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FrankfurtGermany
Among English speakers, Frankfurt typically refers to Frankfurt am Main, described below. There is another Frankfurt in Germany, Frankfurt an der Oder. Frankfurt am Main is a city in Germany. Situated at the Main river, it is the largest city in the German Bundesland Hessen. Population approximately 650,000. Banking, airport, and exhibition are the three pillar industries of Frankfurt. Frankfurt has been the financial center for centuries. During the WWII, Frankfurt has been heavily bombed. The city quickly recovered. Frankfurt is often called "Bankfurt" or "Mainhatten". It is the only German city that has a lot of high-rise skyscrapers. History The name of Frankfurt on the Main river is derived from the Franconofurt of the Germanic tribe of the Franks; Furt (cf. English ford) denotes a low point passage across a stream or river. Alemanni and Franks lived there and by 794 Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which Franconofurt (-furd -vurd) is first mentioned. However, since frank is also an old German word for frei (meaning "free"), Frankfurt was a "free ford," an opportunity to cross the river Main without paying bridge toll. In the Holy Roman Empire, Frankfurt was one of the most important cities. Over several centuries, German kings and emperors were crowned here, initially after having been elected in Aachen. After the ill-faithed revolution of 1848, Frankfurt was home to the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung), which resided in St. Paul's Church (Paulskirche). Miscellany Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt. Frankfurt is the home of the European Central Bank, the German Bundesbank and the German Stock Exchange. External link Frankfurt city's own website All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Sarolta and I visited Frankfurt in 1978. We had a couple nice sunny day in town to explore the city and the surrounding area. During our 1998 trip we had some time to visit Frankfurt on our way back to Singapore and New Zealand. I decided to take underground from the Airport to the city. That was alright so far, but when I've seen city centre stop, I decided, we might as well go to the end, to get our money's worth, so to speak. No one told me that the terminal station was 50 km. away, on that particular train. A kind, young English lady, guessing that we were lost, drawn our attention to my mistake. Well, we got off the train at the next stop and had to wait for 1.30 hours, for a train that only took us half way back. Another 45 minutes and we arrived to Frankfurt Downtown. Waste of time, you say. Well, yes, you can say that, but we all normally go traveling to see and experience things. Well, we won't be forgetting this one in a hurry. Neither Hui Chin or I really complain about it though.
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