Thomil's Random Ramblings

May 5th, 2023 I still have quite a few hours to kill before having to head out to the airport, so I go on one final tour through the area surrounding the hotel. I do still need to get a few photos of the outside of the hotel, after all. Besides, I‘ve been staying within walking distance of the old €uro sign for the last couple of days, so of course I need to get a picture of that as well. I'll be honest. I'll miss this view. Yep, it's the home of the Euro. Even though the building in the background hasn't housed the ECB for years. I still can't quite put my finger to it, but there's something weird about this building. That's Commerzbank's headquarters at the end of this street, and the highest skyscraper in Germany. However, even with that, it‘s eventually time to head out to the airport.  Whilst the tram ride works pretty well, heading down to the underground platforms for the S-Bahn service to Frankfurt Airport is no fun at all if you‘re dealing with ...

May 4th, 2023 This last day is reserved for intense retail therapy, one of the primary reasons for my trip in the first place, in addition to visiting my parents' grave. This had almost turned into a complete disaster the previous day, as a last-minute trip to get some extra t-shirts (I’d packed way too many warm clothes!) had revealed that fashion retailer C&A, traditionally one of my primary sources of plus size clothes had stopped stocking plus-size clothes in their retail stores, offering them only online. And guess what? They don’t deliver to Ireland! Now, I was able to find another store that stocked clothes in my size, but this experience has left a bit of a bitter aftertaste.  There's no denying it. I've been fascinated by MyZeil's architecture ever since the shopping centre opened back in 2009. Whether it's the glass funnels... ...or the arched walkways, the whole thing has something that other modern shopping centres just lack. This aftertaste continue...

Yeah, I went with the cheapest available pun for this one. What are you gonna do about it??? May 3rd, 2023 Unlike the previous day, I have literally nothing on my agenda for the day. No must-see sights or museums, or indeed anything else. My feet are adamant about taking it easier this time around, so a bit of retail therapy seems to be the order of the day, with my first choice being Skyline Plaza, a new mall that didn’t even exist when I left Frankfurt. However, despite being framed by the high-rises of the “Messeviertel”, the shopping centre itself is distinctly underwhelming. I get that it forms a vital part of Infrastructure for the new “Europaviertel”, a new district that has been taking shape on the site of the former central goods railway station for the last decade and a half, but you’d have thought that given this importance, there’d be a bit more attention to the stores taking up retail units in that centre. Instead, the selection seems to ape the options in the omnipresent ...