Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. We arrived in Frankfurt after spending the day in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and we quickly realized that we just didn't want to spend a whole day and a half here like we planned. Instead, we condensed our sightseeing of Frankfurt into half a day, and found another quaint little town just a short drive away.
Frankfurt didn't necessarily start off on the wrong foot. We arrived at our hotel, Fleming's Hotel Frankfurt-Main Riverside. (Fleming's has a few hotels in Frankfurt, FYI). The hotel was lovely. Don't let the glass enclosed shower in the middle of the room throw you. We read a bunch of reviews before we booked from people that were shocked and appalled that a hotel would put the shower in the middle of the room, but it didn't bother us. The hotel was within walking distance of many things to see in Frankfurt like the cathedral, the Romans and the city tram.
Almost immediately after checking in, we headed out to visit the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew. This is a very interesting place to visit. Construction on this cathedral started in the 700s but was not officially finished until 1994. They have a picture inside that shows the years and the progress, though I'm not sure if my picture of the picture below does it justice.
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| Cathedral of St. Bartholomew |
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| Frankfurt, Germany |
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| Evolution of the Cathedral |
The Cathedral of St. Bartholomew is lovely, but I'm afraid the duomos and churches of Italy have ruined me forever. The castles in southern Germany are equally as incredible in their own right, but the cathedral in Frankfurt seemed less than impressive after everything else we'd seen so far on this trip.
Maybe we were just hungry? Maybe that's why Frankfurt didn't strike us as a more pleasant city when we first arrived. (Or maybe it's because the only thoughts I've ever had of Frankfurt were from the 1930s Shirley Temple movie Heidi, where they have scenes in Frankfurt at Christmastime in the 1800s with horses and real sleigh rides. Oddly enough, that's not the Frankfurt we saw in August of 2013.)
Dinner only further soured our experience in Frankfurt. We found a nice looking outdoor cafe, but all four of us couldn't stand the thought of more bratwurst. Three of the four of us ordered the smoked salmon appetizer which wasn't terrible, but the heat made turned the cold salmon warm very quickly. My husband's dinner took the cake! Not one, not two, not three...not four...but FIVE different types of pickled herring. THIS was a meal that went down in history. Imagine a perfectly normal fish...pickled, and then slathered in some sort of mayonnaise based sauce. Each sauce supposedly had a different flavor...ick! Even the memory makes me want to gag.
Maybe we were just hungry? Maybe that's why Frankfurt didn't strike us as a more pleasant city when we first arrived. (Or maybe it's because the only thoughts I've ever had of Frankfurt were from the 1930s Shirley Temple movie Heidi, where they have scenes in Frankfurt at Christmastime in the 1800s with horses and real sleigh rides. Oddly enough, that's not the Frankfurt we saw in August of 2013.)
Dinner only further soured our experience in Frankfurt. We found a nice looking outdoor cafe, but all four of us couldn't stand the thought of more bratwurst. Three of the four of us ordered the smoked salmon appetizer which wasn't terrible, but the heat made turned the cold salmon warm very quickly. My husband's dinner took the cake! Not one, not two, not three...not four...but FIVE different types of pickled herring. THIS was a meal that went down in history. Imagine a perfectly normal fish...pickled, and then slathered in some sort of mayonnaise based sauce. Each sauce supposedly had a different flavor...ick! Even the memory makes me want to gag.
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| What exactly was the butter for? |
We left dinner and headed back to our hotel disheartened. The last thing we wanted was to spend an entire day in this weird place. Maybe if we had started in Frankfurt, it wouldn't have been so bad. Or maybe even if we came to Frankfurt right after Berlin, we may have thought better of it. But spending several days in Austria and southern Germany with quaint villages and beautiful castles, returning to a modern city caused more of a shock than we expected.
So, we spent the last few hours of the evening coming up with a plan B. We had two activities the next day in Frankfurt that we didn't want to miss, but after that, we wanted to go somewhere... anywhere else. Hurray for free hotel wifi! My in-laws found a small wine town nearby called Rudesheim that sat right along the Rhine river. Rudesheim had a sightseeing triangle (similar to Miyajima in Japan) which sounded like a much better way to spend our afternoon.
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel. Upon first glance, it looked like they only had bread and fruit, but then around the corner they had cold meats and cheeses. As soon as we sat down to eat, a waiter came over and offered us made to order eggs as well.
