You Go Nate!

FRANKFURT AM MAIN

On March 23 I hopped aboard a train and went to the city of Frankfurt on the Main (pronounced "mine") river...

One of the missionaries who served in my ward here in Munich is from Frankfurt and he got me in touch with his family so that I could stay with them. So I was met at the train station by Sister Klein and I dropped my bags off in her car, she told me how to get to her house, and then she left to run errands and I was free to explore a new city!




The cool thing about Frankfurt is it is the banking capital of Germany (and, in a way, of Europe). There are many skyscrapers here and the city overall is much more modern-looking than most German cities. It is sometimes nicknamed "Mainhattan" because of this.

But what I loved to see were some of the older buildings right along side the modern high-rises...




I left the train station and wandered the streets with my trusty guide book. I found the headquarters for the European Central Bank where the euro €€€ is administered...

Here's the old Dresdner Bank offices with the two newer Dresdner Bank offices behind...

I found the German stock exchange with bull and bear out in front. There wasn't too much action going on around here. The economic crisis has been felt here too. I blame the Democrats.

If any of you have ever spent much time playing Sim City, you'll remember the frustration of trying to create a realistic-looking city while skyscrapers are being built next to rambling houses. Here in Frankfurt it almost felt that way with an occasional old house smack dab in the middle of a bustling modern square...

Frankfurt is a very international city. For every German conversation I heard, there was another in a foreign language. Some people even walked around with trees growing out of their backpack...

The sun came out for a bit and I enjoyed spending some time on the banks of the Main...




I ate a fun lunch and then found the clouds starting to cover the sky. I made the best of it as I walked around the Römerberg where the town hall is...




Towers...




I loved this view... Roman ruins with a backdrop of 21st century skyscrapers...

The typical German architecture still makes up the quaint old-town area...




Though there are some modern additions. The houses on this street where each designed as part of a contest. Each one is a little different and one is built to look like it's up-side-down (though it's hard to see in the picture)...

The Paulskirche is a church with an important history. In 1848 representatives from all the different kingdoms of Germany met here to draft a parliamentary constitution that would be the precursor to a united Germany. The church was heavily destroyed in WWII but the first to be rebuilt after the war. John F. Kennedy gave a major speech here in 1963 and a plaque with his profile can be found near the entrance.




Inside it was interesting to eavesdrop on a school group and hear a bit of the history...

Frankfurt has a huge shopping street with a state-of-the-art mall with funky windows...

I wanted to take some pictures by the river that evening, but it got rather rainy and windy. So I snapped a few by the banks of the Main and then headed to the Klein's.




The next day, the weather was quite nice and I rode into town to take the suburban train out to the town of Friederichsdorf. In this little town is the reason for my trip to Frankfurt: The LDS Frankfurt Temple...







This was my first time at a temple outside of the US. It was a new experience, but it felt at once familiar.




The temple is a great place to think, to pray, and to focus on the important things in life in a place that is quiet, beautiful, and separated from the day-to-day world.

It is also a place where we can perform saving ordinances for our desceased ancestors, giving them the choice to accept them in the hereafter. Here is a great little video about why Mormons build temples...

I was able to do some work for two of my ancestors as well as some work for others. It was a great experience to do everything in German.



After several hours at the temple I headed back to Frankfurt to enjoy the evening. The sun was still out and so I headed back over to the Römerberg for some photos...

The city hall...




Though most of these buildings were destroyed in WWII and rebuilt, they still give the idea of what Frankfurt looked like in those days before the war...




















For dinner I headed across the Main to the Sachsenhausen district where a lot of great eateries could be found...




I crossed paths with this mysterious gentleman while crossing the bridge...

I found a recommended restaurant with long wooden tables and ordered a local speciality: Leiterchen, or "little ladder." Basically it was a grilled spare-rib served with potatoes. The bones are what make it look like a little ladder. It was delicious.

Before...




After...

After dinner I went back to the Main to watch a beautiful sunset over the city...




It was fun, but really cold, to wait on one of the bridges as the sun went down and to get photos of the lights coming on...












There was another guy on the bridge also taking pictures and so we got to talking and suffered a bit in the cold together. He was even nice enough to give me a lift back to the train station where I could then get back to the Klein's.


The next day I went back out to Friederichsdorf and spent most of the day at the temple again...





That evening I went back into Frankfurt and visited the Old Opera House. It's a very nice building with Goethe (Germany's most famous writer, born in Frankfurt) on one side...

...and Mozart on the other...

On the main façade it reads, "To the True the Beautiful the Good" -a worthy statement for a house of high art. Though one wonders if they truly live up to the idea with all their productions.

Though it was sprinkling rain, I was able to get a few fun shots of the Opera House as the sun went down on my last day in Frankfurt...

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