Before this weekend I did not know that festivals celebrating buildings really existed. But, in the spirit of the fact that Germany seems to have a festival for everything (and I have written about this before), I don't know why I wasn't surprised. After an absence of six years, the showing had returned and those who are local were particularly excited about people doing lots of high up and weird things to celebrate the city's skyline.
Defying gravity was a general running theme throughout the festival, as was taking motorbikes to places that you wouldn't really expect motorbikes to go. In this ball, as I took this pic, was a motorbike rider who spoke entirely in German but made it clear to even those of us how couldn't speak the language that as he rode upside down and all around the inside of the ball, us girls would be so impressed that we'd be ready to take off our pants for him.
A little taste of home! In a line of pictures showing some of the world's most beautiful buildings and skylines, Melbourne was the representative for Australia. I've found Frankfurt and Melbourne have very similar looking cities, with a river running down the middle and lots of tall buildings and little parks and leafy trees to make the place feel a little less concrete-y.
Everyone loves a professional-looking sandcastle, and with the backdrop resembling what they were attempting to make this one look like, it looked pretty cool.
These are little kids - they would have been maybe 5-7 years old? And in the middle of the crowd they were climbing atop of each other with confidence you would only expect in a gymnasium with mats all around to cushion their falls.
Yes, there is a person up there!! This guy was taken to the bottom of the beam by a motorbike along the tightrope, then promptly climbed to the top and was doing tricks in what suspiciously appeared to be with no safety ropes. He also played the trumpet, as you do. It was hard to watch this at times as you couldn't help but picture yourself being up there. It reminded me a little of that terrible Australian tv show we used to watch as kids where people would have to do seemingly impossible things to win a holiday or whatever, Who Dares Wins.
This was a definite highlight for me. People playing football on the side of a building - at half time a guy came on with a Dortmund and Bayern scarf and did a little dance for the crowd, while people waved their German flags. For some reason - I have no idea why - everything the players did, from simulating diving, to goal celebrations, to pretending to fight with one another, seemed so funny when it's on the side. For the record, the blue team won 4-3.
Despite seeming somewhat of a clunky city with all of it's skyscrapers, the art all around Frankfurt, including the graffiti, is typically alternative and brilliant of the Germans. This piece was done entirely using spray cans, and it felt like we were peaking in a studio rather than looking at something on the street.
Concerts were all over the city - and here, in the Opera Square, even if you were a latecomer you could find space to enjoy the music on offer.
It was a great day, despite the rain continually threatening, and after quickly finishing off my match reports and what not for the Champions League game, the city was full of both people wanting to party after the festival, and people wanting to party after the football. Clubs were full, too much vodka was drunk, and currywurst was purchased from the takeaway shop near my house for the third time in a week.
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