I have been hitch hiking from Berlin to Frankfurt to Paris to Barcelona to Paris to Lille to Vienna to Sofia and back home to Rotterdam. Why specifically these cities? Well, because in all of them I had friends which I had not seen for a long time. All my hitch hiking I have done in 1,5 months. About every hike and destination I write a short story on my blog. This time: FRANKFURT!
After I had spend a good week in Berlin, I decided to hitchhike to Frankfurt am Main (Germany). I had never really visited the city before and was therefore interested to put my preconceptions to the test.
I imagined Frankurt to be the buzzy, capitalist heart of modern Europe. A smaller, European version of Manhattan (therefore also called "Mainhatten), where there was no time for small-talk especially not among the new 21st century white collar heroes. Yes, I believed it to be the capital of terror and disillusion. Was I wrong?
The old, charming city centre
My trip from Berlin to Germany's 5th largest city was long and a tad nerving. It took 13 drivers and 9 hours to eventually get there... However, I must admit that it was an interesting experience to drive through smaller cities such as Kassel, Leipzig, Ehrfurt and Weimar (a city which I believe everybody just has to visit). Of course, the scenery was also brilliant (green mountains and finally fresh air!) and my conversations were not boring in the least bit. I met former Yugoslavians who I could not understand because of the loud hip-hop music thundering from their car speakers, I spoke with Berlin's youth who introduced me to the newest electro records and I met a middle-aged lady who could not stop being excited about her new Atkins diet. Wonderful!
That is the great thing about hitch hiking, meeting people from all different backgrounds. I reckon that our social relations are traditionally restricted to specific social circles (whether at work, university or in a bar). However, I think that hitch hiking allows one to communicate with people from all layers of society (families, ethnic minorities, millionaires, hippies etc, etc) and therefore enforces common understanding among each other. Hence, everybody should give it a try!
Anyways, I arrived in Frankfurt some time in the evening and got picked up by Jana. I stayed about 6 days in Frankfurt (before leaving to Paris) and visited the city's many museums, parks and tourist sites. It was a good experience as it allowed me to get to know the city and Germany a bit better. I, for instance, visited the Paulskirche where the first National Assembly took place in 1848. Wikipedia that!
The city is an interesting mix of history, modern art (the modern art museum is kool indeed) and a lot of white collar bankers and other hardcore capitalists. It would be too much to give the city the label of being beautiful or worth seeing, however it could be a lot worse (at least compared to the preconceptions I previously had in mind). That might sound harsh (and maybe it is), but Frankfurt after all is not that special as a city. What I do recommend though is to visit the city's fine museums, there are many and I believe that many are worth exploration.
I will update this post later with some photos of my impressions of the city.
Liebe und Freiheit
Marijn
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