Guten Tag Kaptain Kenny readers,
So why do I always feel like I’m always defending poor ol’ Frankfurt? (And no, I’m not talking about Frankfurt Oder.) After having lived in Frankfurt am Main for nearly 5 years, I can honestly say that no German has ever said to me: “I bet you love living here in Frankfurt!” Rather they tend to say: “You left AUSTRALIA for Frankfurt!?”
Okay fine… This is partly due to Frankfurt’s slimy reputation for drugs and crime and fine, I can’t deny that that’s indeed there in parts but there’s also so so so much more to Frankfurt too.Â
In this post I hope to reveal some of the nicer aspects of life here in good old FFM! Here are some positive points about life in Frankers which you may not find online.
- It has the feeling of a city but it’s small enough to walk or bike through.
- The skyscrapers remind me of being back home in Brisbane but the river gives me a place to escape to on a hot and sunny day.
- There are plenty of options for places to eat and drink at. This list seems to be growing by the second. See this blog for some options in the Bahnhofsviertel.
- It’s extremely international. Walking down the street, you’ll often hear 10 languages. It’s not super German so you may not have chosen the best city if you want to improve your German.
- Most people are expats or from other German cities which means you’ll be able to make new friends a lot easier here than anywhere else. Because people are often ‘new to town’ themselves, they will be more up for a chat!
- The winter here is grey and bleak yes….. but it’s extremely mild compared to other German cities.
- The Frankfurt Airport is the second busiest in Europe after Heathrow. There are ALWAYS flights available from FFM and usually at a good price. Just check my blog posts to see how easy it is to travel in and out of Frankfurt!
- I’ve been to Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg, Marburg, Munich, Cologne, Bonn and many other smaller towns and cities and I can tell you that Frankfurt has MANY underground/hipster/undiscovered bars, clubs and cafes which other more conservative German cities don’t offer.
2 Comments
Megan (@MeganCStarr)
May 20, 2016 at 5:39 pmFrankfurt is a strange one for me- a lot of what I love here is because the city is personal to me since I lived here for so long as a kid. But here are some of the reasons I love the city:
1) I love the airport. But not because I love the actual airport (I find it inconvenient to be honest) but because all of my friends from across the world end up with layovers here at some point or another and often have long enough ones that I get mini-reunions with people. This Sunday I am heading to the airport at 4am to meet up with someone I haven’t seen in like eight years. It is wild and I love it.
2) I love that no matter the economy of Germany (and Europe in general), Frankfurt kind of marches to its own drum. The European economy is in the shitter right now, but Frankfurt is still building and new places are still popping up here. While people in Greece or Spain may feel the opposite of me regarding these and will take it personally, for someone who lives here, I like that aspect.
3) Due to the internationalness of FFM, you can find a better variety of food here than most other German cities. I love a good ol hipster place, but I love a low-key Eritrean place that not many others know about better. 🙂
4) I love that you don’t find nearly as many stag-dos here as other German cities. Less piles of vomit. They are still there, just seemingly less than other places.
5) I personally hate green sauce, but I love that it exists. And I love that they make festivals around foods and drinks here. We do the same where I’m from and it is a taste of home.
6) Speaking of home, I love that Frankfurt is a good cross between the US/Europe. It reminds me enough of the US but enough of Europe that it is a good mixture for me as an expat.
7) I love the Konsti weekend market. I get to do my shopping and drink at the same time. Kind of a win/win.
8) I love the public transportation. I hear people often complain about it, but I tell them to ship their ass to the US where public transportation doesn’t exists in most cities and then they have the right to complain. Cologne’s transport system sucks so bad that I feel lucky to live in a city where it is a bit better and we have trams, metros, regional rail, and buses.
9) I think it is awesome that when some American businesses look to venture outside of the US, one of their first markets they extend to is FFM. Chipotle is here. Now I can even get an organic burger at Bareburger here. I’m not a chain person and am super supportive of local businesses, but sometimes an expat just wants a taste of home.
10) I love their appreciativeness for local and seasonal ingredients here. I mean, granted, you can find asparagus out of season, but no one buys that. It is bad for the environment and local businesses to import stuff from farther away and Frankfurters seem to support this theory and eat fairly seasonal. I really like that and it makes shopping here a lot easier for me as I tend to do the same (ok, so it is nice to have a mango, passionfruit, or beetroot out of season every so often haha). I also like that at Rewe they give you a discount card that you can get discounts on every time you buy an ingredient of the region. This is sooo so so nice for the local farmers and consumers alike.
I think ten is a good start :):) Happy weekend!
kaptainkennytravel
May 21, 2016 at 9:21 amThat’s an epic response Megan! You certainly added lots of other positive points to life here 🙂 That must have taken a long time to write.