If the legendary ancient Greek singer Orpheus were alive today he would be an opera singer, right? Well, not exactly. He would sing like an opera singer, but he would look, dress and act like a rock star, and his beautiful bride Eurydice would be a spaced-out groupie. At least Read More …
Have you ever been in this situation? You’re traveling with a dozen or so nice people from several different countries, and you’re all very excited about the next leg of your journey. Everybody gets packed up, and they keep talking about departing (also various ones fall in love with each Read More …
My office in 2001 was on the fifth floor of a six-story building in the unfashionable Gallus quarter of Frankfurt. At around three in the afternoon (German time) on a Tuesday my colleague from the next office came in and told me she had just received a strange phone call Read More …
Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), is an opera I have seen about a dozen times in Frankfurt, with several different casts in two different productions. The first of these was Alfred Kirchner’s production, which had its premiere on September 8, 2001. The premiere was generally well received by the public Read More …
While riding my bike through the Westend district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, I came across this unusual and heartwarming scene. A policeman — one of the few Frankfurt policemen who patrols by bicycle — was writing out a parking ticket for a fat, shiny, black upper-class car, and a Read More …
For many years, the Drosselbart in Frankfurt-Eschersheim was a great place to eat, drink and socialize on warm summer evenings. They had a large garden, so you could usually still find a table even if the weather was fine and everybody was out. Together with family and friends, I think Read More …
For over forty years, the 116-meter AfE-Tower stood on the Bockenheim Campus of the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-University in Frankfurt. For the first three years of its existence, from 1972-1975, it was the tallest building in Frankfurt. For its last few years it was the 21st tallest, before it was finally demolished through Read More …
The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University was founded in 1914 and has traditionally been located in the Frankfurt district of Bockenheim, which is just west of the Westend and north of the fairgrounds. They call it a campus, but it is more like just a part of the city that has Read More …
The I. G. Farben building — seen here from the top of the Main Tower in 2004 — is one of the few large buildings in Frankfurt that was not bombed during the Second World War. Legend has it that General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the building spared so he Read More …
Recently I took a different route than usual on my daily social-distancing bicycle ride and ended up at the new Westend Campus of the Goethe University, where I hadn’t been for several years. (I studied at the old campus of the same university here in Frankfurt nearly half a century Read More …