Mainhattengirl

Just thought that for those who are traveling through Frankfurt during the next couple of months, that you might be interested in going to this exhibit. Everyone is raving about it, and folks are standing in line to get in, so I will be off to see it tomorrow. You only have until 28 Feb.

http://www.staedelmuseum.de/sm/index...websiteLang=en

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aBwbm6npHqnA

Mainhattengirl

So far, 100,000 people have been to this exhibit and from what I have read, seems they are coming from all over Europe. The museum has recently announced that they were going to stay open until 9pm every night in Feb. to give even more people the chance to view all this wonderful artwork. They are expecting a total of 400,000 people by the end of Feb.

klondike

Ooooh! I love Botticelli, and my husband has a few 3-day weekends before this exhibit leaves Frankfurt.

Thanks for posting this info!

Judyrem

I am really thinking about flying into Frankfort for a winter tripand train around. This is a major plus!

quokka

I'd love to see the paintings but with those crowds the exhibition is not likely to be an enjoyable experience.

Mainhattengirl

If you buy one of those museum passes - Frankfurt Card, you bypass the lines. Also, if you go in the afternoon or very early evening, it is not so crowded. They are limiting the amount of people who can go in at any one time, so it isn't too bad.

The Frankfurt Card is actually a good deal if you are coming in from the airport, as it covers your train cost in, plus all day long in the city and you get 50% off of all the museums and galleries. Since it only costs 18 euro for a group of up to 5 people, you can't beat it.

gruezi

Mainhattengirl -

This has been on my "must see" list since I first heard about it a few months ago.

The ticket website is a bit confusing (and seems to be only in German)... Is it necessary to order in advance?

Also, if I wanted to stay overnight in Frankfurt do you have a favorite spot?

My 19-year-old and I would like to train there from Zurich, see the exhibit, spend the night, maybe see some other sights and head home...

Any tips?

gruezi

gruezi

I just spoke to someone at the advance sales and they said they are sold out for the duration. However they said if you wait in line you will get entrance via the on site ticket sales. They suggested Wednesday or Thursday as the museum is open late those days in January. In February there are even more extended hours.

Mainhattengirl

There are a couple of trade fairs that will book up hotel rooms so check those first before hand. I did not know about the tickets being booked up. I know the lines are supposed to be long, but have heard if you go in the afternoon, that they aren't so bad. Let me ask at the Tourist info tomorrow when I am downtown. I was under the impression that if you have one of the Museum Cards that let you into all the museums for one price that you didn't have to stand in line or buy a ticket. Guess I will have to go give it a try.

I don't know what your budget is for hotels, but you might take a look at these. They are the ones I usually recommend just because they are a bit more personal, though staying really budget at Motel One or 5* at the Hilton or the Westin can always be an option too.

http://www.hotel-am-berg-ffm.de/

http://www.arthotel-frankfurt.de/das_hotel.htm

http://www.25hours-hotels.com/frankfurt2/index.php

Here is the trade fair website so you can check dates.
http://www.messefrankfurt.com/frankf...=UTF-8&start=0

gruezi

Dear Mainhattan,

Thanks for all your help. I found another post of yours with some hotels listed. In the end I booked The Pure which I tripped over while on TA. The location sounded great, it had great writeups on TA, and I thought my 19-year-old would find the decor cool. (Yeah, I know

I would love any more info you could find on the tickets. I am thinking we will leave Zurich at 8 am arriving in FF at noonish. We'll have lunch and then go to the museum. I cross my fingers the line is not too long. I am willing to pay for the pass you mention to avoid the wait as we don't have a ton of time and it would be nice to stroll the city a bit and not tire ourselves out waiting in the cold... Plus this daughter loves museums so we can visit something else the next morning.

Thanks for all your help...

Did you get to the exhibit yet?? The Herald Tribune did a nice writeup a few weeks ago... Sounds wonderful and sort of a once in a lifetime chance to see certain paintings all under one roof. I was in Edinburgh a few months ago and was disappointed not to see a certain Botticelli there and the curator told me it had been sent to Frankfurt for this exhibit...

gruezi

Mainhattengirl

Ok, here is what you do if you want to go see the Boticelli exhibit. Go to the Tourist Info office, one is at the Römer, the other is at the Hauptbahnhof, and buy a ticket for the exhibit for 11 euros. This lets you skip the line that forms out front. It is correct that you can't get these tickets online anymore, but the Tourist info mgr. assured me that they had plenty of them.

gruezi

Oh you are wonderful!!! Thank you!

Where would we be without Fodor's? Standing on lines in the cold...

gruezi

My daughter and I are very excited!

Mainhattengirl

Oh, forgot something. The tourist info on the Römer opens at 09:30, the one at the Hauptbahnhof opens at 08:30.

Let me know when you will be here and we can do a mini Fodor GTG.

