I don't really know Frankfurt. I used to go there once a month or so when I was a Betriebsrat (before I started working for myself), and back then the junkies in front of the main station were a regular feature.

Back then in the pre-ICE era, the train ride home took a good 2 hours (as opposed to just 1 today) but it was a lot prettier: Frankfurt to Mainz, then along the Rhine past the Loreley and Kaub with Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, and then Koblenz/Bonn/home. I never worried about a seat reservation either - just headed to the dining car and had a couple of beers.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman