Frankfurt, October 8th, 2013

The boys were hungry and they wanted rice, so off we went to Frankfurt city taking the train from Offenbach OST to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Paid €15 for the fare. We had Arabic rice at Al Rafedain Restaurant, Baseler Straße 15, Frankfurt. It is near to the hotel I stayed last year.

During lunch, I read the Frankfurt City Guide that I bought from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof earlier on. On the last page, I read about super-saver card. We could actually buy a group ticket for €28! What a saver. And there we were already spending €45 for one and a half day. Bummer. We later got to the hauptbanhof (station) and went strait to the tourist info counter and bought the super-saver card.

The super-saver card includes unlimited use of public transport system for a maximum of 5 persons as well as 50% discount on admission to selected spots in Frankfurt city. Later we went to buy Ortel data plan prepaid card at a phone shop (operated by Pakistanis) on Kaiserstraße, just across the station. We got the simcard for €15 and dataplan for €14.90. Alles war gut. So off we went to our next destination: Hauptwache.

Hauptwache

The Hauptwache (Main Guard) is a central point of Frankfurt am Main and named after the baroque building (above photo) in 1730. It was the headquarters of the city’s Stadtwehr militia when Frankfurt was an independent city state and also contained a prison. In 1866, the Hauptwache became a police station. In 1904, the building was used as a café and remains one to this day. Heavily burned in World War II bombing, it was reopened in a provisional form with an altered roof in 1954. In 1967, with the building of the U-Bahn tunnel through the city, it was dismantled so it could be moved and rebuilt over the new underground U-Bahn station. The plaza has undergone another major renovation when the S-Bahn station for suburban trains was opened in 1978.

Today, Hauptwache station serves as one of the most important crosspoints of the Frankfurt public transport system. Eight of nine S-Bahn lines serve the station as well as five of seven U-Bahn lines.

From Hauptwache, we later walked about 10 minutes to Römer via Liebfrauenstraße and Neue Kräme.

Somewhere at Liebfrauenstraße.

Yassin in front of Maggi shop at Neue Kräme. Yassin loves Maggi noodles, and asked me to snap this photo. MAggi came into existence in 1872 in Switzerland, when Julius Maggi took over his father’s mill. He quickly became a pioneer of industrial food production, aiming to improve the nutritional intake of worker families. Maggi was the first to bring protein-rich legume meal to the market, and followed up with a ready-made soup based on legume meal in 1886. In 1897, Julius Maggi founded the company Maggi GmbH in the German town of Singen, where it is still based today.

“Ibu, you like Starbucks, right? Take my photo here. Peace!” said Yassin.

Römer

The Römer is the city’s most important landmarks. The Römer is dominated by the Lutheran Old St. Nicholas church and it has been the city hall (Rathaus) for 600 years. The Römer merchant family sold it together with a second building, the Goldener Schwan (Golden Swan), to the city council on March 11, 1405 and it was converted for use as the city hall.

At Römer. Posing with a golden lady. Paid few Euros for this photo opportunity.

Yassin in front of buildings at Römer.

Artist at work: Rudin Serge.

Yassin jumping with joy. Seen behind is The Römer’s famous three-peaked façade with medieval design. 

Having coffee at  Römer.

After having coffee, we moved on to visit the Historisches Museum Frankfurt (Frankfurt History Museum).

Azmi busy snapping pictures in front of Historisches Museum Frankfurt.

Historisches Museum Frankfurt

The Historisches Museum Frankfurt has its origins in collections of the city and its citizens dating back to the fifteenth century. Founded in 1877/78 on the basis of civil initiatives, it is the oldest museum in Frankfurt to be financed by the municipality. Since its founding, its mission has been the preservation, scientific investigation and mediation of historical objects and images of the trade-fair town. Today the museum has at its disposal the most extensive collections pertaining to the history of culture and art in the city and region of Frankfurt am Main.

Azmi reading about The Cellar of the Burnitz Building.

Azmi and his dad watching Frankfurt City diorama.

Yassin mimicking the militaria armour suit behind him.

We had great fun visiting this city museum which offers great insight about the background of the city’s past with its vast exhibits of architecture, photography, paintings, ceramics, metal, militaria, furniture, sculpture and many more.

