Carnival parade in Frankfurt vs. Mainz on March 3

Come to the Frankfurt Parade. It is a nice, big parade.

List of the other parades in this area:
* 3 Mar. Fastnacht Parade, Frankfurt, 11:11
* 3 Mar. Fastnacht Parade, Wiesbaden, 13:11
* 3 Mar. Karneval Parade, Oberursel 14:11
* 4 Mar. Rosen Montag Fastnacht Parade, Mainz, 11:11
* 5 Mar. Klaa Paris Parade, Heddernheim 14:31

So what's with all those 11 after the hours?

Eleven is some sort of magical number for North-German Carnivals / Fasnacht.
That is why 11/11 is also a significant date, when they also have a carnival starting at 11:11.

The main carnival starts on the Monday before Lent (Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, 40 days before Easter, so carnival starts Monday 4th March this year).
Basel Fasnacht is always 1 week later, starting Monday 11th March this year and lasting 3 days. This 1 week difference is allegedly something to do with the period when Catholic and Protestant parts of Europe operated on different calendars.

"North-German" - ???

We talk about Frankfurt and Mainz.

Several guesses around the historical reason for the meaning of "11" in this article (German language):
https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article10857790/Warum-die-Elf-die-magische-Zahl-des-Karneval-ist.html

North-German, looking from Switzerland Frankfurt am Main is "north". I have never seen reference to 11 being special in Baden or Switzerland.
Basler Fasnacht starts 04:00 on Monday, runs for exactly 72 hours, ending 04:00 Thursday morning. Going into work on the Thursday morning you see Fasnachtlers sitting (collapsing, slumping) outside the bars, still in costume, having celebrated to the very end.

Ms Jo - I also will coming into Frankfurt for a business trip on March 2. I would love to see the Frankfurt parade. I’m staying at this hotel: https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-5381-mercure-hotel-frankfurt-airport-neu-isenburg/index.shtml

Can you please recommend a good place and time to arrive to see the parade?

Thank you.
Suzette (Atlanta, GA)

Your hotel is a bit outside of the city, but you can walk down to the tram station and take tram #17 to the main station. It takes about 10-15 min. Because of the parade, much of the above ground trams won't be running, but the place to be is anywhere around the Hauptwache, the Römer, and some of the side streets. This map shows the route so you can pick any spot. All are easily reached by foot from the main station. The Hauptwache is about a 15 min. walk. Take a bag for the candy and what ever else they are throwing from the floats.

Use this website to find your tram schedule or ask your front desk clerk. www.rmv.de

Route for the parade.
https://www.grosser-rat.de/fastnachtszug/die-zugstrecke/

Thanks for the responses. Do you know what the differences are between the parade in Mainz vs. Frankfurt? We could stay in either city that night. I saw on someone write somewhere that the Mainz parade is "better" but that of course is subjective and am wondering if there are tangible differences between the two.

Mainz is the 2nd largest parade after Cologne. It also means more crowds and tougher to get a good view. They are all fun though.
Mainz has more of a history of Fasching/Fastnacht because it was a Catholic city, home of one of the he most powerful archbishops. So, Lent has more importance here than in a city that isn't as Catholic. Cologne, the same thing. The archbishops of Cologne and Mainz were 2 of the 7 electors for the Holy Roman Emperor. Thus, extremely powerful. Add in the French occupying this area for so long, and you will see the costumes that are actually making fun of them.

Thanks Ms. Jo for the explanation! I didn't even think about one of them being harder to get a good view from than the other. I still can't believe they do parades multiple days in a row!

German Carnival parades defy weather, poke fun at powerful

Germany’s main Carnival parades got underway Monday in the face of some windy weather, with floats poking fun at U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May.