Frankfurt - My introduction

I had been stuck in the village where my institute was for a few weeks, working rather intensely. I needed some outside perspective of the village and institute - I was actually going crazy there. The name of the village was Wixhausen - and to the native German speakers and those who know German - yes there is a place that exists called that. To those who don't speak German it means "masterbation town" more or less. A friend of mine said "maybe it called that because its so boring thats all you can do there", hmmm good point.

Fortunately I had already organised moving into an apartment in Frankfurt at this time, it was just a matter of waiting for the people to move out. I was to meet my future house mate at that time for the first time and she would show me Frankfurt. I have to say I warmed to Frankfurt very quickly, the city centre was nice and clean with wide boulevards and pedestrian walkways, it was lined with trees and had an interesting blend between the modern and the new. Most cities I don't like the combination of new architecture with the old, but for some reason I find the Germans managed to marry it perfectly in Frankfurt. A lot of the city was bombed during the war, and most of the old buildings were destroyed and never replaced or rebuilt (in the case of the opera house and some of the buildings in Roemer square).
Roemer platz is very kitch German, its great! It is rather surreal to walk into this stereotypical German looking square after looking at the European version of Manhatten! It is the ideal tourist trap for people wanting to take beer and wurst, but fortunately its not as pricey as one might think! Its stunning though, especially at night and at Christmas - it looks like a Christmas card then!


After looking round the city and taking in the sights, we went to a very nice "Spanish" restaurant (not authentic Spanish, I feel I have to say that since I live in Madrid now and know that it wasn't your typical Spanish restaurant) for dinner before going off to see Bridget Jones' diary dubbed in German. Interesting experience, however Colin Firth and Hugh Grant should not be dubbed in German - its just not right! Unfortunately for that time the evening only gave me a taste for Frankfurt as I had to get back early for some reason I cannot remember (probably shifts I don't know), but I was content with the decision I had made to move from Wixhausen to Frankfurt. Later I also realised I had made the good decision not to live in Darmstadt despite being closer for work!