By David Gourley
 |
| Frankfurt ('Mainhatten') |
Back in the eighties I had the idea that I would like to do a rail
trip around Germany. For various reasons it was not a practical
proposition but when, a couple of years ago, I retired, I resurrected the
idea. Or at least thought about doing so. The proposed trip was not
really Cathy’s thing and in any case she was still working. But she was
keen that I go ahead and fulfil my ambition - and, no, it’s not because she
wanted to get rid of me! She urged me to stop thinking about the trip and
actually go ahead and do it.
Whilst we did not both go on the trip, we did share an enjoyable
afternoon booking it on the internet – something we couldn’t have done in the
eighties. The obvious choice of ticket would have been a German Rail Pass
but in fact a Eurail Pass was the better option for it provided greater
flexibility: one could use it on ten days, not necessarily consecutive, over
the period of a month. Pushing the boat out a bit, I got a first-class
pass. I realized that there was an opportunity cost if I confined its use
to just one country. So it did occur to me as I stood on Munich Station
that I could, with my ticket, be going to Prague or Budapest or south into Italy.
But the ticket was the means to my end, a rail trip around Germany.
Next we booked stays in five hotels – I am not, I’m afraid, the
kind of laidback or adventurous person who is happy to arrive in a city without
knowing where they are going to stay that night. The journey was from
south to north through the centre of the country. Only once did I venture
west of the Rhine (but a few years previously we had done a Rhine Cruise, VISA
103-4). And there was one foray into the former East, something else that
wouldn’t have been possible, or at any rate would have been difficult, in the
eighties since the Berlin Wall didn’t come down until the very end of that
decade. Berlin itself was not on my itinerary. We had been there
(VISA 89) and would like to go back, but it would require a fair bit of time to
do it justice and I wanted to get around more. I put together an
itinerary, using Deutsche Bahn timetables, which gave a mix of time in my
chosen five cities and rail trips to other cities. I found the timetables
to be very reliable so almost everything went to plan. Finally we booked
flights.
I had three nights in Munich, as distinct from two elsewhere.
There is an S-bahn link from the airport direct to the Hauptbahnhof (main
station) and my hotel was easily found, so near the station that it is
virtually on the station. I had the bright idea of using my pass on the
S-bahn where it would have been accepted. Cathy pointed out that I would
thus be doing myself out of one of my ten days of more extensive travel.
My hotel was not the best of this trip, but it was friendly and, for the
duration of one’s stay, gives one a complimentary travel pass for the city’s
excellent transport system: buses, trams, S-bahn and U-bahn (metro).
We had been to Munich a number of years previously, when our
daughter had a short-term work posting there. We had packed quite a lot
into just a weekend, including a performance of the opera and a trip out to
Neuschwanstein, the fairytale castle that inspired Disney, also taking in the
historic city of Augsburg. The castle was one of those built by
supposedly “mad” King Ludwig who was deposed and, some believe, murdered by the
Bavarian state. But today Bavarians are surely grateful to him, given all
the revenue from tourists flocking to see his castles.
Munich is a handsome city. The feel, I would say, is more
Central than West European. It is the capital of Bavaria, which in the
nineteenth century was not quite sure that it wanted to be part of a united
Germany and to this day maintains a strong sense of independence.
On my first evening there was time before dinner for a quick
stroll into the centre. Here, as in other German cities, the central area
is a safe environment which is largely pedestrianized, but there were a couple
of minor annoyances. Firstly, it was necessary, on the way in from my
hotel, to cross a busy main road and the wait could seem interminable.
Traffic, here and elsewhere in Germany, is allowed to pass through red lights
if there are no pedestrians but the reverse doesn’t apply. So one waits
and waits and, even when the light does at last go green, one waits a bit
longer since it seems to be not the done thing immediately to set forth.
Secondly there are more cyclists than back home, above all in Munich. Yes,
I know I should be applauding that since cycling is a healthy and very green
form of transport. And people were riding in responsible manner: no sign
of any ‘lycra louts’. Even so, I did in places feel a bit overwhelmed by
the number of cyclists, with the pathway seemingly belonging more to them than
to pedestrians.
I noted on the first evening that one of the two towers of the
beautiful main church, the Frauenkirche, was scaffolded up. I had been
intending that, as on my previous visit, I would go up to the top so hoped that
it was the unscaffolded tower that was open to the public.
