No names

It's Frankfurt and it's a summer day. I know Frankfurt well from visits in the past so this was just a reacquaintance with an old friend. It's a financial hub, there's even a giant euro to confirm it, but there's also an undercurrent of history through the messy mediaeval streets and the survivals from massive ww2 bombing. Walking through the heart there are frequent buskers, violins, piano accordions, and a street drummer wearing a horse mask. He was popular and entertaining. I like these improvised kits and the deeply felt hip hop grooves the best of these players pull from them. Then on to the cathedral which mostly survived the bombing famously acting as orientation for the bombers. The organ was in parts undergoing restoration but the pipes are massive. I'd love to hear it. Then a visit through the sparse interior decorated by mediaeval triptyches which were stored during the bombing. The religious conviction is obvious and touching. Then various other mediaeval rebuilds and tourists and Roman ruins and buskers in various costumes doing various acts. I'm checking out concert posters and SIM cards. Then a church I've never visited before that promised a short carillon recital to follow the bells of St Paul's at noon. I returned to the square on time, tourist Central, to hear both. Then more buskers, this time three piano accordions and a tuba playing mostly Bach. Amusing but also effective. I bought their CD as my first souvenir expecting to get the names of the group and the performers. But no luck, no names for either. The CD was entitled Music of the baroque. Just that. So a lovely morning in the unlikely warmth of this European summer but no names. German discretion, I guess.

Various buskers performed and sites impressed on the streets of Central Frankfurt a warm summer's day.