Frankfurt, nebliger Morgen

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Frankfurt, nebliger Morgen.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: GrrlScientist, 24 February 2010 [larger view]

My friend and colleague, Mike Dunford, is visiting Frankfurt am Main for three days in April (12-14 to be exact). Since I've been digging my way out from under 100 boxes (90 of which are books), I've not been out and about much, so I am seeking help and advice from those of you who know the area around Frankfurt am Main well: if your friend was coming out to visit for a few days, what would you wish to show him? Possibilities include: visiting MyZeil, the Frankfurt PalmenGarten, and the Senckenberg Natural History Museum. One thing Mike especially wants to do is take a day trip to somewhere nearby on the 13th, I believe, to go hiking or do some photography or whatever else is interesting. So I am asking you, the experts: what do you recommend we do?

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the grammar is not correct, "Frankfurt, nebliger Morgen" or "Nebliger Morgen in Frankfurt" should be fine. "Morgen" has a male grammatical gender.

The Senckenberg Museum is probably not as big as museums of natural history in New York, but it is awesome and you can get good pictures there (Messel fossils, mummified hadrosaur). The Zoo in Frankfurt is also nice, they have a huge and pretty ape house with many orangs, bonobos and gorillas, and also drills, which are not apes =). You can also visit the visitors' floor of the tower at the left of your picture, the visitors' floor is in the broadest part of the tower. This was possible in the early 2000s, at least :)

Hiking and landscape photography can be done there:
http://www.niederwalddenkmal.com/
Take a look at the photos on that site. There is also a cable car ("Seilbahn") and you can photograph the rhine. but you should go there by car, it's nearer to Wiesbaden/Mainz than Frankfurt.
I recommend that you go to the Senckenberg Museum (you can't let him miss that if you both are biologists!) and the Niederwalddenkmal, for the landscape.

Good luck ^^

Since I've been digging my way out from under 100 boxes (90 of which are books) Ooh, been there. By some lights, I still am there, as I still have a few boxes that I haven't unpacked. (And a few that move seasonally to Mom's basement, but that's another issue. Time to get rid of a lot of those sweaters, having moved southwards....)

By David Harmon (not verified) on 17 Mar 2010 #permalink

thanks for your suggestions, mo! those all look excellent and i am sure mike will be very pleased (as will i!).

my spouse (supposedly) has a pass for the museum (seeing as how he works there) but hasn't been given this pass yet. his current project is to get his pass so we can bring mike to the museum, but also so i can start hanging out there.

of course, i am really looking forward to visiting the zoo .. that's another place i would probably start frequenting as well.

A favorite of mine is the "Saalburg", a reconstructed Roman castle. It's fairly accessible by public transport and also a good starting point for hikes.
Also, there are a number of interesting museums on the south side of the Main river, including the "Museum für angewandte Kunst", Filmmuseum and others.
Since Mike is interested in transportation, I'd suggest the railroad museum in Darmstadt-Kranichstein (http://www.bahnwelt.de/index.php/museum), but that is a bit difficult to get to without a car.

You are welcome :-)
There also seems to be a raptor bird-zoo/aviary near the Niederwalddenkmal. If you plan to go on a longer trip during the summer, I would suggest this:
http://www.vogelpark-walsrode.de/ (no English version)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsrode_Bird_Park

It's the largest bird zoo in the world by land area and it contains ~650 species of birds. It's in Lower Saxony. I've never been there, but I want to go.
Also, the German word for bird zoos is "Vogelpark", there are many of them around the country, just google them.

Ah, I think I remember the Saalburg, I went there once with a my highschool class. I remember it as a nice and interesting place. If I rememer it correctly, it's also near to a hilly forrest and you can hike there.
The museums on the southern side of the Main are kind of smallish. I would advice against visiting only one of them per day, I think it's better to visit 3-4 of them on a single day. I also found the Filmmuseum somewhat disappointing, even as a 7 year old child. When I went there again in the last summer, they had not changed much of their exhibition. I think if you want to visit the museums on the Main bank, it's best to get a pass at the "Museumsuferfest" (Museum Embarkment Festival) in August and visit most of them in the 3 days of the festival.
http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/cms/tourismussuite/en/events_trade_fa…
If you go to the Senckenbergmuseum, the zoo, the Railroad Museum, the Saalburg or the Niederwalddenkmal, you should plan to go for the whole day. They are time consuming if you do it right, like the Palmengarten is :-)

If you go to the Niederwalddenkmal, you should also visit Rüdesheim am Rhein. It's a small village tourist-trap with old, pretty architecture.

Commerzbank Tower is a worth seeing place in Fankfurt. It is near the redlight district. if you are in the 6th floor you can see the guys mounting and pounding everything.
http://topgradeacaiextreme.net/

Is that because of the pollution and smog?

Fortunately, it's just fog. Frankfurt is relatively small, and windy enough to be kept pretty clean.