Before the trip, I got us timed tickets to go to a place called the Blind Museum. They have a few of these around the world, where they give you the experience of a blind person. Our tickets were for 11AM, so before that, we headed to the Frankfurt Romans.
The Frankfurt Romans are, without a doubt, the most famous place for tourists in the whole city. It's a pedestrian square with buildings designed to look old. At one point, they actually were old, but they were destroyed during the war and only rebuilt in recent years. Another example of the devastation of war. I appreciated that Frankfurt rebuilt the Romans, but at the same time, I knew I was looking at a "replica". Again, how can you compare something that's been rebuilt to the original 11th century structure that's still standing in Italy or Kyoto?
So, we spent the last few hours of the evening coming up with a plan B. We had two activities the next day in Frankfurt that we didn't want to miss, but after that, we wanted to go somewhere... anywhere else. Hurray for free hotel wifi! My in-laws found a small wine town nearby called Rudesheim that sat right along the Rhine river. Rudesheim had a sightseeing triangle (similar to Miyajima in Japan) which sounded like a much better way to spend our afternoon.
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel. Upon first glance, it looked like they only had bread and fruit, but then around the corner they had cold meats and cheeses. As soon as we sat down to eat, a waiter came over and offered us made to order eggs as well.
Before the trip, I got us timed tickets to go to a place called the Blind Museum. They have a few of these around the world, where they give you the experience of a blind person. Our tickets were for 11AM, so before that, we headed to the Frankfurt Romans.
The Frankfurt Romans are, without a doubt, the most famous place for tourists in the whole city. It's a pedestrian square with buildings designed to look old. At one point, they actually were old, but they were destroyed during the war and only rebuilt in recent years. Another example of the devastation of war. I appreciated that Frankfurt rebuilt the Romans, but at the same time, I knew I was looking at a "replica". Again, how can you compare something that's been rebuilt to the original 11th century structure that's still standing in Italy or Kyoto?
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| Frankfurt Romans |
The Blind Museum was a very unique experience. They set the museum inside the rain forest in Brazil, and gave us each a walking stick. At one point, we all sat down and listened to the various sounds while our guides explained how our ears began compensating for our lack of vision. I really enjoyed this place though I sort of wished they made it simpler. I would have rather gone through a house set up, to learn how blind people get around their home. That, to me, would have been more interesting than being blind in the rain forest, but I still don't regret visiting.
After the blind museum, we took the tram back to our hotel, and drove an hour to Rudesheim. We took two different chair lifts and a boat down the Rhine river itself. The chair lifts were beautiful and breezy, but the boat ride was incredibly hot. Still, I enjoyed this place much more than Frankfurt.
After the blind museum, we took the tram back to our hotel, and drove an hour to Rudesheim. We took two different chair lifts and a boat down the Rhine river itself. The chair lifts were beautiful and breezy, but the boat ride was incredibly hot. Still, I enjoyed this place much more than Frankfurt.
At the top of the first chair lift before taking the little trail to the next one, we were surprised with a nice cultural dance performance.
After the boat ride, we found a little restaurant for dinner. Honestly, I have no idea what the place looked like, but I do remember being so excited that they had other menu options besides bratwurst. My husband got pork chops, my in-laws got weinerschnitzle, and I got pesto pasta. Yum!
We then drove the hour back to Frankfurt elated from finding such a gem at the last minute. We turned in early knowing that the last few days of our trip involved a lot of driving (ha...as if we haven't already driven a lot so far), in order to get back to Denmark. And I must say...if Frankfurt wasn't our cup of tea...Hamburg certainly wasn't either, though after the shock of Frankfurt, we handled Hamburg a little better. We were taken a bit by surprise, however, when the theater district (where we thought we were staying) turned out to also be the red light district. Live and learn. Click HERE to keep reading.
We then drove the hour back to Frankfurt elated from finding such a gem at the last minute. We turned in early knowing that the last few days of our trip involved a lot of driving (ha...as if we haven't already driven a lot so far), in order to get back to Denmark. And I must say...if Frankfurt wasn't our cup of tea...Hamburg certainly wasn't either, though after the shock of Frankfurt, we handled Hamburg a little better. We were taken a bit by surprise, however, when the theater district (where we thought we were staying) turned out to also be the red light district. Live and learn. Click HERE to keep reading.
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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