The next two days followed my normal pattern of trips out of the
city, followed by time in the city. In Munich tram 19, which link the
Hauptbahnhof, and thus my hotel, to the Ostbahnhof (or East Station), is a good
way of seeing the city centre. I also did some exploring on foot
including a long stroll to the extensive English Garden, so named from the type
of landscaping, reminiscent of ‘Capability’ Brown. Here, for the first
time, I came across a phenomenon not to my knowledge found in Britain:
‘love-locks’ or padlocks that can weigh down railings on bridges, romantic but
considered by authorities to be something of a nuisance.
There were poignant reminders of World War II on my stroll to the
Garden. The Bürgersaalkirche contains the shrine to Pater Rupert Mayer
who was an opponent of the Nazi regime and was canonized by Pope John Paul II
in 1987. He survived the war, but died of a stroke a few months later.
In the vicinity of the Bavarian Chancellery is a memorial to the White Rose,
the Munich-based anti-Nazi group. Sadly most of its members were executed
but one member, Traute Lafrenz, is alive still, having emigrated after the war
to the United States. The White Rose looked forward to a “New Europe”,
the bases of which would be “freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the
protection of individual citizens from the arbitrary will of criminal regimes
of violence”. Inconceivable though it might have seemed at that time,
just such a Europe was to come into being a few years later, thanks to
far-sighted statesmen in their own country and elsewhere. It is a Europe
from which Britain, foolishly in my view, has decided to turn its back.
A dilemma posed itself on this, the first of my ten days of rail
travel. On double-decker trains I like to sit on the upper deck but on
this train it was for second-class passengers, whereas my pass entitled me to
first-class travel. I stuck to first but wasn’t sure this was the right
choice. Odd that on the Continent trains, but not buses, are double-deck,
whereas in the UK it’s the other way round. In fact there once were
double-deck trains in the UK. When I first started work in the sixties, I
sometimes commuted to and from London in such a train, one of just two. They
ran on the lines out to Dartford, through the area where I lived at that
time. They were regarded as a failed experiment, but were retained for
their working lives.
It was pleasant to sit back in my carriage, even if it was lower
deck, and enjoy the Bavarian countryside. Bavaria, I reflected, is a
region which has everything, bar a sea coast: lakes, mountains, beautiful
countryside, attractive towns and villages, a high standard of living, low unemployment...
what’s not to like?
Regensburg is located on the Danube and its Old Town is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. It has been described as “Italy’s northernmost
city”. I made the discovery that Galerie Kaufhof, a nationwide
chain of department stores, provides good buffet lunches at a reasonable
price. One invariably ascends to the fourth floor, passing the ladieswear
and menswear floors. Here I photographed my plate of chilli con
carne. I wouldn’t normally do such a thing but the reason here was the
juxtaposition: this was an al fresco area overlooked by the city’s beautiful
spires.
I wandered through the Old Town, then across what is perhaps the
city’s most iconic feature, the twelfth century Stone Bridge, which crosses the
Danube. Unfortunately it was being renovated so there was a lot of
scaffolding and for most of the way across one had to use a temporary
construction. I wasn’t having much luck in this regard for, yes, back in
Munich the scaffolded tower in the Frauenkirche was the one that is normally
open to the public (one could still of course go inside the church). The
walk across the bridge was still worthwhile given the wonderful view back to
the Old Town. Located by the bridge in the Old Town is the historic
Sausage Kitchen. It purports to be the oldest continuously open public
restaurant in the world.
My next journey took me out of Bavaria, into Baden-Württemberg and
on to its capital, Stuttgart. At its station there is a tower which one
can ascend for free. From here it is evident that, unlike Munich, this is
not an especially beautiful city. It is by no means an unpleasant city
but after World War II, its centre was rebuilt in modern, functional style,
apparent in Königstrasse, the main thoroughfare which runs through the centre
from the station.
I called in at the tourist office. Naturally enough local
authorities like to blow their trumpets and the city guide eulogizes the main
square, the Schlossplatz, claiming it to be “one of Europe’s most beautiful
squares”. Well, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit St Mark’s Square in
Venice, Old Town Square in Prague and Grande Place in Brussels and I’m sorry to
say to Stuttgarters that their square, pleasant though it might be, does not
begin to compare. Scattered around are a few historic buildings and some
parkland. I enjoyed my time in Stuttgart but soon concluded that the
remainder of my day would be better spent seeing more of Munich.
