Summer Draws to a Close

European life has its advantages – winter isn’t one of them (unless you’re an avid skier)!

By far the biggest advantage of living here is the proximity of interesting places, along with other countries & cultures.

Take Frankfurt as an example – most people, when considering a visit to Germany, immediately think of Berlin or Munich, the Black Forest or a cruise down the Rhine river. Frankfurt is rarely top of anyone’s list (apart from arriving into the country at Frankfurt airport!).

One of our more pleasant surprises since moving here 12 months ago is just how much there is to see & do in Frankfurt. A friend of mine from Australia, Cathryn, was participating in a couple of conferences in Europe & decided to stay with us for a couple of days in September before heading back home.

With winter looming on the horizon I got a chance to show off just a couple of the sights around Frankfurt that we have been meaning to check out but hadn’t quite got around to, before the summer warmth deserted us.

Our first stop was the Goethe Turm – a wooden tower on the outskirts of the city located on the edge of a large forest. The tower was easy enough to climb & the views of the city were simply amazing! As is the norm here in Germany, a cafe was at the base of the tower so we could reward ourselves with some coffee & cake at the end of our exertions!

Our next stop was the city centre – Cathryn wanted to ride Europe’s

longest escalator (which I had told her was at the “My Zeil” shopping centre). Not a very culturally significant landmark but a landmark nonetheless! So, off we went to ride that escalator.

We also decided to have lunch at the Eschenheimer Turm – an old medieval tower in the centre of the city – one of several remnants of the old city walls.

That was followed by a trip to Bockenheimer Warte to check out what has to be one of the most unusual station entrances you are likely to come across!

And what visit to Frankfurt would be complete without a Saturday

morning visit to the Sachsenhausen markets & a couple of modern art museums?

All in all, I think that Cathryn was quite surprised by this taste of just some of the magical things Frankfurt has to offer.

However, a week or so later it was our turn to be surprised when some new friends took us to Mainz (on the outskirts of Frankfurt itself) to experience some history & architecture that was simply amazing!

The Chagall choir windows in St. Stephan’s are unique in Germany & just stunning!

Mainze Cathedral is also quite spectacular & the old town square takes you back to a time when horse & cart would have been the dominant form of transport.

All of this & more is on our doorstep here – I am so fortunate, as a Digital Nomad, to be able to enjoy all of this as a part of my day to day.

Now, with summer on the wane, it is time to start to focus on all the winter activities that will start to surface as the temperature drops – especially the Christmas markets – referred to as “Weihnachtsmarkt” in the local lingo – with every town & village featuring their own twist on these we are going to sample as many as we can this season – stay tuned for more!