It seems a bit silly to be blogging about Frankfurt now that it has been almost a month since my visit, but I suppose I have to keep with the spirit of things. To be honest, I don’t really have much to talk about Frankfurt since I think it’s one of the more boring big cities I’ve been to. It’s a huge financial hub, but that’s just it. Even though I spent 3 days 2 nights there, by day 2, I was almost running out of things to do. So my take is, if you have to go Germany, just give Frankfurt a miss, or a cursory stopover.
Skyscrapers in Frankfurt. Believe me, you don’t see many skyscrapers in Germany. They seem to like their buildings short.
The old city of Frankfurt. Frankfurt is compact enough that I could walk around without using the public transport. They were having a gay pride weekend, which explains the rainbow flags hanging around.
Apple wine. That’s a Frankfurt drink which tastes just like how you would expect apple wine to taste like-alcoholic apple juice. Give me apple shots anytime!
I could probably talk more about Frankfurt such as their museum mile, the gay parade, or the German restaurant I went to where I got free apple strudel. Oh yes, I could even tell you about the Indian restaurant near the hotel with an unfortunate name called Gaylord, but I’m getting bored with writing about an unintersting city so I’ll just stop now.
And in the newest chapter of my German adventures, it’s onto Speyer, a little town 20 minutes away from Ludwigshafen. I have to admit, I was not too keen about Speyer, until I read the Wiki entry on it. Apparently, it is rich in history and was extremely significant in German history.
The Speyer Cathedral. It’s HUGE. And I like that it’s not as ostentatious as some other cathedrals I’ve seen. It’s big, but the art in the cathedral is not so in-your-face. It reminds me of the ”fire engine station” church in Cordoba, but maybe that’s how all old Roman cathedrals look like. The cathedral is also the resting place of 8 German kings and queens who died in the 10th and 11th century. I visited the crypt and it gave me the chills. It was cold, probably due to the stone architecture and with the choir practising their hymns above the crpyt, it feels exactly like a scene from Diablo 1. I was half-expecting skeletons to rise up from the sarcophagi and attack us. I wanted to take a photo of the crypt, but on second thoughts, it was probably disrespectful and the last thing I wanted to do was to incur the wrath of 8 German ghosts.
So that’s it on Speyer. It’s really small, and everything can be seen in half a day. Like Heidelberg, it’s the kind of place to just go and people watch from a cafe with a nice cold beer. Or ice cream. The Germans love their ice cream.
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Joshuas, trees are just trees. Since HY probably doesn’t read this blog, I shall say on his behalf, “The poet speak! Come joshua, let us hear a haiku on trees!”
I’ve found a little cafe 20 mins away that has free wireless over at Manheim, so the cheapskate in me couldn’t resist taking advantage of the deal. The only downside? You’ll feel pressured to order a drink. So, if you get someone to come with you and you all share the drink (which is what I’m doing), it only works out to maybe 1 euro until your computer dies (which I hope it’s not too soon).
And scheiße means shit in German. I learnt that when my experiment went horribly wrong last Thursday and the lab tech in charge of me was going, “Scheiße, scheiße, scheiße.” The beta symbol is actually 2 s, so spelling it in English would probably get you scheisse (pronounced sh-ai-ze). And heilige Scheiße = holy shite
So my first weekend out is to Heidelberg! According to Zee and Ellen, it’s a must go. Maybe I’ve seen too many old neighbourhoods in Spain, so I was not wowed by it. It’s a nice city, pretty touristy, and I forsee myself spending my lazy weekends there, but like I said, not wow. Sorry Zee and Ellen =P.
The charming streets of Heidelberg. I think it’s a great place to just sit at one of the roadside cafes and watch the crowds go by.
The Heidelberg Schloss or “castle”. What’s left of it anyway. Pretty well maintained, but a huge bitch to climb up. It gives a great view of the city of Heidelberg. This castle has a long history and I guess any German history buff will love it, but since I know nothing about German history, I guess I can’t really relate to it.
Opposite the Neckar River
And by the way Ellen, I don’t blog on the job. Tsk. I go to a seedy little internet shop to blog and do all my online stuff. Ah, I hate having no internet..