Mainhattengirl

Well, I finally went to this yesterday. The line was pretty long, but went quickly. I think we waited about 30 min. If you have your ticket from the Tourist info you just walk past this line and up the steps. Inside is a coatroom. I wish I would have used this, because if you have a coat on and take it off to carry over your arm, this is apparently against the museum rules and they made me put my coat back on. yeah, I know, weird.

Anyway, the exhibit though crowded, was still great. We were able to get really close to the pictures, which amazed me. Enjoyed his sketches too as well as some paintings from a few other Italian painter from this era. Lots of people had audio guides, and there were a lot of group tours which one could join. We didn't as I just like walking around looking for myself.

The one thing we noticed (and I want to look this up) are the feet on the women that Botticelli painted. Does anyone know why their feet are so long and frankly kind of ugly looking? All of them had the 2nd toe longer, a bit knobby and well, they are just big feet in proportion to the rest of the body. We kept seeing this, so now we are puzzled. The women are beautiful, but then you get to the feet, and hmm, what happened here. So, maybe I should have taken the tour. I might have to go back again.

Once we were through the exhibition, we strolled around the rest of the Städel, which though I have been here a few times, I always enjoy. I especially like the Holbein paintings.

gruezi

Mainhattengirl,

So glad you got to the exhibit! We will be there on Thursday afternoon.

Funny about the feet - I shall keep my ears open and let you know if there is an explanation. Funny also because both of my very petite daughters have big (size 9 on 5' frame), ugly looking feet which they inherited from their dad. They are otherwise beautiful girls and I always tell them they got their beauty from their dad too and must take the good with the bad!! So, we will have a giggle over the feet I'm sure.

We both love audios so I'm sure we'll go that route.

We have until Friday afternoon to see a bit of Frankfurt. We like good food, art, people watching.... any other must sees?

gruezi

Mainhattengirl

If you have time, these are the things that I usually recommend people visit while in Frankfurt. They aren't in any particular order, but most of them are in the city center, so easy to walk to.
* Kaiserdom, site of the Emperor coronations
* Alte Nikolai, sits on Römerplatz, built in 1290
* St. Leonhards, round the corner from the Römerplatz, on the river. Built in 1219, very beautiful vaulting, including a hanging vault. The Neapolitan Krippe is still up til 2 Feb. and dates from 1750 or so.
* Klein Markt Halle, big indoor produce market.
* Deutsche Ordens Church, (Teutonic Order of Knights) built in 1309. Very lovely,and old frescos in the baptism chapel and on some of the other walls. Beautiful old Gothic altars.
* Eschenheimer Turm, original guard tower from 1425
* Holocaust Memorial Wall, next to the Judengasse Museum.
* Jewish Museum and Judengasse Museum
* Main Tower, great view. Visit the wall mosaic in the neigboring foyer.
* Karmeliter Cloister Frescos, painted from 1513-1519 by Joerg Ratgeb. This cloister is now the city archives - Stadt Archive
* Alte Oper, one of the most beautiful opera houses around.
* Kunsthandwerk Museum, (Applied Arts) presently they have an exhibition of baroque furnishings from the Sun King. Really lovely.
* Schiller Strasse Market on Friday. This is by the Stock Exchange and is the largest street market. The market is on the Konstablerwache on Thursday. Fun place to eat.

For dining, there are a lot of places along Oeder Weg, Schweizer Strasse, Berger Strasse, and the Fressgasse and Alte Oper area.

If you had time and would be here on the weekend, I would tell you to go see the Justinus church which was built in 850. Really pretty and it sits on the Main river, next to the Hoechster Schloss and the Bolongaro Palace. Maybe next time!

gruezi

Dear Mainhattan,

Just wanted to say thank you for all the great advice.

My daughter and I did get to Frankfurt and the exhibit. It was very crowded on a Thursday afternoon and hard to really enjoy with so many tour groups and people pushing and shoving. Nevertheless, we were glad to have gotten a glimpse of some beautiful paintings we would otherwise never get to see.

It was a cold, gloomy day for our visit so we didn't go crazy with sightseeing. We walked to lunch in the old town area and then along the Main to the museum. After the Botticelli, we spent some time with the other exhibits in the Staedel and then took a long walk up to the Alte Opera area. We had a nice dinner at a little wine bar there called Varges.

Our hotel (The Pure) was very noisy and we didn't sleep well so the next day we just ended up taking a bus tour of the city to get our bearings. I would not recommend this hotel (location not really great, service reluctant, NOISY) but it suited our purposes for the night and it was clean.

I was not very well planned for this trip and went along with my teenagers let's just hang out and see what we feel like doing spirit. I would not recommend this approach in Frankfurt on a gloomy winter day! There looked like there were a lot of very interesting museums if we had a better plan....I regretted not being a bit more organized and not investing in a decent map/guide book.

Next time....

My favorite painting was the one where Jesus and Mary meet up with the child John the Baptist on the way from Egypt. Lovely...

Thanks again for all your help - I hope other Fodorite's will see your fantastic list of ideas ...

gruezi