T A B L E_T A L K

Swap tales and advice on visiting the new Russia in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk

__INSIDER'S GUIDE TO FRANKFURT .|. PAGE 2 OF 2

SIGHTSEEING
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The stock exchange is one good place to take the city's pulse. It has a visitors' gallery overlooking the main trading hall (Börsenplatz Gallery, tel. 069/21010, open weekdays 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.). New market highs are almost a daily event now as German investors, many of whom once dismissed stocks as a form of gambling, buy into equities with the same white-hot enthusiasm as American baby boomers. It helps that Germany has no capital gains tax.

The traffic-free Römerberg (main square) of the old town was reconstructed after World War II. The Römer is the town hall where Holy Roman emperors held lavish coronation banquets. The "medieval" buildings facing it are pure reconstructions, with modern interiors.

Just east of the main square (on Domplatz) is a more authentic piece of the past, St. Bartholomew's Cathedral, a Gothic church where 30 emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned. It is one of the few historic buildings that escaped serious damage during World War II.

Another church, just west of the square, commemorates events of 150 years ago, a year of living dangerously that ended in bloodshed and repression. Germany was not a unified country in 1848, of course, when its various city-states and principalities elected Germany's first national parliament. Its members sat in St. Paul's Church for much of the year, drawing up plans for a union of German-speaking peoples based on democratic principles. Unfortunately, they neglected to create an army while debating the finer points of constitutional government, and an alliance of reactionaries and Prussian militarists put an end to their work.

The Goethehaus and Museum (Grosser Hirschgraben 23, tel. 069/28284), also in the old town, was the birthplace and first home of Germany's most famous writer. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe studied law and became a member of the bar in Frankfurt before turning his full attention to writing. He sealed his fame with the tragic love story, "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" ("The Sorrows of Young Werther"), a novel that has inspired countless copycat suicides. This is also where Goethe wrote the first version of his masterpiece, "Faust" (minus the pious, happy ending of Part II). The recently reopened museum overflows with works of art that inspired Goethe, himself an amateur painter, and exhibits about Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), a movement of writers and artists who promoted the romantic cult of the young genius in rebellion against society -- an idea still going strong a century and a half later.

On the opposite bank of the Main River, in the neighborhood of Sachsenhausen, the Museum Embankment offers a remarkable landscape of exhibits within the space of two long blocks. Strolling down Schaumainkai, you pass the Liebieghaus (No. 71), a collection of sculpture spanning two millennia displayed in a 19th century villa; the Staedelsches Kunstinstitut (Stadel Art Institute, No. 63), housing some of Germany's major art treasures, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir and Monet; and museums dedicated to the German postal system (No. 53) architecture (No. 43), cinema (No. 41), non-European ethnology (No. 29) and applied arts (No. 17).

The Frankfurt tourist office arranges walking tours on demand (tel. 069/2123-8953), tailored to individual interests; their English-speaking guides can instruct you about the Holy Roman emperors, the young Goethe, the long history of the Jewish community in Frankfurt or its modern architecture. The city is compact and there is no need to tour it by bus, but such tours are available for 44 DM.

EATING AROUND
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Thanks to the flood of travelers on expense accounts and a large foreign population, Frankfurt has a wide range of restaurants, from chic to ethnic. If the company is paying and per diem is not an issue, make a reservation at Brückenkeller (Schützenstr. 6, tel. 069/296068) or Humperdinck (Grüneburgweg. 95, tel. 069/9720-3154). Both are leading exponents of neue Küche, German nouvelle cuisine. In the middle price range, Gargantua serves up creative versions of German classics and French-accented dishes in a Westend dining room decorated with contemporary art (Liebigstr. 47, tel. 069/720718); and chef Stephan Döpfner at Maingau restaurant in Sachsenhausen is making a name for himself with dishes like rack of venison in a walnut crust (Schifferstr. 38-40, tel. 069/617001).

The humble hot dog (Frankfurter Wurstschen) is Frankfurt's one contribution to world cuisine. The locals also eat Grüne sösse (Green sauce), a sauce of cream and herbs served with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, and Handkäs mit Musik, a gelatinous cheese covered with raw onions, oil and vinegar, served with bread and butter (an acquired taste for many, the "music" refers to its side effects). All of these things are washed down by apfelwein, a strong, tart cider served in earthenware krugs in taverns like Wagner (Schweizer Strasse 71, tel. 069/612565) and Fichtekränzi (Wallstrasse 5, tel. 069/612778), both in Sachsenhausen.

AFTER HOURS
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Most of the big hotels have bars, discos and nightclubs that are nondescript but useful places for a drink with associates. Jimmy's Bar (Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 40, tel. 069/614559) is an expensive, intimate watering hole that ranks as the best bar in Germany according to many who have imbibed bartender Andre's $10 whisky sours; one hears a lot of Russian spoken there nowadays.

Local night life is ideologically divided between Szene (trendy and chic) and Alternative (subcultural). For Szene, go to Schirn Cafe, stunning for its architecture and 120-foot-long bar (Römerberg tel. 069/291732). Tigerpalast is a 1920s ballroom reincarnated as Frankfurt's best variety theater with a restaurant popular among local politicians (Heiligkreuzgasse 20, tel. 069/9200-2225, dinner only). Euronet's computers (with Internet access) are overshadowed by its sleek interior and ensemble of five bars, restaurant, bistro and sushi bar (Willy-Brandt-Platz, tel. 069/2429370). The Nordend (North End) bars/bistros Harvey's (Bornheimer Landstrasse 64, tel. 069/497303) and Grössenwahn (Lenaustrasse 97, 069/599356) attract both gay and straight yuppies and yumpies (Young Urban Marxist Professionals).

Frankfurt's passion for modern jazz is best savored in the smoky cellar of the Frankfurter Jazzkeller (Kleine Bockenheimerstr. 18, tel. 069/288537). The city is a center of techno music, too, and offers celebrity DJs and ear-splitting, computer-generated beat in places like Omen (Junghofstrasse 14, tel. 069/282233) and Dorian Gray at the airport. Although people from all walks of life show up at techno parties, most are a lot closer to 18 than 30; many of them take ecstasy to make the most of it ("no pills, no action," as one doorman puts it).

A man or woman in need of what Germans call Gemütlichkeit (a cross between coziness and companionship) should try sitting at a communal table in a Sachsenhausen apple-wine tavern. A meal of eggs and green sauce, with a Japanese tourist at one elbow and a visiting Daimler Benz engineer at the other, is almost guaranteed to distract the weary road warrior from free-market Storm and Stress. After a few krugs of apfelwein, the sentiment flows, even in a city that has sold its soul.
SALON | April 17, 1998

Brent Gregston is a journalist based in Amsterdam. He writes about Europe for numerous publications, including American Way and Fodor's Business Travel.