To get back to the Hauptbahnhof I used the U-bahn. I was
impressed that quite a few cities in Germany have metros: I had used the one in
Munich and was also to use those in Frankfurt and in Hanover. In Britain,
by contrast, the only metros outside London are the circular line in Glasgow
and the innovative Tyneside Metro in Newcastle. I think that in
Germany cities generally have more power and influence than their British
counterparts and, as a result, have greater civic consciousness.
This might be something to do with geopolitics, for the capital of West Germany
was a fairly small city, Bonn. Even though Berlin has resumed its
rightful place as capital of a united Germany, I don’t think the other big
cities are going to bend the knee any time soon. England by contrast
tends to be fairly ‘Londoncentric’ – something I think that is increasingly
recognized, resulting in the proposals for a ‘Northern Powerhouse’.
I chose the time of my train carefully. Some trains would
simply have repeated yesterday’s journey to Stuttgart and carried on from
there. I wanted to see new territory, so got a train that went north to
Nuremberg, then west to Frankfurt. In Würzburg I was impressed that there
were hillside vineyards very close by.
Ominously, a weather map at Munich Station showed bright sunshine
over Bavaria and rain over the rest of Germany. Sure enough it started to
rain when we reached Aschaffenburg. This city is still in Bavaria, but
far closer to Frankfurt than Munich; it is considered by Lonely Planet to be
“in style terms more Hessian than Bavarian”. Fortunately it was dry again
by the time I got to Frankfurt and rain was not to give me too much trouble in
coming days.
This was the nicest of my five stays. My hotel was the
Intercontinental, a short walk from the station. The friendly receptionist
offered me a pass that gave use of the top floor lounge for €50 for a 24-hour
period. Usually one doesn’t, as an ordinary client, get a sniff of a
hotel lounge. The deal included complimentary food and drink, including
beer or wine. Given that breakfast, not here included, was over €30, it
was a no-brainer. I enjoyed a light lunch in the lounge, and a good
dinner.
The view from my fourteenth floor room was one of my best
ever. I looked straight out at the city’s skyscrapers. These are an
unusual feature for a German, indeed for a Continental European, city and they
have earned Frankfurt the sobriquet “Mainhatten”. I walked into the
city. This entailed a pleasant stroll along the Main. I crossed
over the river to the south side then re-crossed later on using one of the two
old pedestrian bridges. From there it was a short distance to the Old
Town, centred on Römerplatz, an area that was lovingly rebuilt after the World
War II bombing. I was pleased that despite my advancing years – I was now
heading into my late sixties – I was able without difficulty to ascend the
tower of the Cathedral, 328 steps.
I had wondered whether “Mainhatten” would be a rather cold sort of
place, but not so at all. This is an attractive, cultured and vibrant
city that oozes prosperity. It is also a historic city, its modernity
notwithstanding. In former times it was the place where the kings and
emperors of the Holy Roman Empire (which was not, it has been said, holy or
Roman or an empire) were crowned. The Empire, a collection of numerous
independent states, included most of present-day Germany so it might be said
that Frankfurt was the unofficial German capital. Immediately after World
War II, it was the putative capital of West Germany. It seemed the
obvious choice, roughly in the middle of the country, on the Main so not in
South or North Germany, in historic terms the true divide between Germans,
rather than the artificial East-West split resulting from the Cold War.
But the wily Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of West Germany, wanted the
capital to appear makeshift since he didn’t want it to be thought that the
division of Germany was permanent. Frankfurt, he feared, would settle
down to the role too comfortably. Hence the choice of a much smaller city,
Bonn. Today Frankfurt doesn’t get to be the capital of anything: it is by
far the largest town in the Land of Hesse but the kudos of being its capital
goes to Wiesbaden. But, as it houses the HQ of the European Central Bank,
it might be regarded as the financial capital of Europe.
I wandered on into the financial district though not as far as the
towers of “Mainhatten”. The Stock Exchange is in a surprisingly old
building. There is a plaque here commemorating Ludwig Erhard, the Finance
Minister who presided over West Germany’s Wirtschaftswunder or Economic
Miracle. He succeeded Adenauer as Federal Chancellor but it is thought
that he was far less happy in that role.
With dinner that night I had a glass of
cider. I was surprised to find that this is a Frankfurt speciality since,
as I have found to my chagrin, cider isn’t generally available on the
Continent. It wasn’t anything like cider back home: something of an
acquired taste but, given time, I might have acquired it.
First Published in VISA 131 (February 2017)
