Dear Zuiks:
I'm back from my trip, and am still catching up with my e-mail. My
apologies in advance for a slew of out of sync posts that will follow.
I hope that at least some of them will be useful and/or informative.
Mahlon Haunschild wrote:
>Well, fellow OM'ers, Those Who Make Such Decisions are talking about
>sending me to Frankfurt for the month of January. Germany, that is. Damn
>the luck! Well, anyway, I'm already thinking about which OM gear to
>take/not take, even though the assignment isn't a sure thing. [...]
>do you folks have any tips as to places to go
>for weekends (and how to get there), etc.? Should I pack my own film, or
>buy it there? Constructive thoughts (for a never-been-across-the-Atlantic
>to a non-native-English-speaking country traveler) would be appreciated.
Hmm, being Germany's financial and transportation capital, Frankfurt (FRA)
is probably the most American looking city in Europe, skyscrapers and all.
As such, it is not terribly photogenic, and the winter will surely make
things look worse.
However, FRA is a lively, vibrant city with a large immigrant population
-- a fact that irks many Germans, but adds quite a bit of spice to the
city scene. Here are a few tips not yet mentioned by others on this list.
One can have a great time in FRA, and by that I don't mean the red light
district right around the Hauptbahnnof :-) (central railway station)
which in FRA is not really smack dab in the middle of downtown, like it
is in most other German cities. The best night life -- pubs, clubs, and
restaurants, is in a neighborhood called "Sachsenhausen" on the left bank
of the Main, right across the river from the downtown. IMHO, the best
restaurants in Sachsenausen, and probably in all of Germany, are the ethnic
ones: Italian, Spanish, Yugoslav, Greek/Turkish, etc.
For weekend trips, consider the following (bring w/you plenty of film!):
(a) The two provincial capitals, Mainz and Wiesbaden, are less than an
hour from FRA, almost across the river from each other. Both are
quite attractive: Mainz is more medieval, Wiesbaden is more baroque.
(b) The section of the Rhein river from just north of Mainz to Koblenz
is known as "the romantic Rhein", an extremely attractive area where
the steeply rising river banks are dotted with impressive ruins of
medieval castles, as well as some of the best vineyards in Germany
(terrific Riesling wine, most of which is consumed by the Germans,
and so you'll never find them anywhere in the US).
(c) Tuebingen -- a very attractive college town just south of Stuttgart:
huge university with plenty of young students = a lively atmosphere
in a beautiful, well preserved, picturesque old town.
(d) Freiburg, capital of the Black Forest region is a gem -- definitely
not to be missed!
(e) For an unrivaled blend of Germanic "gemuetlichkeit" with the Gallic
"joie the vivre" combined with spectacular scenery, great old cities,
and superb cuisine, consider a long weekend in the French province
of Alsace -- just west of the German border, about 2 hours from FRA.
Strasbourg, Alsace's capital, is IMHO one of the most interesting
cities in Europe, all too often overlooked by American tourists.
The city of Colmar is also well worth visiting. Food and drink in
Alsace are in a class of their own -- simply sublime.
Remember that most European cities are very compact, and in the older
sections the streets are very narrow, and so photographcally -- you'll
need wide-angle lenses. At minimum, I'd recommend to pack a 24mm and
a 35mm shift Zuikos. If you plan to shoot indoors (museums, churches,
etc.), pack a fast one, 50mm or wider. Since yours is a winter trip,
I'd say: leave the macro gear behind. Indoors, you are likely to
encounter quite a bit of tungsten light, and so pack a few rolls of
tungsten film, and/or a set of color correction filters.
Have a great trip. The Old World has much to offer, although come
winter time one ought to seek assignments in Spain, or Italy, or south
of France, or ... well, you get my point :-)
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
Studio City, CA
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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