Discovering Frankfurt part 1

Discovering Frankfurt am Main 

My Erasmus experience starts in Frankfurt, Germany, the city where I fly by plane from Bucharest. The flight takes 2 hours and several minutes and is done in good conditions. From Frankfurt I am going to Saarbrucken, the city where I will stay for the next 4 months.

Tips for flying companies and the Frankfurt Airport

So far I have traveled abroad with low cost companies such as Ryanair or WizzAir, but this time after many searches and attempts to find the cheapest tickets I buy tickets from Lufthansa.

How's it going? Low cost companies show at the beginning of the search a very low price, but that does not include service charges or luggage, and the person who seeks the tickets remains in his mind with that cheap price although at the end of the payment the cost is much higher especially if it also includes big luggage.

Also, I no longer search on intermediate sites like Skyscanner or Vola, but go directly to the company's website. And so I find the most convenient airline for my situation. On the Luftansa website the price of the ticket displayed includes both service charges and hold baggage.

The cost for a return ticket with large luggage of 23 kg and 8 kg backpack was around 130 euros, which is very good from my point of view. Plus, Luftansa offers free snacks and drinks during the flight.

For the other low cost companies, the cost for a similar race would have cost me more and the services are not so good and usually the flights are delayed.

I am lucky because my friend's uncle comes to take us from the Frankfurt Airport, which means that I don't have to search for some means of transportation that will take me to the city.

Frankfurt Airport is one of the largest on the European continent in terms of the volume of people coming here to fly in different parts of the world. Walking through its building can be quite confusing, but there are many indicators that lead people to where they need to be.

Staying in a room with 6 beds and strangers...how is like?

In Frankfurt I stay at the  a & a Frankfurt Ostend hostel in a room with 6 single beds.

I pay 60 euros for 3 nights of accommodation without breakfast.

Other people who stay in the same room are gradually appearing next to me. At one point we start talking and sharing a few things about ourselves. We discover that we are all from different parts of the world, namely the Czech Republic, India, Germany, Romania or India.

With one of them I talk a little more because we find out that we both have travelling as a hobby. We are starting to share our experiences in this regard, about the places and countries where each of us has traveled. I recommend him to come to Romania for hiking in our wild mountains.

Even though I am staying with unknown people in the room, I do not feel at all uncomfortable or safe. Everyone tries to respect the one around. 

Under each bed there is a place where the luggage can be stored and locked, which seems to me like a good thing and a way to be predictable when living with strangers. I choose not to close my things here and yet at the end of my stay I have nothing missing from what I had.

The hostel is located in Hanauer Landstraße near the Main River.

At 5 minutes of accommodation I find a Lidl where I go to buy food and drinks.

Staying at this hostel is nice and I recommend it to travelers who have a low budget and who are not bothered by sleeping with other strangers in the room.

On the first day I cannot do many things because I arrive late at the hostel and I am tired after the flight.

Walking through the streets of Frankfurt and The Städel Museum

The next day, however, begins the exploration through Frankfurt. The first objective I want to visit is, of course, an art museum, namely The Städel Museum.

To get here I choose to walk instead of taking any means of transportation because in this way I can see more of the streets of Frankfurt.

And so I come across one of the main streets of the city. I realize that it is a main one or maybe a boulevard because the street is very wide, has no cars, but only people and bicycles. The view is beautiful and tidy and makes me stop often to observe and take pictures.

Many bicycles are put in the middle of the street in special places for parking.

I can not find the name of the street to remember it but I remember what I see: many tall, different buildings built mainly out of glass that have a very modern and futuristic look. In addition, there are older buildings, but new ones dominate the area because they are much taller.

The museum building is located on Schaumainkai, a street that also contains many museums in a row which are waiting for the visitors to come and see what are they about.

Other museums present here include 

• the Communications Museum
• the Architecture Museum 
• the German Film Museum

For now, I only choose to go to the art museum. 

The ticket costs 12 euros and with it I can visit all the galleries.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday between 10 am and 6 pm, and Sunday is open from 10 am to 9 pm. On Monday, the museum is closed.

Being a museum with European art dating back to the 14th century and up to now, I see paintings as diverse as possible.

Among my favorite painters and sculptors whose works I find here are Jan Vermeer van Delft, Gerhard Richter, Richard Oelze, Auguste Rodin, Eduard Manet, Edgar Degas, Gustave Courbet. 

Seeing for the first time a painting by Vermeer 

For a long time I wanted to see with my own eyes one of Vermeer's paintings. My desire is fulfilled right here when I look at the work titled  "The Geographer".

Vermeer does not disappoint me with his painting and as I've always thought his work is wonderful.

The composition is perfect, and the colors give so much life to the scene that seems captured in time and space. The light and the shadow create a vague and suspenseful atmosphere, the character researching in his studio seems to have just discovered something very important and looks up from the papers above to ask himself if what he just found out was true.

I remain for several minutes in front of this painting and look at it from both distance and up close so I can enjoy the expressiveness and quality of Vermeer's painting.

The detail of the colored blanket with floral pattern is the part that fascinates me the most and gives me the impression that I am looking at an abstract painting from my contemporary time.

I realize how Vermeer really manages to place me inside the framework. 

The garden of the Stadel Museum 

Another place that I love and where I relax and rest shortly after more than 2 or 3 hours of walking in the museum is the small garden of the building.

A landart installation or intervention makes this place very interesting. From the flat ground a round hill rises slightly and several glass circles are inserted directly into the ground. At night these circles light up.

Somewhere on one side of the building are arranged several circular mirrors that develop a beautiful relationship with the circles on the grass. Around this artistic site there are benches that visitors can also sit and see people who sit directly on the grass to rest or eat.

The aspect of the city

After resting I leave towards the Main river to cross one of the many bridges.

Of course I stop to admire the scenery and take pictures.

The specific landscape of the city of Frankfurt is created by the Main river that crosses it. Along both sides of the river there are pedestrian alleys and bicycles roads or green places where people can relax.

The space is a very open one, and the city is stretched quite horizontally which does not give the impression of crowding. People are respectful and the atmosphere is generally dynamic and lively.

I go to the train station because my friend in Frankfurt is meeting someone here. All this time I look around. The station is full of diverse people and very busy.

I'm hungry and I get a specific German pretzel that is warm and good. I can't stay here for long because of the hustle and bustle so I head back to the Main river and reach the left bank where I sit on a bench and admire the view, as well as the people passing by me walking or riding the bicycle. 

When I travel to a new place I like it and I find it interesting to pay attention to the people who belong to or frequent the place. Their behavior tells me a lot about the general state of the area, how things work and how people live in that place.

Frankfurt does not seem to me to be a very touristy city like Munich for example, but it is rather a city where people often come to work or study, here being the Bank of Europe and many other financial companies.

I wait for the sunset and go to one of the bridges to have a better view.

It is evening and in the distance I can see the corporate buildings mentioned above. The landscape reminds me of New York and I know that in fact Frankfurt is often called Little Manhaatan.

The colors of the sunset and the high illuminated buildings reflected in the water of the Main create a beautiful scenery which has an American vibe. Until I came here, the big tech cities weren't necessarily to my taste, but Frankfurt changed my mind about them. I would really like to live in this city more than in an old and very touristy city.