Visiting Frankfurt am Main - A rewarding experience - Part I

Visiting Frankfurt am Main - A rewarding experience - Part I

At the beginning of December 2006 I spent 5 days in Frankfurt am Main, mostly attracted, I have to confess, by the possibility of visiting the historical towns in its nearbys, such as Mainz, Fulda or Worms. My original plan was to take a quick tour of the city and then spend the remaining four days touring around Essen and Saarland.

Aside knowing that Frankfurt is where Goethe was born and the European Central Bank is based, I knew fairly nothing about the town. What I discovered visiting it amazed me and impressed me positively enough as to say that I regret not having spent more days in Frankfurt.

First of all let me apologize to all the German net surfers for having underestimated such a beautiful city. My memories of the German I had at school are very blurry, so much as to allow me to forget the grand history implied by the city's very name: Frankfurt, the ford of the Franks, the town where Karl der Große (Charlemagne) built himself a royal court. I am a fanatic of the Middle Ages period, and I was particualrly ashamed of myself for forgetting about these important historical events.

I have chosen to begin this post with a picture I took of the Römerberg area, in the historical heart of Frankfurt. We have been told the buildings are not original, as the entire area has been bombed and destroyed during World War II. There is a good history museum in the area, right next to the little precious church of St. Nicholas', hosting a reconstruction of Römerberg in its antique splendour; there is also a section showing the damages done by the bombings: the impact on the town was massive, and it has made me think a lot about the horrors we humans have ruthlessly and constantly inflicted upon each other since our very first day on Earth.

I know I will sound rethorical to many of you, but wathcing the videos of buildings being bombed and of people searching throught the ruins for their beloved ones and their few belongins increased my sickness and tiredness of the world we live in, of the attitude of absolute neglection those who governed and govern us show towards their people and their sufferings and necessities.

The worst is I don't see a way out, and there is probably none; all I know is that the world I'd love to live in has never existed, does not exist and will probablay never exist.

I'll be back with more on Frankfurt and on the wonderful time I had in Germany pretty soon. Meanwhile, may God bless us all.