Roaming In Frankfurt

This morning I arrived into Frankfurt, Germany, to attend the Spatial European Forum that starts tomorrow. I arrived at the InterContinental only to be told that there was no room for me to check into. They asked me to sit in the lobby – FOR THE NEXT FIVE HOURS. I was in no mood to do that especially since I had just spent eight hours strapped to an economy class seat of an airplane. So I did the next best thing – book myself on a city tour of Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is the commercial capital of Germany. It is also well known for its airport. Frankfurt lies at the geographic center of Germany and Germany lies at the center of Europe. Besides, Germany shares borders with nine countries. So Frankfurt has become more of a transit place to get connecting flights. Apparently millions of people have visited Frankfurt and have never stepped out of the airport. Quite similar to how I have flown into New York and Newark on numerous occasions only to take a connecting flight out.

85% of Frankfurt was flattened during the Second World War. So the architecture is a mixture of some very old structures and some very new skyscrapers. Here are some pictures I took as the tour bus took us around the city.

The river Main flows through Frankfurt. Both banks are connected by a number of old and new bridges.

A good example of old and new architecture.

An even better example.

One of the ancient buildings in the old town square.

One of the best and most expensive hotels in Frankfurt. According to the the tour guide the hotel is a holy place because when you enter your room you say, “Oh my God”. And when you go to check out and they hand you the bill you say, “Jesus Christ”.

This is the headquarters of the European Central Bank. Apparently they have run out of office space and have started construction of a new building.

These twin towers are the headquarters of Deutche Bank and are nicknamed debit and credit.