Frankfurt on Foot
- betsydelcour
- Mar 11
- 4 min read
This past Saturday Casey took a very rare day off...well, ok, he actually went in to work for 2 hours, but was home by 9am...so that counts as a day off here. : I Anyway, we decided to make the most of it and FINALLY drive the 25 minutes to see Frankfurt. Until now, all of us had only seen the airport (pretty nice), plus I'd planned on treating Molly - she'd been told there's a Chipotle in Frankfurt, and this child has not stopped talking about it since December. And it was time to go.
In an attempt to ensure our success with our day trip, I signed us up for an American-guided tour of the city I'd been told about, Frankfurt on Foot. I'm glad we did; our tour guide Anne has a German mother, but was raised in Salt Lake City and has worked in Frankfurt for several years. She gives tours as a side-hustle and clearly loves the city and German culture. We were treated to a warm (by German spring standards) and sunny day and she definitely taught us things about the city we wouldn't have known about if we'd just wandered around on our own. For me, the most interesting (sad) part was at the end when she showed us where the Jewish ghetto used to exist. It was actually the oldest Jewish ghetto in Europe, established in 1462. It ceased to exist after WW2. There's a monument to the Jews who lived there and died in various concentration camps. Anne Frank's family hailed from Frankfurt as did the Rothschilds, though they left before the war broke out. Anyway, most of the city is NOT original - it was rebuilt after the war, with some of the "most historic-looking" sections only rebuilt in 2018! They literally collected all of the rubble from the bombed out structures to rebuild and are proud of their resilience. There's an artist rendering of what the synagogue looked like - that was not rebuilt unfortunately, and I don't know why (guessing there weren't enough Jewish people left for it to be a priority? That's a dark take, I know, but I also didn't ask our tour guide so I could be wrong). The other most interesting part of the tour (for me) was the Kaiserdom St. Bartholomaus; it actually did remain standing after the war. The first chapel was built on this site in 680 (!) and starting in the 14th c, it was the place where Holy Roman Emperors were elected and coronated. It also has a 14th c sculpture of the crucifixion scene (that to my eye, looked very realistic considering it pre-dates the Renaissance) and is said to contain a piece of the actual cross. Vielleicht?
Frankfurt is known as the financial capital of Germany and a major finance hub for Europe. They call themselves "Main-hattan" as the city is located on the Main River. With that said...it's not the most interesting or beautiful city and is typically left off the tourist path. We happened to be there on International Women's Day, so we got to see some protests. The first was by Omas Gegen Rechts (Grandmothers Against the Right); they're mad about the AfD getting 2nd place in the recent national elections. There were about 50 old ladies there. Then there was a larger and more colorful protest after lunch (which was DELICIOUS!) - I don't know the name of the group, but there were lots of rainbow flags and one of the signs I translated demanded equal access to birth control. OK. Didn't know that was an issue here?
Lunch: Genna and I had been craving Jagerschnitzel, our shared favorite German food here. So at the recommendation of our sweet tour guide, we went to Zum Schwartzen Stern restaurant. Casey and I split the Jagerschnitzel, Genna got her own, and Molly got a gnocchi dish, that while technically Italian, really should be German since they love their potatoes here. Food was delicious. Our schnitzels came with a salad of field greens, lightly dressed. Let me tell you, the produce in Germany is SO fresh and flavorful, the greens were tender and you could taste all of the individual flavors of the various lettuces. I have a new appreciation for field greens. Molly's gnocchi was totally unique - came in a cheesy creamy sauce but I could also taste lots of fresh herbs and citrus zest. So good. From there, in true American fashion (lol) we tracked down the Chipotle. Casey and I had dinner plans that night, so my idea was for M to get Chipotle to go for dinner (Genna didn't want it). It was about a 10 minute walk towards an area that was an outdoor mall (kind of like St. Johns Town center, for my FL friends). In the middle of one of the strips was the entrance to an indoor mall where all of the restaurants were on the 4th floor. Oh and I didn't mention the crush of people inside and outside. Wall-to-wall people, very international...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried about a car attack since that seems to be a thing here, especially with the brand of protests that were going on. At any rate, I love my children, so through the maelstrom we went to get the Chipotle to go. Happy Molly, happy family. And with that, it was time to drive home. Glad we checked the box! I'd have felt dumb if we never saw a major city that's so close, but don't feel a strong urge to go back. No offense. Frankfurt is fine. :)
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