Return to Frankfurt

Return to Frankfurt

We arrived at the Munich Hauptbahnhof around 1 PM for our train to Frankfurt. I lived in Frankfurt for about 5 years 1987-1992. Therefore, I wanted to return to Frankfurt to show my kids where I lived, worked and played. Our first stop was to pick up our seat reservations and then we headed to the train.  This train took the path via Stuttgart and Mannheim and the trip would take fewer than 4 hours.

1st Class Comfort

The 1^st class seats on this train were some of the best we have experienced. The layout was 1 seat on the left side and 2 seats on the right side. They were extra wide and comfortable with plenty of legroom. We also had a waiter to bring us drinks and snacks; this is what 1^st class train travel should be.

If you have ever flown 1^st class, this was a step up in overall comfort from that: you have plenty of room to get up and walk around, spacious bathrooms, freedom to roam around if needed, and you get to see the countryside go by at 200mph.  Due to the minimal seating in the section, you could be alone or sharing the space with fewer than a dozen people in most cases. The German rail system is one of the best in the world, you won’t be disappointed. That is enough about the train. Time to return to Frankfurt to enjoy some great food and hopefully, see some friends from over 25 years ago. Not to mention, showing the kids were I lived and worked when I lived there.

Back In Frankfurt

We arrived in Frankfurt around 5 PM and headed to the hotel to drop off our bags and to clean up before dinner.  I had been communicating with a friend from Frankfurt and mentioned I wanted to go back to one of my favorite restaurants Zum Adler.  She called and made reservations at 7:30 PM for my family.  It was a short 30 minute trip via S-Bahn and U-Bahn from the hotel.

If you are ever in Frankfurt, you need to eat here. From the Hauptwache station take the U-Bahn to Ginnheim; the restaurant is a 5-minute walk from the end of the train line.  Their website is not in English, but they do have menus in several languages and the staff speaks perfect English. The Balkan Platter was always a favorite meal for me, and it is still an excellent choice. Most meals are under $15 per person, which is quite reasonable considering the food quality and the atmosphere the restaurant provides.

Go Out or Go to Sleep

After dinner, we walked back to the train and we were debating whether or not to go to Sachsenhausen (it is the nightlife area that I used to visit on a regular basis in the old days). By the time we returned to downtown Frankfurt, it was about 10:30 PM, we were tired from traveling and our stomachs were full, so we decided to call it a night. We had another full day in Frankfurt and New Year’s Eve was the next day; we were planning to show the kids the Frankfurt nightlife and to possibly meet some friends on NYE. A good night’s sleep was in order after almost 2.5 weeks of non-stop travel around Europe.

Plans Changed

We decided to not stay in Frankfurt the following night due to several friends not being available to meet up with us and the weather was not looking great. The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and took our backpacks to the main station to place them in lockers while we walked around. It was a cloudy and damp day; the weather was not cooperating with our plans.

I had to go see my old workplace and housing; it had been 25 years and it was a non-negotiable item on my list. We exited the U-Bahn at Holzhausen Strasse and there was a light drizzle by then. My old housing was next to the station and was on the way to my old workplace that was a few minutes further, not far at all. This was the end of December and light rain did make it a less than ideal time to walk around.

Abrams Complex / IG Farben

My old housing is now an old-age home and was fully renovated. I could still see the old building in my mind, but it was much nicer than the military housing the government provided us back in the day. My old work building (Abrams Complex) had been returned to the German government in 1995 and is now the University of Frankfurt. Not much had changed with the structure as it is a historical building with deep ties to WWII and the cold war. General Eisenhower had his office in the building after the war; it was also part of the Nazi war machine, and General Schwarzkopf went to high school on the complex. The CIA used the complex as well during the Cold War, so there is a lot of history there.

Bomb Found

In 2017, an undetonated bomb from WWII was found on the complex near where the mess hall was located. When the bomb was located, the German government had to evacuate over 60,000 people in the area during the removal process as a precaution. The complex was referred to as the Pentagon of Europe and survived several attacks during the US military presence. You can read more about the building here or you can search for IG Farben Haus. If you are a history lover, it is a good read.

Memories of a Younger Me

Unfortunately, these pictures won’t be of interest to most people without a connection to the location. There were hundreds of thousands of people that either worked in the Abrams complex or lived at Kennedy Kaserne over the 50’ish years that the US Military used those facilities. I hope those people find these interesting and/or that they bring back memories. Due to the holiday, the building was closed and we were not able to get inside for more pictures or any video. It is still an impressive building due to its history and architecture. I hope these pictures inspire a friend or someone to return to Frankfurt.

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Paternoster

The IG Farben Haus had a unique open and constantly moving elevator (Paternoster) that is still in use today. Even though there were safety concerns due to the death of a woman in 1991 while using one of these. Below is a video of the Paternoster in action. Until you were comfortable with them, you had to plan your entry and exit, unlike a normal elevator where you just step in when the doors open. After using them every day for a couple of weeks, it was as natural as a regular elevator; you didn’t think about it and just stepped in or out.

When I return to Frankfurt, I will have to ride them again. We would tell people that you had to get off or they would flip upside down at the top and bottom. Of course, that was not the case, but it was fun to watch them panic as the elevator hit the top or bottom.

What to do Next

After seeing these important pieces of my much younger life, we went to the Hauptwache area to have some warm drinks and to see if the weather would clear up before walking around more. The weather was not clearing up and we decided to find a train somewhere warmer. We headed back to the Hauptbahnhof to see what options we had on the departure board (we could have looked on the Eurail app on our phone) to make this a spur-of-the-moment decision.

It was about noon, and we needed about 20 minutes to wait for reservations. We looked for trains that left after 1 PM to give us time to get reservations and grab some travel food.  Marseilles was the first destination that we could find that was in a warmer direction, and we had never been there before. It was a 7-hour train ride and we were loaded up with snacks and drinks to hold us over. So, we hopped aboard the train as we said goodbye to a rainy Frankfurt and off we went to the French Riviera.

I will return to Frankfurt again as it was my home away from home for several years and I still have friends there.