Land of Ideas
The women's club organized another tour in Frankfurt today. It was interesting to be a part of this one because I learned about an unusual aspect of the old part of town, the Roemerberg. For all vegetarians out there, you may not want to continue reading as this concerns the slaughter of animals.
Anyways, by the city hall in front of the church, one of the cobble stones is labeled "OK". This stands for "Ochsenkueche" and marks the spot where the butcher's guild would roast an ox on a spit for three days to celebrate the coronation of a new king. Today's short tour also covered what used to be the butcher's market nearby, the origin of the Frankfurter and the importance of certain architectural structures in that area as they related to the butcher's guild. Another fact I heard today is that the exposed wood in half-timbered houses in the area used to be painted with ox blood because it was believed to be a natural pesitcide that would draw out little critters. Hmmm....trivial but interesting.
In contrast to the historical part of my morning, after the tour I came across three "Land of Ideas" tents set up near the Zeil. Land of Ideas seems to be a government-sponsored campaign highlighting renewable energy source technology, and in this case, educating shoppers in the area about energy saving methods at home. Aside from the brochures they handed out, I got to play a simplified version of Wheel of Fortune and won a little goodies bag which included a couple of minibags of gummibears in German colors of black, red and yellow, a couple of balloons, a pencil and some flower seeds in a clever post card envelope (to grow more ideas).
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1 comment:
I've lived in Frankfurt for 7 years and I didn't even know that! hehe
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