Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
If you’re going on a business trip to Frankfurt you can decide to do it the standard way and sleep in a shiny modern business hotel. Or you go for the crazy option and book the 25hours close to the main railway station. Yes, the red light district is not far and the atmosphere surrounding the hotel isn’t the best – but the hotel compensates that with lovely decorations, unusual facilities and great food.
Continue reading “They’re all mad there”
Close to the city center of Frankfurt am Main you’ll find a pleasure rather unexpected in this central location: the Palmengarten, a botanical garden between high modern houses and ancient homes. It is 22 hectares large and was opened in 1871. The garden expert Heinrich Siesmayer received the order to buy the trees and plants of the orangery of Adolphe, the Duke of Nassau. The garden was created following the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and the buildings of the World Exhibition of 1867 in Paris. Some elements of that can be seen still today.
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Directly next to the Römerberg of Frankfurt am Main you will find two buildings that together form the Historisches Museum Frankfurt, a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the city at the river Main. It was founded in 1877 with the task to collect items that are relevant to the history of the city. Today it is a combination of at least three museums: the collectors museum exhibiting all the private collections donated to the city, the young museum for children and the city museum giving you insight into Frankfurts past and present.
Continue reading “Now & then”
Need something to laugh? The Caricatura – Museum für Komische Kunst at Frankfurt am Main is a museum for comical art and exhibiting mainly cartoons with the intention to make the viewers laughing out loud. This special museum exists since 2008 and it is well-located in this city which has a long satiric history. The ground floor is used for changing exhibitions and while I was there cartoons by Klaus Stuttmann where shown, leading continuously back through time and German history and politics.
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Communication is an essential part of everyday life. A good place to learn more about it is the Museum für Kommunikation at the Museumsufer of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was created by extending the Bundespostmuseum (postal museum) founded in 1958 and now covers all aspects of communication. A very entertaining museum that gives you the chance to travel back in time and see the means of communication you’ve used in the past.
Continue reading “Ruf doch mal an!”
The Museum Angewandte Kunst (MAK) of Frankfurt am Main is located at the riverside in the city center and is part of the Museumsufer. It resides in a modern building from 1985 but also extends to the ancient Villa Metzler from 1803. The MAK displays applied arts, which means applying design to everyday objects (in contrast to the fine arts, producing objects without practical use). Within the museum you can especially find items concerning interior design, industrial design, and crafts.
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What do Theodor Adorno, Paul Ehrlich, Anne Frank, Erich Fromm and Mayer Amschel Rothschild have in common? They were Jews living at Frankfurt am Main. The city has a long Jewish history dating back to the year 1150 and the traces are still visible today – especially at the riverside of the Main with beautiful houses and at the Börneplatz, the place where the main synagogue was burned down on the 9th of November, 1938. Two impressive museums commemorate the Jewish heritage of the city.
Continue reading “Traces of Jewish life”
Ebbelwoi is a big thing at Frankfurt am Main. Wine made from apples is produced in consumed in this area at least since the year 1600. By that time, it was a cheap replacement for wine made from grapes and produced in the cellars of the simple people. Today it is a traditional drink from everyone and in the city, you’ll find numerous Apfelweinlokale, special bars serving this booze.
Continue reading “An apple a day”
When passing through the East of Frankfurt you might certainly see a giant skyscraper. It doesn’t look like a part of a skyline – it is standing out and surrounded by rather small buildings and residential zones. The giant glass windows look like a giant mirroring and it is really an amazing piece of architecture. That doesn’t only seem to be my opinion; for some years, every time when I was passing through the Ostend with friends one of them said: ‘Do you see this building? That is the new European Central Bank!‘. Proudly. Like it doesn’t happen so often with a skyscraper in Frankfurt.
Continue reading “Mirroring the clouds”
There are endless good options to have a nice breakfast in Frankfurt, Germany. But if you’re looking for a plain, non-touristy coffee bar aside from the busy city centre you might like the Café Crumble. It is located not far away from the Bockenheimer Warte and offers seats inside and outside in a small backyard. The Crumble is a cosy place which offers a small but good range of breakfast: from vegetarian to sea fruit, from sweet to Greek.
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