Frankfurt am Main Things to Do Tips by CliffClaven

Offenbach over the moon

When old Cliffie lived in Germany, the 60000-capacity Waldstadion (forest stadium) in Frankfurt was the nearest big soccer ground. The first time old Cliffie went to a match there, it was to see Kickers Offenbach take on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, Germany's top soccer division. Those were the glory days of Sepp Maier, Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer, and a couple of months earlier Bayern had won the European Cup. Well, that day in the Waldstadion the champions of Europe played like a third-rate pub team. Offenbach thrashed them 6-0.

Kaiserstrasse

It's a long, long time since old Cliffie wandered along Kaiserstrasse, close to the rail station in Frankfurt, and gaped slack-jawed at the pictures in the windows of pink-lit establishments advertising exotic dancing and other enticements. Old Cliffie was always deterred from entering by the price of the beer but he has since learned - what a silly fellow! - that beer was not the main reason for entering. And these days if you want any 'extras' - such as conversation - it is probably as well to know some Eastern European languages.

Fat ladies and cups of tea Alte Oper Review

German culture has a reputation of being a bit heavy, and operas in German can never quite escape the Fat Lady image. If some interminable Wagnerian masterpiece based on an obscure ancient legend is not your cup of tea, skip the visit to the Frankfurt Opera House. Stand outside, admire its teutonic solidity and go in search of Germany's other great gift to the world: the Biergarten. You'll discover just as much about German angst and melancholy over a foaming bierstein as you will listening to Brunnhilde and the Valkyries.