That train conductor so thought I was German! Not, unfortunately, because of my language skills. On the contrary, because I only Um’d, Ah’d and Grunted my way through bits of paper and wrong tickets.
It’s nearly 8 and dark outside the train – which is far warmer than it needs to be!
I’ve spend the day wandering around [[Frankfurt]], the [[River Main]] is fabulous, about as wide and fast as the Thames but not nearly as build up and enclosed. From the high bridges you can see all the church towers and sky scrapers, plus glimpses of buildings crying out for a closer look. So I headed for one particularly enticing steeple, which turned out to be The Dom – One of the more famous sights, and with good reason.
It’s incredible, beyond words and magnificantly big! Stepping through the large but humble door you are faces with a beachy pink column, embosses in such straight vertical lines you cant help but let your eyes follow them up, and up, and up until you are craning your neck to see the ceiling high above.
The building itself is faily simple iin design and decoration. The outside is adorned with a few large, almsot hyroglyphic shapes and reliefs of people. The inside is only pinky white lines on peachy or red brick surfaces. It’s clean but not stale, and plain yet awe inspiring.
The statues and ornaments are another thing. Dramatic scenes of Jesus and the apostles vividly carved into fully formed 3d figures. Intricate golden details on wooden picture frames. The small (and entirely in German) museum houses the most incredible objects, the purpose of which I can only guess are mostly for holding candles, but these are no ordinary candle holders. Fine gold shapes surrounded crystal lenses atop gem encrusted bases. All hundreds of years old.
I only saw a few pictures on postcards, but it looks as if much of the surrounding area was destroyed and the church damaged in the war. If that was the case, a remarkable rebuild had taken place!