Frankfurt

We spent the day in Frankfurt yesterday, and despite the initial feelings of being overwhelmed and a slight case of jetlag, we almost immediately fell in love with this beautiful city.

Found this beautiful run down building covered in graffiti and wild plants just around the corner from our hotel, in the middle the of the financial district where beautiful modern metal and glass structures are seen.

On our way to Romerplatz, we accidentally stumbled into the Gay Pride Parade, and could not help but be swept along by the colours and sounds. And of course, the Queen of the parade was gracious enough to pose for a picture for me – isn’t she beautiful?

I absolutely love the seamless blend of the old and the new throughout the city. Medieval buildings share vistas with hypermodern skyscrapers, and it just works. And it works because the old buildings are being maintained, rather than demolished to make place for the new.

One of the highlights of the day for me was our visit to St Bartholomaus-Dom cathedral, which is a beautiful old gothic-style cathedral on Romerplatz.

What struck me the most was the contrasts with South Africa, and I don’t mean the architecture or the language, but rather how the old and the new work together, and it all just works. The infrastructure is well maintained, and, in general, it would seem that the Germans are proud to be, well, German. And not in that third Reich super-nationalism kill all the foreigners kind of pride, but just a deep, underlying sense of ‘hey, we are part of something great here, and that is good’. It it something I am missing in our every day life in South Africa.

Oh, and my muse really likes Frankfurt. Haven’t found words yet, but I felt the urge to draw yesterday for the first time in years.

This morning we hopped onto a train to Berlin. Can’t wait to see this historic city.