the flight home 4 days later, but had to take trains and a ferry (see the text below). The airport has 3 terminals totally and a new runway to be compatible with the new large Airbus A380. The airport is a city in itself with 35 cafés, restaurants, bars, 3 cinemas, a large shopping mall, about 110 additional stores, banks, post offices, pharmacies, a hospital, hotels, a hairdresser, a laundy, a dentist, a chapel and an own railway station located direclty beneath the airport. The airport is situated just south of the city, so it takes only about 15 minutes by train to the Main Railway Station (Hauptbahnhof). A sky train called Skyline is connecting the terminals with the city.
About the volcano:
The experience of Frankfurt was something really special as the volcano in Iceland closed most flight connections in Europe, just hours after I arrived in Frankfurt. Everywhere I went, to trains and in the hostel I stayed, I talked by people who all told the same story; that they were trapped and couldn't get home or had to take the train home because of the volcano. My plane was expected to leave on Sunday the 18th, but I had to take the train instead to Hamburg, made some sightseeing there, and then took the train to Rostock, where I could take the ferry to Sweden.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110658.JPG
This and the following photos I took from the plane window after just landing in Frankfurt Airport.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110657.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110656.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110659.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110661.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110664.JPG
A Boeing 737-500, similar to "my" plane.
http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120231.JPG
The airport seen from the observation deck at Main Tower. Note that there are no planes approaching because of the volcano on Iceland!
http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1110661.JPG
It takes only 15 minutes to the city center from this underground railway station.

[Robert Pence]

What a wonderful tour of a visually-rich city! The contrasts between gleaming contemporary towers and well-maintained baroque buildings really held my attention. Thanks for posting these!

[Nightsky]

Thanks! I was thinking about that we could make this an official photo thread for Frankfurt, since I have no more pictures to post. Is this a good idea?

[Nightsky]

SKYLINE VIEWS FROM MAIN TOWER

This part (formerly posted as a separate thread, but I thought it was worth to add to this thread as well) is about the views I took from the observation platform on the roof of MAIN TOWER, Frankfurt's 3rd tallest skyscraper and the only building with an observation deck in Frankfurt, despite the large number of tall buildngs. The platsform is located on the height of 200m. Main Tower was built in 1999 and is 240m tall to the top of the mast. The views are really impressive since Frankfurt has a lot of skyscrapers. The strange thing is that not
a single plane was visible, because of the volcano on Iceland that made all flights cancelled the same day I arrived in Frankfurt in April 2010!

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Frankfurt_Maintower_Panorama_small.jpg
Main Tower is the only building where it is possible to go up and see the city from above. Don't miss the Main Tower section, for more skyline views.

Largesize:http://www.worldtravelimages.net/Frankfurt_Maintower_Panorama.jpg

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120217.JPG
Silver Tower, Skyper and Hauptbahnhof. In the far distance is the airport, with no planes!

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120223.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120224.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120228.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120229.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120233.JPG
Commerzbank Tower.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120239.JPG
Altstadt.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120232.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120237.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120247.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120248.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120249.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120252.JPG

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120263.JPG
Sachsenhausen.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120267.JPG
Note the EU symbol.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120216.JPG
Hauptbahnhof and my hostel to the right in the photo.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120231.JPG
Frankfurt International Airport, center of the picture. Note that there are not a single airplane visible because of the volcano on Iceland!

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120236.JPG
The top of the mast reaches a height of 240m.

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120215.JPG
MAIN TOWER from below.

[mthq]

my favorite district! :D ;)

http://www.worldtravelimages.net/P1120216.JPG

[Nightsky]

^This is where my hostel was, so I know it' not a common district even though many hotels are sitauted there.

[S_B_Russell]

Wow! Sehr fantastisch! Although Frankfurt is a little stodgy, it's an awesome city to visit if you're skyscraper fan. Your photos attest to that.