New personal record!

Getting ready to go out en femme can take me three hours or more, say, if nothing is prepared, if I have no idea yet what to wear, if I want to do everything right and to the best of my abilities. And I might thoroughly enjoy and celebrate the time of this transformation process, running around in my lingerie, trying on different outfits, listening to girly music, and possibly drinking a glass of “Perlwein.”

This time it was different. I had made use of the evening before to select an outfit. And as I was working out of our home that day, I made use of my breaks to prepare everything that could be prepared before: wig brushed, shoes polished, handbag packed, make-up and jewelry taken out, etc.

I did mention before – some time ago, I think – that I work with a checklist, which I had developed some years ago already. This checklist delineates the tasks that can be prepared beforehand and those that need to be carried out right before going out. This list has several advantages: It prevents me from having to ponder what’s next in the process, it saves me from muddling up the sequence and order in applying make-up; and it keeps me from forgetting anything, e.g. polishing shoes, applying a blush, putting in earrings, spraying perfume

I had this list laminated, such that I can easily cross out what is done already with a board marker and, thus, see how far I have come in the process. This list makes my preparation and transformation most effective and most efficient.

Having crossed out all that can be done beforehand the evening before and throughout the day, I was set to stop working a 5 pm. Omitting things that are optional: fingernails painted, false eyelashes, etc. I was out the door as Franziska, within a personal record time of 60 minutes at 6 pm sharp, including some portraits taken at home.

Outfit if the evening was a black and white patterned dress, black soft-shaft boots, and a black leather jacket.

Portrait of the evening

This weeknight in March 2025, I visited the district Bornheim. Bornheim became a part of the city of Frankfurt in 1877 and nowadays is a popular neighborhood with the young and restless, with many bars and an international restaurant scene. It’s architecture strongly reflect the Wilhelmian time period (1890-1918). Finding an apartment there is not easy and can be expensive. Even more difficult is finding a parking spot if you come home late in the evening, as many buildings do not have a parking garage.

I took the tram to "Friedberger Anlage." From there I walked up “Berger Straße,” which runs all the way into the center of Bornheim. On that short evening, I only made it half-way along “Merianplatz” up to “Höhenstraße.” The rest will have to follow some other time.

At the subway station "Merianplatz"

Dinner at some nondescript form of Asian place

And the infamous elevator shot