We later walked across the road in front of the museum to get to River Main.

A woman enjoying the weather by the Mainkai riverside.

River Main

The Main is a river in Germany, with a length of 527 km. The Main flows through the German states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg (forming the border with Bavaria for some distance) and Hesse. The largest cities along the Main are Frankfurt am Main and Würzburg.

View of River Main.

On Eiserner Steg; pedestrian iron bridge built in 1868 that connects Mainkai and Schaumainkai.

The iron bridge has become on of the locations where loving couples attached their locks – inscribed with names or initials – onto bridge railings and then throw away the key into the river, to ‘lock’ in their union and to symbolise their everlasting love for each other. 

After crossing the river, we walked to the nearest station and got back to Frankfurt Hauptbanhof and went for dinner before making our way to our temporary home. It was 7°C when we reached Offenbach and we were walking fast to get home and turn the heater on.

Reference: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptwache_(Frankfurt_am_Main)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6mer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi
http://www.historisches-museum.frankfurt.de/index.php?article_id=28&clang=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_(river)

My family and I arrived at Frankfurt Airport around 6.45am on October 7th, 2013. After claiming our luggages, we went straight to Avis counter as my husband had booked a car online (paid for a week rental using debit card) but the process didn’t went well as Avis needed a credit card to verify the booking at the counter. As my husband and I only have debit card, we had to cancel the rental. My husband had wrote a refund claim e-mail as I wrote this and that will take about two weeks to clear. But nonetheless, at least we know what to expect if we were to rent a car in Europe again.

We took a taxi to Offenbach as taking the train was out of the option as we had big luggages and a box full of books to carry. We reached the place we rented around 9am. Had to wait an hour for the owner to come as check in time was at 10am.

Boy, it was cold!

The owner, Dr. Mai, is a Muslim Egyptian doctor staying in Frankfurt with her family for 15 years already. She showed around the fully-furnished apartment and told us that we were free to use everything and thank God for the washing machine and electric cooking stove. These are top on the list when you have a family travelling with you.

Dr. Mai’s house is awesome!

I am very thankful to have found Dr. Mai on Airbnb. I got a very cheap deal renting the place from her as the rental was not based on pax as what the hotels in Frankfurt (perhaps in Europe) are charging. There were other places listed on Airbnb around Frankfurt but all were not within my budget so I opt to stay outside the city. Anyway, staying at any hotel in Frankfurt during book fair can go up to €300(and more) per day!

My family were all tired and they took a little nap before exploring Frankfurt.

After sitting on 12 hours flight.

We went out later in the afternoon around 5pm and took the train to Frankfurt city. We walked to Offenbach OST (10 minutes walk) and paid around €15 (one way) to reach the main station, the Frankfurt Am Main Hauptbahnhof.

Frankfurt Am Main Hauptbahnhof.

The boys were already hungry (we had nasi impit and sambal ikan bilis for lunch at the apartment) and having visited Frankfurt last year, I know a nearby Halal place to have dinner. We went to Thai Fun at Elbestraße, about 5 minutes walk from hauptbahnhof.

Yassin shared fried rice with his dad while I had rice with chicken and mushroom. Azmi had rice with tomyam.

Busy with phones! It was either they were tweeting or sharing photos on Instagram. Haha! We bought a prepaid data plan earlier and shared connection. I will blog about this on a separate post on ‘how to plan a trip to Frankfurt with your family’. Sounds good? Stay tuned!

And that was all for Day 1. We took the train back to Offenbach and paid another  €15. Yikes,  €30 altogether.

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow!

Oh I miss my blog! I tried to update my blog from Frankfurt but didn’t have enough time to do so. Frankfurt was great! I had 3 days to spent with my family and they rest were spent at book fair. I missed the zoo and Main Tower as I had to be at the fair. But my family did had a great time there.

I will blog about places in Frankfurt individually but at the meantime, here are some photos from our trip:

Me reaching up for autumn leaves.

Yassin, Azmi (my stepson) and my husband.

Our home for 10 days.

Yassin and Azmi in front of Hauptwache old police station, now converted to restaurant.

Yassin and Azmi hugging giant ice-cream.

Having coffee at Romer.

Crossing Baseler Straße.