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I spent a weekend seeing the sights in Frankfurt, Germany. I flew in on Friday afternoon, and flew back Monday.

Getting there:

Frankfurt's main airport is served by all manner of international airlines, and is one of the top hubs for air travel in Europe. It's the home of Lufthansa, but depending on where you're flying from, other airlines are sometimes cheaper. I arrived from the United Kingdom via Amsterdam on KLM. Frankfurt also has a second airport, Hahn, which is served by some of Europe's low-cost airlines, but unless a low-cost airline has a direct flight to Frankfurt, the price isn't likely to be much different than that of a mainstream one.

Getting in:

Germany is a party to the Schengen agreement, under which citizens of numerous European countries and some overseas countries such as the United States are allowed to enter with only a passport, and no visa is required. Once you've entered a Schengen country and gotten your passport stamped, you can travel freely within the Schengen area. Since I flew in from another Schengen country, I wasn't required to go through immigrations when I arrived.

Where to stay:

There are many hotels available in Frankfurt, including several with a few kilometers of the airport. I opted to stay in Niederrad, a middle-class neighborhood south of the river, since I had friends there with whom I wanted to go sightseeing. The hotel I selected, Hotel Niederraeder Hof on Triftstrasse, is a modernized older hotel on the far side of the neighborhood from my friends. It was reasonably priced, located directly on the #12 tram and a short walk or tram ride from the Niederrad Bahnhof rail station, two stops from the airport. Several other hotels are in the same neighborhood, and many, many more are across the river in the city center.

How to get around:

Trains, trams and buses are everywhere, so there's little need for an automobile if you primarily want to see the city itself. If you're traveling further out, you may still be able to make do with mass transportation, depending on how far your destination is from a train station. Automated ticket machines are located at train and tram stations, and the regional transportation system has a good web site - www.rmv.de - which is available in Germany, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Turkish!

What to eat:

As a large cosmopolitan city, Frankfurt offers a wide variety of dining choices. American chains like Subway, Burger King and McDonalds are easy to find, but so are all manner of cuisines.

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