Frankfurt am Main | Fotoeins Fotografie

25T04 Anne Frank, from Frankfurt

E03, F03.

A lack of consistent sleep and a punishing yet rewarding Saturday meant Sunday and travel day 4 was tuned way down. But the forecast was sun and +23C. I’m on the move, but on a gentler pace around the city.

Dornbusch

With the U-Bahn north to Dornbusch, the underground passage leads to a small memorial wall, emphasizing the presence and traces of the Frank family in the neighbourhood until their move to Amsterdam in 1933. Artist Bernd Fischer created the memorial wall which the city inaugurated in 2009. The picture is one of the last family portraits, made by patriarch Otto of his wife, Edith, and two daughters Anne and Margot; the location is believed to be in the city, possibly near Hauptwache. All three women in the picture perished in the Holocaust. Otto survived and went to join his relatives in Basel where he spent the rest of his life.

*One can almost hear the two daughters pleading with their dad to get on with it so they can get going, even as mum tries to placate them.*

*Dornbusch station: U2 southbound to Südbahnhof.*

Neuer Börneplatz

Once the centre of the city’s Jewish community, the synagogue was destroyed in the 1938 Pogrom. The surviving adjacent cemetery is an important part of the city’s Museum Judengasse. On the wall surrounding the cemetery are over 11-thousand blocks, each with a name and representing a person from Frankfurt who died in the Holocaust. This is the memorial where I find the names: Edith Frank, Margot Frank, and Annelies Frank.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 11 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T03 Night of Museums

E02 (Europe day 2), F02.

Good timing is everything. Only yesterday did I learn Frankfurt is hosting Nacht der Museen today (10 May). Over 40 museums and institutions open their doors tonight at 7pm, and close between 1 and 2am. One nifty 17€ price purchasable online includes access to all participating venues, as well as public transport.

I decide to visit the Jewish Museum from 845pm to 1030pm, and the Städel Art Museum from 11pm to 145am.

*Queue to the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (JMF). JMF staff went down the queue and took orders for drinks at the patio bar.*

*Frankfurt, 1929: 3-year old Margot Frank with her baby sister Annelies. Photo likely taken by their father Otto.*

*Frankfurt, 1929: Frank family nanny Katherina Stilgenbauer with baby Annelies as her big sister Margot looks on.*

*42 internationally translated versions of Anne Frank’s diary.*

Otto Frank displays the Auschwitz number tattooed on his left arm. “It’s a miracle that I’m still alive,” he said. On Otto’s maternal side, the Frank family have been present in Frankfurt since the late 17th-century.

*Städel Art Museum. The queue to the east was about 100-people deep. The queue to the west was “only” 20 deep; I chose wisely.*

*There’s very little doubt who and what these figures represent.*

*“Untitled (Genoa Riot)”, by Armin Boehm, 2007.*

*“Mountain King (Tunnel) 2 Planets”, by Joseph Beuys, cast 1971.*

*Very appropriate for Frankfurt: “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”, by Andy Warhol, 1982.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 10 May 2025. I received neither request nor compensation for this content. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T02 hallo Frankfurt

Europe day 01 (E01), F01.

An uneventful flight across the great eastern pond. A warm sunny spring day on arrival and a first day in Frankfurt am Main.

But I’m very tired after another sleepless flight. I catch a few rays in a quick wander to consider Norman Foster’s Commerzbank tower and the neighbouring Four Frankfurt project with its 4 new towers.

*Willy Brandt Plaza: Euro sculpture by Ottmar Hörl (2001) in front of EuroTower at right, Commerzbank in the background at centre.*

*Above the public atrium in Norman Foster’s Commerzbank tower*.

*Between Commerzbank (top-centre) and Four Frankfurt (lower-centre & lower-right), with the Main Tower (lower-left).*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 9 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T90 The experiment is complete

(E89)

Travel day 90, Europe day 89.

As I write this post, I’m in Frankfurt am Main to conclude my experiment of 90 consecutive days of journaling during my time travelling in Germany and Austria. By the time these words are unleashed, I’ll be in Vancouver with the “modern magic” of travelling west across the planet, back over the big eastern pond.

As I look forward to begin a new “experiment” (experience), I’ve created a summary page, including links to each log or entry.

Some numbers

Total walking distance: over 880 km.

Total number of walking steps: 1.1 million.

Daily average walking distance: just under 10 km.

Daily average number of steps: 13-thousand.

Average distance per step: 0.78 m.

Average number of steps per 1 km: 1283.

Number of World Heritage Sites newly visited: 12 in Germany, 1 in Austria.

Vienna totals in 36 days: 375 km, over 460-thousand steps.

I’ve spent a total of over 100 days in Vienna over the last three consecutive summers.

I bought online an Airalo 90-day 50-Gbyte all-data eSIM, but used only 22 Gs, with ubiquitous WiFi in all places I stayed, as well as decent WiFi on Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains. I had no issues setting up the eSIM in Vancouver and arrival in Frankfurt, and aside from some intrinsic network reach and access in Europe, I had no problems over the 90 days.

*Travel day 90: nearing the end of this experience/experiment. 825am on the 5th of August, Frankfurt am Main central train station.*

*FRA airport: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge.*

*Inside the lounge: lots of room, plenty of tables, plus quiet booths. The food and drinks spread is decent.*

*Half-day later at YVR airport: Condor Airbus 330-900neo, and its striped livery in yellow.*

*Squamish welcome figures, international arrivals at YVR.*

I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 5 Aug 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T88 Frankfurt: beginning and end

(E87)

Travel day 88: double eight, double happiness!

Europe day 87.

Three days remain, and I end where I began when I arrived in Europe on travel day 2: Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The familiarity of the train station, the sight of the city’s towers, the taste of “Frankfurter Grüne Sosse”.

I have a few project goals in mind, but it’s become apparent these past few days that I’ve reached the end after my self-imposed breakneck pace of the last few months. But I still look, and I still want to document what I see. These below are some of the final observations from Frankfurt.