In the "Altstadt"

Today was my day to do some sightseeing in Frankfurt.  Frankfurt is the busy transportation, commercial and financial hub for Germany, and really there are not a lot of tourist attractions here.  It is not the romanticized image of the picturesque German town.  However, there were two places I wanted to see... the Städel Museum, the city's most important art gallery, and the "Altstadt".  "Alstadt" is a word I will be using frequently on this trip.  It means "Old Town", and I will be visiting several "Altstädte" (the plural of the word) during this trip.

This morning, I was up early to begin my explorations.  Looking out my hotel window, it seemed that it was going to be a sunny day.

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, I set out on foot to the "Altstadt".  My initial impression of the neighborhood proved to be true.  Head to the right from the hotel and you are immediately in a very sketchy area.  But turn onto the first street to the left, and the neighborhood is fine.  A few blocks down that street and you reach the Main River, a tributary of the Rhine which cuts through the city.  There is a walkway along the river for pedestrians and bicyclists.

 How did Canadian geese get to Germany? 😃

It's a short walk of perhaps twenty minutes to reach the "Altstadt".  All of the "old" buildings in the Old Town are actually 20th century reconstructions.  The city was devastated by Allied bombings during World War II.  Of the more than 2000 medieval half-timbered buildings, only one survived intact.  Skeletons of the stone buildings were left.  The only building left largely intact was the Cathedral.  This photo inside the entrance to the Cathedral shows what the "Altstadt" looked like after the bombings.

So, all of these old-looking buildings are younger, or not much older, than I.

The heart of the Old Town is a square called the Römerberg.  It is dominated by the Römer, which has been the city hall of Frankfurt for over 600 years.  It is named after the wealthy merchant family who sold the property to the city council in 1405.  It was destroyed in 1944 by the Allied bombing, and the reconstruction was inaugurated in 1955.

The statue of justice in front of the Römer

The skyscrapers of modern Frankfurt in the background

On the other side of the plaza is a block of buildings which has been rebuilt as it appeared in the 1500s.

On the Römerberg

One of my first attempts at taking a selfie on my cell phone

On another side of the plaza is the old church of St. Nicholas.

The church dates back to 1150.  Gothic embellishments were made in the 13th and 15th centuries.  It was reconstructed in 1951, and it is now a Protestant church.

Behind the Römer, a neo-Gothic annex was added to the city hall in the late 19th century.

The covered bridge connecting the city buildings was referred to "the Bridge of Sighs" because citizens used it when they paid their taxes.

 The medieval-style tower that was part of the city hall addition was nicknamed "Langer Franz" (Tall Franz) after the mayor at that time.

Across from the city hall addition is St. Paul's Church.  The neo-classical building replaced a Gothic church which stood there previously.  In 1848 it was the site of the first German parliament.

Dominating the Altstadt is the Cathedral of Frankfurt.  Technically it is not a cathedral since it is not the seat of a bishop.  It is instead an "imperial great church", since it was here that many of the Holy Roman Emperors were elected and coronated.

The church was built in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Gothic style.  I am sure, however that it will pale in comparison with the Cathedral of Cologne which I will soon be visiting.

There are several Gothic altarpieces which survived the war.

For three euros, you can climb the more than 300 steps to reach the top of the 312-foot-high spire.  The view was worth the effort.  I was huffing and puffing, but this septuagenarian made it to the top.

The towers of modern Frankfurt as a backdrop to the Old Town