Friday 22 June 2012

Staedel Museum and Frankfurt by night

Today was a culture day. I called Daniel around lunch time to tell him I was back and he said he could be there in about an hour, which was very nice! We decided to go to the Staedel Museum to see paintings by the old masters (and not so old masters).

Admission to the museum was quite hefty at 12 Euro per person. The nice receptionist fellow let us cheat and buy a family ticket (you're supposed to have children with you) for 23 Euro, which would give us admission to all the museums on the 'Museum Ufer' for the rest of that day as well as the next. A good deal if you want to do the cultural thing in Frankfurt.

Anyway, we went in and admired artworks for about 3 hours, with an intermission between the old masters and the newer ones for a necessary cup of coffee. I took photos of the artworks I really liked. I'm only inflicting a few on you here (hover the mouse on the picture to see artist and title):

Rembrandt - Portrait of Maertgen von Bilderbeeq Aert de Gelder - self portrait as Zeuxis Portraying an Ugly Old Woman Barthel Bruyn the Elder - Portrait of Sibylla Kessel Sandro Botticelli - Idealized Portrait of a Lady Pieter de Kempener - Portrait of a Lady Ignaz Unterberger - Juno and Flora (painted on marble) Johann Anton Ramboux - Capuchin Sermon at the Colosseum of Rome Johann Anton Ramboux - Capuchin Sermon at the Colosseum of Rome Alfred Sisley - Banks of the Seine in Autumn Auguste Renoir - Girl Reading Claude Monet - The Luncheon Edouard Manet - A Game of Croquet Auguste Renoir - After the Luncheon Arnold Boecklin - Villa by the Sea Karl von Pidoll - Portrait of Anna Cossmann before Ca' d'Oro in Venice Albert von Keller - The Martyr Paul Cezanne - Landscape: Road with Trees in Rocky Mountains Adolphe Monticelli - A Painter at Work on a House Wall

We met up with Silke at 7pm (the museum closes at 9pm on Thursdays, which is handy!) and then walked into town past a few more museums (unfortunately closed), since the weather was nice and the car parked in a good position outside the museum.

There was a cute statue outside the Communications museum which I had to photograph. There’s another photo at the end, of the statue lit up at night:

Statue at the Museum for Communication

Our first stop was at the Galeria shopping centre, where they have a restaurant/cafe on the top floor, as well as a viewing platform. I took advantage, of course. I'll be making some nice panoramas when I get home and work on my pictures. I know you can't wait ;-) :

 Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria Views from the top of the Galeria

We then walked in the direction of the Old Opera House where we discovered the Old Opera Market Festival was in full force. The Opera and surrounding buildings were all lit up, so I couldn't resist taking some photos. Who could? These photos were all taken without a tripod…have I mentioned how much I love my camera lately?…:

Frankfurt by night Frankfurt by night Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival Alte Oper and Opernplatz Festival

It started spitting, so we headed back in the direction of the car, since we had nothing with us in the way of warmer clothing or umbrellas and Silke wasn't feeling the best anyway:

Frankfurt by night Frankfurt by night Frankfurt by night Frankfurt by night Frankfurt by night

We ran the last part of the way to the car, getting soaking wet, and headed home.