FRANZISKA OUT AND ABOUT

As I had reported in my previous posting, the key purpose of this day out-and-about in mid-April 2025 was Franzi’s visit to the hairdresser for an in-salon appointment. I had made that appointment two months earlier and I had dropped off my long blonde wig at the hairdresser four week earlier. A full-scale treatment, consisting of washing, pin curlers, drying, styling was not possible with a wig that only loosely sits on my head. After my wonderful lunch at "Kanonesteppel," I arrived wearing my medium length blonde wig that you already know from my last posting, and I was placed in the hairdresser’s chair. In the background, my washed, treated, and to-be-styled wig. After removal of the pin curlers, my hairdresser first worked on it with his hands and fingers, drawing out the curls. You can see how this unfolds in the following pictures. He then placed it on my head and continued to style it. What do you think? Is that a fun and worthwhile thing to do en femme? I left the oth...

This Saturday in mid-April 2025 was special for several reasons. Having worn three different wigs within one day was only one of them. I had started to plan this day out-and-about about two months earlier by calling Franzi’s hairdresser – the one who has been washing and styling my wigs for several years – for an appointment. This time it was not to drop off or pick up a wig, but to have an in-salon appointment for a styling. He and I had talked about that before and this time I made an appointment for early afternoon today. It was time for Franzi to experience that feminine pleasure of sitting in a salon and have somebody work on your hair to make you look the most attractive. It was a warm and sunny day and I decided on one of my short and colorful summer dresses, with 5 denier nylons, white sandals, and a white blazer – just in case. Portraits of the day. Granted, this wig urgently needed to be taken care of. As many times before, I took the bus from our local bus stop to Südbahnhof...

First, my excuse for not having posted in almost one month. We were on vacation and had a pretty busy program. And I needed a break from blogging. Maintaining a blog is more work and requires more consistency and diligence in research than you might think. In mid-March, Franzi had another great day out-and-about on her home turf in Frankfurt. It was a full day en femme again with two outfits and hence two postings. The day started as so often with a visit to Kleinmarkthalle, Franzi’s favorite lunch location in the heart of Frankfurt. Unfortunately, my most common lunch place had no space left – not even a single stool in a corner. For that reason, I ended up at that small Italian mom-and-pop stall I had talked about before, where I enjoyed a glass of wine with some bread and cheese. While I was strolling through Kleinmarkthalle, I received an unsolicited compliment from a gentleman, who said “ If I may say, this is a great look.“ But let us start at the beginning. My outfit for the day...

It was early February and pretty cold. That is why I took out my long leather skirt, my burgundy quilted jacket with matching ankle boots, and matching gloves. I love that my wardrobe provides some variability by now to just play and combine. It was late morning that I left home and despite the temperature and because of the sun, I decided to walk to the center of Frankfurt. It is a mere 25 minutes along the river “Main” and I headed straight to “Kleinmarkthalle,” that temple for food lovers in the heart of the city. If you read through my blog, you will find that “Kleinmarkthalle” is Franzi’s the most frequented location in Frankfurt – and for good reasons. Guess what, “Dry January” ended at one point, on January 31, to be precise. This time, I decided to try a different place in “Kleinmarkthalle,” a sort-of Spanish tapas place. What you see in the picture – beside me and my wine 😏  - is a small pan with shrimp, fried in oil. Delicious! After lunch, I visited my favorite wine pla...

What else can you learn from looking back at your archives? You have aged! Ageing isn’t bad in and by itself, though. I am at peace with my age, fem or male, drag or drab. If there is one thing that crossdressing can do for you, it can make you look significantly younger. Franzi very recently had a conversation with a man at a hotel bar late in the evening and somehow the conversation lead to the question of age. When I told him that I am in my late 50s, his jaw dropped and he didn’t want to believe me. I was looking particularly cute and well made-up that evening, though, despite the fact that I had been out-and-about since 10 am. Portrait of the day. This is the same wig I still often wear today. However, it was before I started to regularly have it professionally groomed and styled. Obviously! Incidentally, I just picked it up at my hairdresser yesterday and it looks fantastic. And I was still a little chubby. But some cute legs, don’t you agree?

Time flies. The last day out-and-about was in August. Now it is October already. I am not a great fan of flea markets. To my liking, most of what is offered there is junk. But as you might have concluded already anyway, Franzi and her male alter ego have a clear leaning towards quality, style, and design. Hence, it was only by coincidence that I came along that part of the river along “Schaumainkai,” where a flea market happens to take place every Saturday (9:00 am to 2:00 pm), officially since 1975. Portrait of the day I am so sorry for this Hodgepodge outfit. It actually wasn’t as bad as it looks here, but my wife was aghast when I showed this picture to her. It was my intention to grab my brown leather jacket, which would have made the outfit a little more coherent, but somehow that didn’t happen. After the flea market, I visited my regular places: the Italian-inspired food stall downstairs at Kleinmarkthalle for lunch, the truly Italian wine bar upstairs at Kleinmarkthalle, and …...

Oh no, opera again, you might think, another opera visited by Franziska! Yes, but not just any opera. The “Bayreuth Festival” is  the  opera event of the year in Germany and it is  the  place for Wagner lovers from all over the world to visit. Floor-length dresses and tuxedos are the expected norm, even though this tradition seems to fade. This is where my wife and I went in August 2024, both dressed in new floor-length dresses and high heels. Around the hilltop opera house, there are several restaurants, bars, and food stalls. We had booked an arrangement at one of these restaurants, in which you then have an assigned table, fine buffet food, and a well-stocked bar all day long, before the performance, during the intermissions, and for a night-cap afterwards. On that day we visited the “Bayreuth Festival,“ Wagner’s last major opera called “Parsifal” was performed.  The opera lasted for six hours, including two one-hour intermissions. There happened to be a fair...