Fright and Hasselhof

Our next stop was Frankfurt, Germany, for only one night. We were there to visit the European Central Bank, and our hotel was fortunately close to the ECB and unfortunately located in the red light district of the city. This means I did not venture out to see what might have otherwsie been a great city to visit. We had a group meal in this ridiculously German restaurant and ate Pig's Knuckles, which literally are pigs' knuckles. I generally don't have a problem with new or exotic foods, but the idea of what it was seemed so block my ability to enjoy it. Sorry, Germans. We walked through the cool center of the city, but that was really the only chance I had to see Frankfurt as a cultural place. At night, I went with a few students across the street from the hotl to a seedy bar with very few (old) patrons, where the jukebox played a lot of crap, including tracks by David Hasselhof. Yikes. The stereotype is true.

The visits to the ECB, as well as a huge private bank, were very successful, however. I know the students in the human rights class had a bit of trouble enjoying it, but I'm geeky enough, and having just taken the IPE comprehensive exam the year before, informed enough, to get a lot out of it, so it was great.

Frankfurt didn't impress me much, but, really, I only saw the red light district and banks.