Frankfurt help
 

I am a middleaged goddess with at least 12 words of German in my vocabulary and will be tagging along while my husband 'takes care of business' in Offenbach in January. Would it be more spectacular and convienent for exploration to stay in Frankfurt? Will I be able to navigate the transportation system? What is the best mode of transport? Where to visit for two days?

I'm not sure if I can answer all your questions, as most of my trips to Frankfurt have been on business as well (and in January). I can tell you that Frankfurt is a major business center and as such, many, many people speak English. This will make navigating around town by yourself fairly easy. <BR><BR>There is excellent public transportation in Frankfurt -- subway and trams. Taxis are relatively expensive, but not horrendously so.<BR><BR>Frankfurt is also a major train hub so that would be convenient as well. <BR><BR>My favorite activity there in January is to hit the shoe sales (made in Italy and great prices on sale).

What is a "middleaged goddess"?

Those of us who are don't have to ask.

Personally, I think Frankfurt is a big industrialized city with a few cute spots, but not worth going to as a destination point in and of itself. You'll get more of the "German experience" in the smaller villages. It is a great transportation hub. Getting around Germany by train, street car and bus is easy. Everything is very well connected and signed and the trains are an easy, fast way to get around. I would take a train to Heidelburg and spend some time there, or up the Rhine River visiting cute little towns like Bacharach and St. Goar (huge castle ruins there). I love a medieval town called Rothenburg that would be a few hours away by trian. It would be an ideal place to spend two days and a night. It has an old walled city that yo can spend hours walking around, plus neat shops. Just my two cents worth.

Just to clarify, I wasn't particularly recommending Frankfurt. I agree with Lee that it is not a very interesting tourist destination.

if you stay in frankfurt go to "sachsenhausen" and eat "eggs with green sauce" (eier mit gr&uuml;ner sauce) and drink "applewine" (&Auml;ppelwoi). go to the "r&ouml;mer" which is a nice place in the old part of frankfurt and stroll around. if you are planning a trip to heidelberg be aware of traffic jam which normaly starts friday around noon and locks frankfurt and also offenbach up until the late evening hours. if you go by train through frankfurt main station be very attentive, lots of drug addictives are hanging around there and trying to "make money". don´t worry about language problems. most people there will be happy to help you in english language. have fun und viel spa&szlig;!!

More spectacular or easier as a hub of transportation than Offenbach, yes. Would spectacular be a word I would use for Frankfurt, hardly. You will find plenty of things to do for a couple of days and the transportation system is a snap. Trams and the U bahn are very easy. If you need ideas for places to go, do a search here...Frankfurt has been discussed quite a bit lately. Also check out www.frankfurt.de - they have parts of the site in English. Shopping is always a good bet for me when I visit Frankfurt, there are musuems too. The Romer area, while being in what used to be the old part of town, is mostly reconstructed buildings. There's not a lot of "old world charm" in Frankfurt. It will most likely be very cold and overcast that time of year around here so be prepared.

A middleaged goddess is a woman that wears flowing garb to hide her girth.

ttt

Sandra,<BR><BR>Avoid Offenbach if you can - it's the pits! That said, there is a suburban train (S-Bahn) connecting it to Frankfurt - so if you do end up staying there, make sure you can walk to the station from your hotel.<BR><BR>Frankfurt itself is just OK - you can explore it on one of the days (R&ouml;merhof, Goethe's Haus and Museumsquai), the next day train to Wiesbaden, Mainz or W&uuml;rzburg (the latter is farther but perhaps more interesting).<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre