We were fortunate when we were in Frankfurt to live just a couple of blocks from Freßgass (Fressgass), which is a pedestrian street with shops and restaurants. Freßgass literally means grazing street and we probably ate at one of the restaurants almost every day. There are also a lot of high end shops on the street as well as some typical malls with department stores. With so many places to eat and shop, it is obviously quite popular and can be very busy at times.

Regardless of the time of year, Freßgass is a great place to take a leisurely walk, window shop, and just generally people watch. All of the restaurants have outdoor seating with umbrellas or tents over top of them as well as heating lamps for the cold winter days. One of the things that we love about Europe is the willingness of people to sit outside regardless of the weather, even sitting outside on a cold and rainy day because of the heat lamps. You can find every type of food from traditional, upscale, carry-out, to street carts with bratwurst and pretzels.

If you are interested in high-end clothing stores from top designers, then you can find anything that you are looking for. We didn’t do any shopping in those types of stores, but did take advantage of the department stores as well as electronic stores while we were there. Also, twice a week, there are outdoor markets with flowers, fruit and vegetables, as well as novelty items. It is also only a couple of blocks from Old Town, so if you have had your fill of modern shops, the historic area is just minutes away. It is also the place to be during the many festivals as well as during the Christmas season to find the largest markets. In other words, you can pretty much find anything you want in this area that is in the heart of downtown Frankfurt.