Frankfurt: Adventure in the hotel ship at the mouth of the Nidda
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fromGeorge Grodensky
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In the Nidda estuary in Frankfurt you can stay overnight, dance and eat on a hotel ship. The Mainod ship can look back on a long history.
Frankfurt – “The Lady of Shalott” is the name of a ballad by the British poet Alfred Tennyson from 1832. It deals with the mythical figure Elaine from the Arthurian legend. Said lady lives in a tower on a river island. Although she is forbidden, she looks out the window and falls in love with the equally fabulous knight Lancelot. Elaine ventures into a boat to join him. In doing so, however, she finds her death. Which is said to have touched the brave Lancelot very much.
Why is this to be read here? Well, maybe the lady didn’t die at all. Says Corinna Zürcher cheekily. Perhaps she was just exhausted. And regained your strength after a hearty snack in the restaurant of the hotel ship Mainod. It has a floating pontoon terrace for food and drink and a beautiful view of the Main with its large and small boats, the ferry, the swans. The waves sway gently. Highly, nowhere are poetry and pragmatism so close together.
The hotel ship Mainod in Frankfurt: floating accommodation with 15 rooms
Zürcher laughs. She not only spun the poem on, she also designed one of the hotel rooms accordingly, including a framed reprint of the famous painting “The Lady of Shalott” by John William Waterhouse. The ship has 15 rooms, seven are newly renovated and decorated with maritime motifs, and Goethe’s ode to the world of mermaids can also be found – half they pulled him, half he sank.
But wait, machines stop. It shouldn’t really be about literature, art or Corinna Zürcher. Or just on the edge. Corinna Zürcher is only responsible for the design of the rooms. The captain of the hotel ship is her little brother, Christian Zürcher. He will surely get annoyed about the “small”. Physically, he’s a head taller than his sister, and the 53-year-old is just a younger year.
Hotel in Frankfurt: Christian Zürcher is the managing director of the hotel ship Mainod in Höchst
Or maybe he’s not angry. The relationship between the two is cordial, they cuddle and squabble rather lovingly. But Christian Zürcher is one of those people who always keep a stoic facial expression. It’s hard to tell whether he’s joking or not, whether he’s embarrassed or angry. So we’d rather accept him as a strict captain. The company’s managing director is worldwide. Always on board, immerse yourself in responsibility.
And Christian Zürcher is a locksmith. This is important. Not only because he says he sometimes throws drunken sailors overboard with sheer physical strength (the answer to the shanty “What should we do with the drunk sailor?”). Of course only if they disturb. (Joke? Ask him yourself.) The job is important because Christian Zürcher can destroy everything that breaks on board. “Otherwise you couldn’t tie a boat like that to your leg,” he says. Because one thing is clear: something always breaks when the old building is floating.
Boat in Höchst with a long history: the hotel ship in Frankfurt was once called “Peter Schlott”
Highest swear, the Schlott, as the Pott was called earlier, has always been there. That is not completly correct. The tradition began in 1926. The Nieder Heinrich Schlott II and his son Peter only took 29 rowing and paddle boats with them from the bankruptcy of their metal goods factory, which among other things manufactures fittings for boats. And open a boat rental.
A boathouse has to be built to winterize the boats, which becomes a concert café. The Nazis shut it down, and after the war it blossoms again. Heinz and his wife Dorothea, called Dorle, fulfilled their dream of the hotel ship in 1959, they named it “Peter Schlott”. Apart from trips to the shipyard, it has never been on the rivers or even the world’s oceans.
Mainod
The hotel ship Schlott on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt-Höchst, at the mouth of the Nidda, opened again in August, under a new name “Mainod” and a new captain, Christian Zürcher. The road to mooring is called “Battery”.
opening hours the restaurant terrace: Fri. – Sun. from 11.30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wed no. – Thu., 11.30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Assuming nice weather. Monday & Tuesday are rest days.
room is available for 60 euros including breakfast. However, with shared shower and toilet in the hallway. The prices for accommodations with their own shower and toilet are between 90 and 120 euros per night.
The information and book on Tel. 069/30 06 76 80 and www.mainod.de
Frankfurt: The Zürcher family from Berlin takes over the ship and continues to operate it under the name Mainod
It has no rudder or propulsion. Right from the start it is a pure gem and a show boat. After three generations of dancing and socializing at the mouth of the Nidda, the dynasty ends. There are no longer any young Schlotts who carry on the legacy.
Curtain up on a new family saga. The ones from Zurich from Berlin. It begins, the digression is permitted, with Achim Zürcher, a refugee from the republic. He leaves the GDR alone with his clothes on and a compass box under his doublet. He later became a master brewer and made it to the boardroom of a large Frankfurt brewery. That’s why the Zürchers have to move. It is 1972, Christian Zürcher is six years old. But better than Alaska, he says. The father is also looked after by breweries.
Hotel ship Mainod in Frankfurt – due to corona only open since August
In 2016, Zürcher junior fell in love with the Schlott. The locksmith becomes the captain. He didn’t say yes right away, he says. He still has little experience with hotels and restaurants, or more precisely: none. But he just can’t get the ship out of his head. He’s now happy to have his team together. Twelve people work on the Mainod-Schlott, including two cooks. It has been open since August, Corona has not allowed it earlier. There is a lot of fish on the menu.
Water has always been a magical attraction for him. Of course he is a surfer, diver, sailor, owner of a motorboat license. In another life he was probably a privateer. This becomes clear when the visit from the press carelessly asks about the sailboat that is moored on the floating terrace. Die Pescador.
Hotel ship Mainod in Frankfurt: Weddings are part of the main business
Christian Zürcher, with his sister and the curious visitors, is already swinging himself on the boat under his arm, taking the time for an excursion, a few wild maneuvers, the wind in his hair. He casually holds one hand on the rudder, he operates the throttle with his foot, there is not enough time to set the sails. Oh yes, time. He doesn’t have much of that anymore, he says and sighs. The “Pesacdor”, the little sailor, usually remains moored. Every now and then, bridal couple from Zurich cruises across the Main. As a symbol that they are entering the port of marriage as a nun.
Weddings are Zurich’s main business. The registry office in the garden pavilion of the Bolongaro Palace is within calling distance. After a champagne reception in front of a baroque backdrop, the party returns to the hotel ship. There is a hall for up to 200 people with a dance floor and a small stage, and a booth for around 25 guests. In future, there will also be cultural events once a month. Song recitals, concerts, reading stages or Finnish tango.
Hotel ship Mainod in Frankfurt attracts with individually designed rooms
On the aft deck, Zürcher is currently renovating another college for around 50 guests, with a view of the Nidda. He doesn’t like to sit yet. He got that from his father, the brewery director. He is now 83 and is using his retirement to train himself as a carpenter. So father and son work together on the hotel ship. One person welds and repairs, the other builds the bar or paneled the rooms.
Oh, the rooms. There is no other way than to end the story with Corinna Zürcher’s hotel rooms and their flood of details. The Henri Rousseau room, for example. Guests encounter lush greenery, the water of the Amazon. Rousseau is considered a pioneer of surrealism and creator of the genre of the imaginary, dreamed-of landscape. “When we weren’t traveling in Zurich in lockdown,” says Corinna, “we settled into the world here.” On a ship that doesn’t sail and yet is a gateway to the world in the multicultural district of Höchst. (Georg Grodensky)
More and more hotels are being built in Frankfurt. But in many places there is a lack of staff.