Frankfurt has been an important city since early medieval times. The Rhine River was the edge of the Roman Empire. so that cities on the west bank of the river are likely to have begun with a Roman outpost but cities to the east of the river, such as Frankfurt, tend to have begun in medieval times.
The name of Frankfurt, as well as the nearby Castle of Frankenstein, come from the historic people known as the Franks, who were the descendants of both the France and Germany of today. Frankfurt is known today not only for being a financial center but for it's world-renowned book fair. This is the historic center of Frankfurt, which is on the Main River. The actual name of the city is Frankfurt-am-Main. The first two of the following seven images, from Google Earth And Street View, are of the modern tall buildings of Frankfurt. The remaining five images are of the historic center of the city.







You will notice that there are some places in the following views that are grayed out. This is because Germany is known for it's strong sense of privacy. That may be why Germany is successful and other places are less successful, there is too much personal business involved in doing anything.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
It is difficult to imagine what the world would be like without the printing press. I had print shop classes in school with the same kind of movable metal type that had been used since the Fifteenth Century. It is fairly recently that higher technology has taken over in printing.
A vital part of printing was to find just the right alloy that could be readily shaped into the intricate forms of letters, numbers and, punctuation, without being too expensive or difficult to work with. An alloy of lead, tin and, antimony worked very well. The following scenes begin inside Mainz Cathedral. The first seven images, from Google Street View, are of the historic center of Mainz and the cathedral.












https://www.google.com/maps/@49.8728255,8.6512781,3a,75y,86.96h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNrGZlF151QO5F5bIh0BXcYSdd9psnoZIkmFtU2!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNrGZlF151QO5F5bIh0BXcYSdd9psnoZIkmFtU2%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya85.284256-ro-0-fo100!7i8192!8i4096The city of Worms originated with another Roman outpost on the west bank of the Rhine River. It has been an important city since the early Middle Ages. This is where the parliament, known as the Imperial Diet, of the Holy Roman Empire was held. The Twelfth-Century Worms Cathedral was the focal point of the city during the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The 1521 Edict of Worms was the formal condemnation of Martin Luther as a heretic.
The following views of the old city of Worms begin at the Luther Monument. This 1868 monument includes metal statues of many of the important figures of the Reformation. Interestingly, it does not include Huldreich Zwingli, the Swiss counterpart and contemporary of Luther, possibly because the two had disagreed when they met in Marburg.
The first two of the following eight images, from Google Earth and Street View, are of the Luther Monument. The rest are of the cathedral and the historic center of the city.
These three images, from Google Street View, are of the Nibelung Tower and Bridge, over the Rhine River. The tower was built to look medieval in the late Nineteenth Century.
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.6322998,8.3601826,3a,75y,306.49h,111.17t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMPQ-BTS-Y7g7DRGId-kv6L_N6GvsKtX4B8FGC9!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMPQ-BTS-Y7g7DRGId-kv6L_N6GvsKtX4B8FGC9%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya148.93196-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352Mannheim is a city that originated in the late Middle Ages. Did you know that the bicycle and the car were both invented in the same city? This is central Mannheim. In the late Nineteenth Century, some cities considered water towers as works of art. These five images, from Google Street View, show Mannheim's water tower, aerial views of the city, and the modern observation tower.
















Stuttgart has been settled since Roman times, and there is still a thousand-year-old castle. Stuttgart is known today as a city of wine and cars. Many German auto and parts makers have their headquarters in Stuttgart, but not Volkswagen which is in the northern part of the country. The first of the following six images, from Google Street View, are of the New Palace and the historic part of the city.







To the southeast of Stuttgart is the city of Ulm. It is a city from the early Middle Ages, with a Fourteenth-Century town hall. Near the Town Hall is the modern library in the form of a glass pyramid. Ulm went to the Protestant side during the Reformation. Remember how to tell a historically Protestant city in Europe from a historically Catholic city. A Protestant city will put old and modern buildings right next to each other while a Catholic city will usually keep them separated.
But most of all, Ulm is known as the birthplace of Albert Einstein. This is the church known as Ulm Munster. The first four images, of the church and the city, are from Google Street View.