Sunsets Over Frankfurt, Germany

Frankfurt, at times, can leave you thinking you stepped off earth and into some new ultramodern world dominated by skyscrapers. Just when you are getting used to this idea, there’s a building next to you, that’s from a almost forgotten age.

However, I guess it’s the sunsets over Frankfurt that surprise you the most. Normally, if you’ve traveled enough, you don’t expect to find spectacular sunsets in the midst of a city of 670,000 people, in an surrounding area of over two and a half million populace. Unfortunately, the magnificent sunsets over Frankfurt are a result of air pollution, combined with being located in a valley.

Like many international cities, where financial gurus and corporations congregate, Frankfurt is a study in the contrasts between the rich and the poor. Walk down some streets, side-by-side with wealthy bankers, rub elbows with poor struggling students, bump into awe-struck tourists, and breathe the voice of a city of hard working people.

In museums alone, Frankfurt offers so much that it would take a life-time to explore them all, here is a sampling:

• Deutsches Architektur Museum - Speciality museum catering to architecture or as they say -- From Primordial Hut to Skyscraper
• Deutsches Filmmuseum-- Frankfurt's German Film Museum - art and history of fil making
• Städel-Museum - Frankfurt's finest art museum
• Museum Giersch -- Frankfurt's museum housing all sorts of art
• Museum für Angewandte Kunst -- Frankfurt's museum of European and Asian decorative arts - mailing dedicated to applied arts
• Museum der Weltkulturen -- Featuring works of art from many cultures, changing exhibits of modern art
• Museum für Kommunikation -- Frankfurt's Communication Museum, leaning strongly on postal and telecommunication history
• Jüdisches Museum - Frankfurt's Jewish Museum, looking strongly at the holocaust
• Naturmuseum Senckenberg -- Frankfurt's most famous Natural History Museum
• Museum für Moderne Kunst -- Frankfurt's Museum of Modern Art

Beyond the museums, be sure to see the Commerzbank tower, which is the highest office building in all of Europe, and tallest building in Germany. Then, don’t forget to see the view of the city from the eastern bridges.

Additional attractions in Frankfurt that are a must for tourists and travelers are:

• Römerberg
• Frankfurt’s Zoo
• The Römer
• The Palmengarten (Botanic gardens)
• Renaissance Opera Building (Alte Oper)
• Paulskirche (St. Paul's Church)
• Bornheim (Medieval homes)

• Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main ) is known as the financial capital of Europe.
• Frankfurt is the transportation hub of the entire country of Germany.
• If museums are your thing, always get a Museumsufer ticket (available at museums) as it is a tremendous savings allowing you access to numerous galleries and museums at a much reduced price.

• Do buy a Frankfurt Card for unlimited travel on Frankfurt’s public transportation system.

• Plan if at all possible to visit Frankfurt in the spring or early fall.
• Summers in Frankfurt can be very hot.
• Winters in Frankfurt can be cold, and often rainy.
• Visit Frankfurt Zoo, as it is considered one of Europe's best.
• On Sundays and Wednesday, the zoo has an interesting regularly piranha feeding events for viewing.
• The airport in Frankfurt is short on restrooms, plan accordingly.
• It’s important to know that Frankfurt’s museums (as in all of Germany) are closed on Mondays and public holidays.
• Purchasing a Museumsufer ticket also prevents you from wasting precious Frankfurt holiday time, because you will not be waiting in long lines to get your entrance tickets.

• Frankfurt is know for it’s wonderful theaters and world class opera.

• Frankfurt is smaller than London, but larger in cultural activities overall.

• Stay away from Haupthbahnhof (central train station area) where homeless beggars and drug users are often out and about.

• Frankfurt is a lively place that caters in it’s many clubs to the young, especially the in it’s techno clubs.

• German style bars and the national German drink “Ebbelwei” -- an apple wine, are probably strictly for the tourists. However, part of traveling is being a tourist, and partaking in such things is part of the fun.

As someone who once lived for years with Wernher Von Braun, as a frequent house guest, certain places in Germany were the extra course (of conversation) at our dinner table, as Wernher waxed poetic about his native land's foods. Actually, eating was a big thing with him, regardless of the country of origin.

Since then, I've made it a point to try many German foods and restaurants. Frankfurt's dining experiences, while not what Wernher would have known in his time, are a delightful road to explore. Speaking of foodie roads, perhaps Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse, is where you might want to start when it comes to dining experiences in Frankfurt.

A popular dining guide to Frankfurt can be obtained from kiosks, book stores, and the tourist information offices in that city. It’s title is: Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse (Frankfurt Is Going Out).

As an international city, Frankfurt offers so many different places to eat and drink that encompass the whole of a diverse population -- it’s visitors and local tastes, and their dining budgets.

Festivals and fairs in Frankfurt can attract more than three million people to this splendid city. One of them, the Museumsuferfest (Museums Riverbank Festival), a three day event is held in the section of town where the main twenty museums are located. This well attended event ends in a firework display, second to none in the world. Then, there’s the Dippemess (Festival of Stoneware) that occurs twice a year, another festival not-to-be-missed if you have the chance.

Add Frankfurt’s four day, The Frankfurt Wäldchestag (Woods Day), the Frankfurt Motor Show (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), and the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt Buchmesse), to the mix of just the more well known festivals, fairs, and trade shows -- and you get a small picture of why Frankfurt is, and always will be, a popular destination for holidays and vacations.