Frankfurt am Main

   The Römerberg - Frankfurt's Old Town Center

                        

               Goethe House and Museum

                        

Frankfurt has the distinction of being the birthplace of Germany's greatest writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His family home, Goethe House, is where Goethe was born on August 28, 1749, and where he lived until 1765 and shows how the well-to-do family (and their staff) would have lived. There are many rooms to explore, from the sumptuous décor of the Dining Room on the main floor to Goethe's writing room on the top floor where he penned many of his early works, and where he played as a child with his puppet theater. Next-door is the Goethe Museum, a 14-room gallery showcasing artworks from the writer's time, including masterpieces of the Late Baroque and Romantic periods. (Family guided tours of both properties are available.) Other Frankfurt attractions that stand testament to the writer's fame are the Goethe Tower, a 43-meter-tall wooden structure offering superb views of the city, and Goethestrasse, a high-end shopping area with many fine boutiques, art galleries, and cafés.

                    The Old Opera House

                        

              St. Bartholomew's Cathedral

                        

Roman Catholic St. Bartholomew's Cathedral (Frankfurter Dom, or Dom St. Bartholomäus), was built of red sandstone in Gothic style between the 13th and 15th centuries, and at 95 meters, still manages to stand out in this city of skyscrapers. One of only a handful of churches in Germany to be designated as an Imperial Cathedral, it was here from 1562 to 1792 that the coronation of Emperors took place in the Election Chapel.