Mon Aug 3 Dennis had selected a hotel right across the street from the Frankfurt train station. Exiting the station, things didn't look right and so we turned on the TomTom navigator and it advised that we were 2-1/2 miles from our hotel. With no other form of directions, we determined Dennis had misinterpreted the info he got on Google. So off we trudged across the river and through what seemed to be the center of town. As we neared our hotel, sweaty and frustrated, we realized what the problem was. There are two large train stations -one is called Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof the other is called Frankfurt Main Sud. The one where our long distance train ride ended was not the one near our hotel. We thought we had arrived at the "main" station, (station was called Frankfurt Main Sud) but as it turned out, we had arrived at the station south (Sud) of the River Main. The "main" as in "central" station was the one near our hotel. You get the idea -Dennis felt a little better that he had merely lacked local knowledge. You have to wonder though why the long distance train ride would not end at the central station?! Indeed, our hotel was conveniently located a few steps from a big hub for trains and metro and worked well for us the remainder of our stay. After our long walk, it was too late to do any sight-seeing, so we grabbed some dinner and went to bed. The room was small, there was no place to set your bags, the shower door opened like a phone booth, and we couldn't find any English-speaking stations on the TV. Also, there was no fridge and they didn't provide ice. But it was so convenient being right next to the station and several restaurants, that we didn't mind those inconveniences.

Tues Aug 4 After over two weeks of travel, we needed to do some laundry, so Dennis located a DIY laundromat not too far a walk from a metro station. Several blocks from the laundromat, he found a shoe repair shop to which he could take his sandals that had broken in Paris. So it was a morning of chores before we could get into touristing. It was expected to rain off and on all day so we decided to try one of the HopOn-HopOff bus tours -only because of the rain, we opted for the version where you stay on the bus the whole time and get a circuit tour to familiarize yourself with the city and its highlights. The bus route took us through some historic but mostly modern sections of town and on both sides of the Main River. The audio guide emphasized the modern and new development areas and of course the fact that Frankfurt is now one of the financial centers of Europe. Dennis was a little disappointed. He had visited Frankfurt about 12 years ago and loved the 'old Germany' feel with tree-lined avenues and buildings that had avoided the WWII bombings which were concentrated in the center of town. Clearly the last twelve years represented a major expansion/modernization of Frankfurt architecture throughout the city and it was clear that they were proud of it. It did rain, but we were comfortable in our covered bus with our audio guide. The rain also cooled things down a bit. We allowed ourselves some downtime working on the next leg of our journey and watching soccer on TV in our room that afternoon.

Wed Aug 5 Before we started touring, we went to pick up Dennis' sandal. The shop had done a good job for only eight Euro. He immediately put them on and wore them the rest of the warm days. We started our touring with Römerberg. Römerberg is the central and very beautiful square in Frankfurt's Altstadt (Old Town). The Römer is a medieval building in the city center and has been the city hall of Frankfurt for over 600 years. The Römer is where the city councilors meet. In 1405, the city council purchased the buildings at the Römer from the merchant Kunz for "800 guldens of good Frankfurt currency in cash". Over the years, nine buildings and several inner courtyards have been added to form the present-day Römer complex. In March of 1944 bombardments obliterated the whole central historic district, including the Römerberg so many of the buildings have been reconstructed to the historical condition. The houses on this square were patrician houses and as we have seen in other countries, each house had its own name. Trade fairs were held here over the years and nearby is a big indoor market (Kleinmarkthalle) with separate stalls for each vendor. We roamed the aisles noting which vendors were doing the most business with the locals and then purchased items to construct our lunch. Lots of fresh produce, cheeses, and meats were available. Nearby were several beautiful churches with lovely artworks and large organs.

We continued to walk around town, using the shaded walkways of a long narrow city park that encircles the central district of the city. The park has numerous sculptures throughout, some modern. On the bus tour they mentioned that the city is making an effort to put modern art in public places throughout the city. We saw the Alte Oper (Old Opera House), which is considered one of the leading opera houses in Europe, but of course closed July 18-Sept 1. There is also a new opera house, which we also saw on this walk and the Alte Oper is now used mostly for concerts. We made our way across town to the PalmenGarten which is the largest botanical park in Germany, but didn't get to go inside. We understood it was a public park, but it was walled all around, and it is a large park, so we didn't even make it all the way around in our search to find an entrance. We found many exits with one-way gates denying entrance to the park, and one entrance that required a card. It was a very warm day so we gave up at that point. In this area we saw more of the trees that are trained to form a shade tunnel and they were identified as holländische linde tilia. It was a full day of walking and we were grateful to get back to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

Thu Aug 6 was a full day of travel. We took a morning train from Frankfurt to Stuttgart, Germany where we navigated from the train station to the airport and then flew from there to Zurich.