Frankfurt & Marburg

Frankfurt
Frankfurt reminds me a lot of Minneapolis. It is a city on a river, with a skyline of comparable size and beautiful park along the river. However, Frankfurt also has the old city with a wide range of historic architecture, cobblestone streets and a subway. While Minneapolis is green, the downtown area of Frankfurt is greener with more parks, trails and plants everywhere. It is a smaller city, with less than a million people, although the area by downtown is more densely populated. A lot of the city was destroyed in WWII, so the rebuilding has been pretty extensive.

Frankfurt is also the financial capital of Europe so there is a lot of money in the city - it's where the investment bankers work. I've gotten some negative feedback about that aspect of Frankfurt - similar to the attitude that New York gets as well.

I also liked the tram through the Frankfurt in the grass - it's pretty cool! If you notice the black metal statue in the background of this picture, I was told it is a symbol of communism, with a hammer (anvil?) striking a block. Not the most typical artwork for a western city.

Marburg
Marburg is a very cute town complete with a castle on the hill, Fachwerkhause (half-timbered houses) and a church dedicated after Saint Elisabeth. It is truly a fairy tale town – the Brothers Grimm wrote their famous stories while living in Marburg. The Altstadt or Oberstadt (old or upper city) is the historic part of town on the hill from the castle to the river that gives the town its character. The castle was built on the hill above town so that it could not be invaded - it is primarily accessible from the side opposite the town. Photos include the castle, the rose garden next to the castle and the view from the castle.

The Altstadt was built in the late middle ages

(1400 - 1600) and has curvy, narrow, steep streets. In case you are curious, buses travel a few cobblestone streets in the Altstadt. Cars and delivery trucks use the streets as well, but I believe they are somewhat limited. Students at the University of Marburg live in the historic part of town since the flats are small with floors that slant and relatively few windows. I would still take one. Photos include on the steep streets and the Marktplatz which is the main square in the center of the Oberstadt.

Our group of 30-some Fulbrighters are staying in a dorm (last photo) that is about a 30 minute walk downhill to German class in the morning and usually longer hiking up the hill to get back. The walk is enjoyable, since there is a Bakeri on the way where I get my coffee and fresh roll every morning. Since the town is past our classroom, getting anywhere can be pretty time-consuming. The dorm is 1960s modernism and looks just like every other building of its type in the world. I have heard many people in our group complaining that most of the modern buildings here are eyesores in an otherwise beautiful town. I can’t argue – I just couldn’t get myself to take any pictures of the generic modernism here. You've seen it once and it looks the same everywhere.