A special day out for the children who have been such charms throughout the holiday. We visited one of the oldest zoos in the world and rounded off the day at the Römerberg.
Apart from animals, the Frankfurt Zoo had a fun playground for kids.
The Zoologischer Garten of Frankfurt/Main features over 5,000 animals of more than 600 species on more than 13 hectares in the eastern part of the Innenstadt (inner city). The zoo was founded in 1858 and is the second oldest Zoo in Germany – after the Berlin Zoo which opened its doors in 1844.
The Römerberg is the old city square of Frankfurt. On the eastern side is a group of half-timbered houses called the Ostzeiles.
As it was a public holiday (Corpus Christi) for the state of Hesse, the zoo was crowded with local Frankfurters taking their family for the day out. Arriving in the late morning, I encountered for the first time the difficulty of finding a parking lot since all the lots along the roads within half a kilometer of the zoo were occupied.
Parking in Frankfurt
The rules for city parking are relatively simple – you can park anywhere along the road as long as it hasn’t been marked as no parking areas – and as long as it’s not blocking an access road or garage. Look at other cars or road signs that specify whether you’re to park on the road, fully on the curb or with two wheels on the curb.
Feeding time for the Alpacas. Taken with an Olympus E5 DSLR.
Some are free-of-charge, while others you pay for the amount of time you want to park at a meter which then issues you a ticket with the expiry time that you display on the dashboard. Some lots allow parking for only a limited period of time whether for free or paid. For free limited time parking, you have to display this special indicator that shows the time that you started parking. And – avoid handicapped lots unless you want your car towed away.
Beautiful restored half-timbered houses around the Römerberg.
With the narrow streets, you can’t just stop the car on the road, like in an HDB car park, and wait for someone to come along to vacate his lot – especially when the tram shares the road with cars as well. You’ve got to keep moving and hope to spot a parking space.
I was fortunate in that after going a few rounds around where the Zoo was located, I came upon a car that was just leaving – and it was right next to the entrance. It was a matter of right time, right place – any faster or slower and the driver in front or behind me would have bagged that lot.
Zoologischer Garten
The zoo itself was great fun. It was not slick or anything but thoroughly enjoyable. As with other sights in Germany, the entire place was impeccably clean even though we didn’t see any cleaners. The zoo keepers were also a rare sight except during the shows.
I've never been so up close and personal with a gorilla before.
But the enclosures were very well designed – there were plenty of glass panels through which visitors could view the animals close-up. I got so close-up to a Gorilla I had difficulty focusing the camera on his face!
An okapi getting at the leaves with its long tongue.
The Singapore Zoo and a couple of other zoos we’d visited also features these close-up viewing glass panels, but there’re only one for each animal. Over here, you could easily have more than two such panels for an animal.
The highlight was their primate exhibit, featuring gorillas, orang utans and chimpanzees and a type of chimpanzee called the Bonobo that I felt was more human-like than the usual chimpanzees in terms of torso proportions and facial expressions. There was even this fingernail and toenail biting specimen than reminded me of some humans I’ve seen!
There were also okapis, an aquarium, and a tigress nursing two cubs.
Römerberg
After the zoo’s closure at 7 pm, we drove to the Römerberg – Frankfurt’s old city square.
The Römer, or City Hall sits on the Western side of the Römerberg.
On one side of the square is the Römer, which had been the Rathaus or City Hall for 600 years. On the opposite side is a row of half-timbered houses called Ostzeiles. These look remarkably new because the originals from the 15th century had been badly damaged during the Second World War and had to be rebuilt.
Alte Nikolaikirche, crane behind the church removed using Photoshop CS5.
Dim interior of the Protestant church shot handheld with an Olympus E5 DSLR.
Dom St. Bartholomaus, seen from the Schirn Kunsthalle - the cultural exhibition center next to the Römerberg.
We visited the quaint St Nicholas’ Church on a third side of the square, and Saint Bartholomaus’ Cathedral behind the Ostzeiles.
The Protestant Alte Nikolaikirche is an early-Gothic church from the 12th century.
The Dom St Bartholomaus is the largest ecclesiastical building in Frankfurt, and was used for the election and coronation of the Holy Roman Emperors from 1356 and 1562 respectively until 1792. Heavily damaged during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in 1953.