It's drizzling outside right now. So the thought of water is close at hand and of the fact that Frankfurt celebrates the <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de ffm-aktuell s ugc _blank>1st Waterhouse Day on Saturday next week. The outsider wonders what water houses are and raises his eyebrows at the answer: "Some kind of kiosk." Oh?
But no Frankfurter Wasserhäuschen is just a snooty kiosk with sour drops and cheap coffee. Because let's face it, what would the city be without them? Just -hm- not Frankfurt. The little stalls are the soul of the city, I dare say.
But what are water huts anyway, which are also called Trinkhallen in some places? Despite their name they hardly remind of a hall, but more of architectural feasts for the eyes thanks to their curved forms like in the Gallus or at the Saalburgallee. They often stand "free" or "semi-free" in the street, as befits a small house.
Near the Osthafen, a red-and-white-painted drinking hall once made a big splash because that's where Detective Matula and Dr. Renz ate their sausages in the crime series "Ein Fall für zwei".
The Frankfurt people's obsession with their water taps is deeply rooted - going back to the 19th century, when tap water still made people sick, which is why workers used to drink "Hochprozentiges" at the taps. The city promoted the water houses - also for a popular educational reason: the inhabitants should drink water and not beer and schnapps. It has helped little J The water houses, however, have outlasted.
A WATER SHACK FOR EVERY TASTE
Whoever thinks that the love for the water shacks is only a fleeting summer affair is mistaken: When the former mayor Walter Wallmann wanted to abolish the water shacks, the townspeople put their backs into it and prevented worse. Although only a fraction of the stalls still exist, they are now being transformed into cult sites with verve. One of the most popular is probably the "Gudes" drinking hall on Mathias-Beltz-Platz in the Nordend. There is no summer evening without casual people relaxing with lifestyle drinks. In Bornheim, the down-to-earth village, there are two pretty, graffiti-sprayed roundabouts right next to each other. Very cute: the water house at the terminus of tram line 14. That's how I imagine after-work in those days: getting off the train after work and ordering a beer in two steps. Whereby the audience is quite mixed and, typical Frankfurt, the milieus squat side by side... Just like red light and bank towers in the city centre. Just last week at the Wasserhäuschen on Arolser Straße, bearded and undershirt wearers were grooving and barbecuing to live music.
Where wistful people play the lottery every week, children trick-or-treat and the suit-wearer buys his cigarettes, the heart of the banking city beats. And so, with the greeting of the head of culture Ina Hartwig to the 1st Waterhouse Day, the drinking halls have finally reached their deserved status in Frankfurt.
· Snack FM, Arolser Straße, Seckbach- Classic Büdchen with Eintracht impact as well as Schnittchen and Gref Völsing sausage.
· Gudes, Matthias-Belz-Platz, Nordend - run by young people pouring freshly ground espresso cappuccino.
· Classical drinking establishment with a local crowd, Ernst-May-Platz, Bornheim
· <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de geniesser-tipp s geniessertipp aroma-very-delicious-falafel-im-nordend.html _blank>Aroma, now a much-visited falafel stand in the guise of a former drinking hall, Adlerflychtplatz, Nordend
· Classic drinking hall I and II, Leo-Gans-Straße, Osthafen
· Classic drinking hall, Kölner Straße, Gallus-Viertel