What a real Schoppepetzer is using the moment.
It's barely noon when the pensioner combo - two women with short gray hair and a man with a black cap - is already sitting at the traditional table, each with an apple cider and a loquat.
The sun shines through the canopy of the plane trees, the Stöffche shines as if it couldn't be otherwise.
If it weren't for the plexiglass panes between the tables and the stand with the rules of conduct.
"Welcome back to the Dauth-Schneider" is written in chalk on a blackboard.
"We will serve you if you ... are vaccinated, recovered or tested negative."
Matthias Trautsch
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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It is Whit Monday, for the first time in what feels like an eternity, restaurants in Frankfurt are allowed to open, albeit only on the outside and under strict conditions.
For most guests, this means that they have to show a daily, negative corona test.
For the three pensioners on Affentorplatz in Sachsenhausen, there is no compulsory test - they have long since had their second dose of vaccine.
“Now we're starting again,” calls one of the other guests in the direction of the Schoppepetzer trio.
“Thank God”, one of the pensioners calls back and clenches her fist in Boris Becker fashion.
Too short term for openings
Things are far from being as resolved as at Dauth-Schneider. The majority of innkeepers have not yet made use of the right to open. Most of the cafes on Schweizer Straße are closed, the tables in the “Oosten” are covered with tarpaulin on the banks of the Main, and many chairs are folded up on the Römerberg. At the Eiserner Steg, the “Liman 'Da” bistro has blocked off its terrace with a red and white tape barrier. There are drinks “to go”, as the man at the counter explains. The news that the first easing stage will be reached on Whit Monday came too short-term. The terrace will go into operation next weekend, of course only for those who tested negatively and in compliance with distance rules. A customer briefly railed against the corona regulations,then takes two latte macchiato in a paper cup and sits down on a bench with her companion.
The museums are just as cautious as the restaurateurs.
Although they too have been allowed to open since Whit Monday, most of them still take a few days.
The Historical Museum wants to wait until Wednesday, the Schirn only lets its visitors know that it is "temporarily closed", the Museum of Modern Art refers to its branch in the Taunus Tower.
The zoo is allowed to receive visitors inside and outside, but whoever came by spontaneously on Monday was turned away because registration was necessary and everything was currently booked out.
There is still no euphoria among the hosts
Long queues form on Monday at the test station on Merianplatz, which is also open on public holidays. There are many people who have spontaneously decided to go out to eat. With the negative test result in your pocket, you don't have to go far to one of the restaurants on Berger Strasse, such as the “Kupferstecher”, whose terrace is opposite. Operations manager Marcel Münch has prepared everything for the first day of opening, he is looking forward to the guests, but is not euphoric. Many colleagues have decided to wait and see. A pure outdoor operation is only partially worthwhile, especially now that cold weather has been forecast for the next few days. "When you open up, you have a completely different set of costs."
Some also shied away from the expense of hygiene requirements or the risk of having to close again if the incidence was higher, says Münch. He is skeptical about the medium-term future of the industry. The Corona aid has still not reached many hosts, and a good quarter will probably have to file for bankruptcy. The Italian restaurant a few meters further on the corner of Bethmannpark seems to have hope for better times. The tables there are not only set in blossom white on the terrace - there are also folded serviettes and glasses on the tables in the interior. If the incidence continues to fall, guests could soon be sitting there again.