FRANZISKA OUT AND ABOUT

Museum Ludwig in Cologne houses " Eu­rope’s most ex­ten­sive col­lec­tion of Pop Art, the third-largest Pi­cas­so col­lec­tion in the world, one of the most im­por­tant col­lec­tions of Ger­man Ex­pres­sion­ism, out­s­tand­ing works from the Rus­sian avant-garde, and an ex­cel­lent col­lec­tion on the his­to­ry of pho­tog­ra­phy: To­day the Mu­se­um Lud­wig is home to one of the most im­por­tant col­lec­tions of twen­ti­eth- and twen­ty-first-cen­tu­ry art in the world. And, un­like roy­al col­lec­tions, it owes its ex­is­tence to the ex­traor­d­i­nary ded­i­ca­tion of pri­vate ci­t­izens. The corn­er­s­tone for the found­ing of the mu­se­um was laid in 1976 with a do­na­tion of 350 works of mod­ern art to the ci­ty of Cologne by the col­lec­tors Peter and Irene Lud­wig" *. And Franziska loves the arts, as all of my regular readers know. So, let's dive in into this wonderful (to the author's opinion) collection of "crossdressing and arts" photography.   * fr...

The third and last day out and about with my new wig, before having dropped it of at Franzi’s hairdresser to have it washed, groomed, and styled. It was very early in January 2024 and very cold out, hence, it was a good opportunity for my long beige winter coat to make a showing. During my weekend trip crossdressed to Cologne in June 2023, I had missed the opportunity to visit one of the top museums in Cologne, because I had to return early on Sunday morning and in drab. As it is just a little more than one hour on the ICE high-speed train between Frankfurt and Cologne, I took the opportunity to pay a visit to “Museum Ludwig,” which is located next to “Kölner Dom” (“Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus" or "Cathedral Church of Saint Peter"). In this posting, I will report on everything   but   the actual visit to the museum. The museum and its fantastic pieces of art will be covered in a separate posting that will follow shortly. Portrait of the day  Escalator down to the Frankfu...

The musical “Moulin Rouge!” premiered in Boston in 2019 and performances at Cologne’s Musical Dome started in November 2022. It was  the  highlight of the trip. As you know, Franzi loves opera, ballet, theater, musical, but this one was special because of its hot nightclub atmosphere, the juicy stage outfits, and slightly sizzling sexy innuendo. And of course, there was the obligatory crossdresser in this night club show, being one the dancing staff of the club, and there were some funny jokes around him, or by him.   The musical dome was a mere 10-minute walk from my hotel and the first two pictures were taken on the way there.   Portrait of the evening. This was the first time that I wore this wonderful ensemble of dress and blazer. I love the color and the texture and guess what, I found a silky scarf in my large selection to go with it. As mentioned before, I had splurged on a ticket for a great seat right behind the orchestra pit and I also booked a seat in the ...

If you recall the last posting, you will recognize for which of the dresses Franziska fell. And as there were a couple of hours left before the evening event, she decided to sport it right away. Something remarkable happened this afternoon, let’s call it “Rite of passing” 😀 . What is the ultimate proof that you are passable, meaning that it is not  immediately  obvious that you are a man in a dress? First, I would say if your own mother or your sister do not read or recognize you. I didn’t manage to enforce this test before my mother died, but I am sure she would have taken it lightly - after some initial shock. And unfortunately (thinking of all the missed opportunities to crossdress in my early teens), I do not have a sister. Second, I would say if a trans sister does not read you. I have spotted several crossdressers in my life that just happened to cross my path (no pun intended) and I assume that there were others that I did not read.   That afternoon in Cologne, I ...

One of the benefits of travelling is to explore the local shopping scene. Granted, the big department stores all look alike to a certain extent and they all carry the same products and garments. Nonetheless, there are interesting differences to be discovered and there is also a significant number of local, privately-owned boutiques throughout Germany that sometimes offer unique outfits. Furthermore, it is always a lot of fun to visit second-hand or pre-owned or pro-loved boutiques, because you never know what you might discover there, and you’ll be surprised how inexpensive some of these great pieces might be. Take for example the various leather jackets that Franziska owns. All of them are second-hand, because I am not willing to pay several hundred Euro for a stylish leather jacket that I’ll likely wear less than 20 times in my life. So, shopping was in order on this Saturday in Cologne, followed by a late lunch. I had posted this picture on CDH right after the weekend trip with the ...

After an exciting evening in that wonderful new jumpsuit, Franziska was getting ready for a day on the town, Cologne that is. Any cis girl can fall out of bed, be ready to head out the door 15 minutes later, and undoubtedly look like a woman. For Franziska, it takes about 1 to 1.5 h to be ready to head out the door and to look (for the most part) like a woman IF no decisions need to be made regarding outfit, shoes, wig, jacket, scarf, or coat etc. For those weekend trips, most of these decision have been made well in advance.  There was some international sports event taking place in Cologne that weekend, for which reason hotels happened to be quite expensive. For Franziska’s trips to Stuttgart and to Munich, I had chosen for a larger Hotel chain, both locations being some 15+ minutes walking from the city center. In Cologne, I had selected – also quite expensive – a smaller local hotel right in the historic center. This hotel shares the same name as, happens to be in the same comp...