What a contrast between two days - going from a dirt-filled hippie hangout in a small village, to the skyscraper-filled financial centre of Europe.
Because the German rail system likes to sting you for buying tickets last minute, the only affordable way to get to Frankfurt was to buy a pass for local trains only, which meant changing trains five times! It didn't matter, it broke the eight hour journey up a bit and I was just pleased to be heading south from the hippies. Eventually the train rolled into the big city in the evening light, and straight away you notice the high-rise skyline - they call Frankfurt 'the Manhatten of Europe' (I hate those limp comparisons).
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| On top of the Main Tower skyscraper, Frankfurt |
The next day I set out for a wander to explore the centre, looking in some of the unique shops as I went; mostly of the bespoke furniture, electronics and design variety. I hate shopping generally, but I like to keep abreast of new stuff and Frankfurt was definitely the place to do so. Things such as a kitchen where the whole worktop slides across to reveal the sink, an 82"(!) Samsung TV, a hob with a touchscreen in it and a curved LG TV. Also, some cool bikes, an army surplus store that sold tazers, a building with what looked like a belly button in it, beautiful Bang and Olufsen equipment, a great bookshop for design, and an €80,000 pair of hifi speakers. Ideas, ideas, ideas. I of course considered buying some of this, but in the end concluded that my rucksack just isn't big enough.
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I've left my bike in Sweden - it was always the plan, and it's getting a bit cold and wet now - I'll get a courier to collect when I get home (or go and get it myself...). And so on Saturday I'd been planning to hire a bike to explore the city a bit. Except it was absolutely pouring down. I decided to not bother and instead find an Internet cafe to try and sort some plans for the next few weeks. Once it had cleared up a bit I went for a stroll to a 'fair for sustainable consumption', which I thought might be full of clever ideas, but turned out to be mostly energy investment firms and people making things from tyres, ring pulls and records. Yawn. These things are a bit pot luck sometimes. To top the day of wonder off, the hostel I was staying at had a kitchen compromising just a couple of microwaves, so I became well acquainted with microwave meals for a couple of days. The suprise is just how cheap they are in Germany, the non-suprise is that they tasted crap.
I was determined to make a bit more of Sunday, so started off by going up the 'Main tower', the second tallest in Frankfurt, for a good view from the 56th floor - life looks very small and trivial from 200m up! Afterwards, a look in the Architectural Museum, which barely had any English and was a bit dry, then a stroll through the old town. I'd heard about a big meet up of cyclists at 2pm so then went to see what it was all about. It was supposed to be a bit of a flashmob for cycle awareness, but was a bit on the small side to make an impression. There was a real selection of both people and bikes though so was good to see.
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Frankfurt was nice enough, but it was time to move on. I wasn't sure where to really, but decided I'd had enough of cities for a day or two so picked a smallish town called Weinheim an hour south. I made a stop halfway to see a building called The Waldspirale that I'd read about at home. See pic below. Designed by an Austrian artist; it's one of the craziest looking buildings I've ever seen and was definitely worth a look... despite the three mile walk with my fully loaded backpack.
Weinheim turned out to be a traditional, pretty town, and just what I was looking for. The HI hostel I stayed at, part of a chain, was as quiet and dull as could be, but it meant I got a dorm room to myself which was a nice change. After accidentally drowning, then reviving my phone again (it's a fighter), I awoke on Monday with a strong urge to go for hike - don't you ever get that? There was a lot of big forested hills around, with a couple of castles amongst them so I walked up to them, then just seemed to keep going and going as it was so nice - in the end I walked over 16 miles (route). A pot of tea at a cafe in town finished things nicely. All very civilised, what's happening to me?!
By the way - feel free to use the comments box below any time folks; always great to hear your side.
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| Frankfurt - financial centre of Europe |
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| Cycle meetup that didn't really happen |
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| The crazy looking Waldspirale residential building complex in Darmstadt |
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| View over Weinheim |
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