On the wall at Frankfurt am Main’s Neuer Börneplatz Memorial Site are nearly 12-thousand small steel blocks for every Frankfurt Jewish person deported and murdered between 1933 and 1945. The names include Edith Frank and her two daughters Margot and Annelies (Anne), who died in concentration camps. The sole remaining family member, patriarch Otto, survived the Holocaust, eventually settling in Basel, Switzerland, where he is buried.
I made the image above on 15 Jun 2023 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-uso.
Late-afternoon light between tracks 5 and 6, at Frankfurt am Main main/central train station.
I made the image above on 9 May 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with settings: 1/500-sec, f/11, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-usr.
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 asummary 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.
On a quiet overcast Sunday morning, I’m on a regional train for an hour north from Frankfurt to the university town of Giessen (Gießen). At their old cemetery Alter Friedhof is the grave site of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays. I visited his birth town of Lennep two days ago on travel day 87. Röntgen was also professor of physics at the University of Giessen from 1879 to 1888.
It’s where I’ve come to say hi and goodbye: both to Röntgen, and to 90 consecutive days “on the road”. Tomorrow, I must (but reluctantly) fly out from Europe to Canada.
Modest entrance to Giessen’s Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery).
There’s plenty of signage leading the way. Memorial grave for Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen, Professor in Giessen from 1879 to 1888. Röntgen memorial grave.
The first two names are Wilhelm’s parents, followed by his wife Berta, and lastly, Wilhelm himself.
In Giessen’s Theaterpark is a memorial statue to Röntgen (north side).
South side, with Röntgen’s calm cool gaze.
Late night, back in Frankfurt.
I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 4 Aug 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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.
Food first, at Dauth Schneider in Sachsenhausen.
Summer showers outside, dry tables inside. That is, I saw the local radar, and decided to get a table inside.
Frankfurt Schnitzel: fried breaded pork cutlet, Frankfurt green sauce, and fried potatoes. Green sauce is made with 7 herbs grown only in the area: borage (Borretsch), burnet (Pinpinelle), chervil (Kerbel), chives (Schnittlauch), cress (Kresse), parsley (Petersilie), and sorrel (Sauerampfer).
U-Bhf Konstablerwache: Lyon 🇫🇷 & Frankfurt 🇩🇪 (Creative Stadt – Cité Création).U-Bhf Konstablerwache: Lyon 🇫🇷 & Frankfurt 🇩🇪 (Creative Stadt – Cité Création).U-Bhf Konstablerwache: Lyon 🇫🇷 & Frankfurt 🇩🇪 have been partner cities since 1960.At Rossmarkt the Gutenberg memorial is dwarfed by neighbouring commercial towers.
Börneplatz Memorial to Holocaust Victims from Frankfurt. Bordering the old Jewish cemetery is a Wall of Names with the almost 12-thousand names of Frankfurt residents who perished.
Edith Frank (née Hollaender): 1900-1945, died in Auschwitz.
Margot Frank, eldest daughter of Edith & Otto: 1926-1945, died in Bergen-Belsen.
Annelies Frank, youngest daughter of Edith & Otto: 1929-1945, died in Bergen-Belsen. As the immediate family’s only survivor, Otto moved to Basel after liberation; he had his daughter’s diary published to the rest of the world. With his passing in 1980, Otto is buried in Basel’s Birsfelden cemetery.
I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 3 Aug 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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