There is no other place on Earth like this! This summer season at the Bregenz Festival opens with Verdi’s fabulous ‘Rigoletto’, being shown on the biggest stage in the world that’s built into a lake, so you’ll be put through all sorts of operatic emotions under the open skies. Glass of champagne in hand, enjoying this surreal experience, it’s no wonder that James Bond filmed ‘Quantum of Solace’ there. Grab hold of any tickets you can for this 2019 season to fulfill a lifelong dream

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#christmasmarket

The setting of Frankfurt’s world-famous Christmas markets on the Römerberg dates back to the mid-1300s and has to be one of the most magical locations for a Christmas market EVER! The medieval houses & buildings surrounding the picturesque square, have been beautifully restores many years ago and are simply idyllic – perfect for getting into the festive spirit. Enjoy the scent of mulled wine in the air, decorated gingerbread with loving messages are available everywhere and lots Bratwurst is on the grill, waiting feed hungry market goers. You will feel like a kid again in no time! We hope, you’ve enjoyed the video and that it has animated you to book a trip to visit Frankfurt during Xmas this year.

City of Frankfurt

One of the coolest cities in Germany, Frankfurt is essentially a city of many contrasts. Amongst it’s architecture, you will see ultra modern sky crapers, amongst which nestle period buildings galore. It also boasts one of the biggest airports in Europe: Frankfurt International Airport! With no shortage of flights in getting there, Frankfurt during the winter season is particularly charming also due to its rich history in traditional café salon culture, where authors, literary figures (listen up, Goethe fans) and countless art & cultural circles met up and still meet up to discuss and debate their issues. Hence there is an abundance of cool, chic & traditional cafés serving the naughtiest cakes in the land.

During the summer, this part of town, leading up to the Old Opera, turns into living & eating outside until the early hours of the morning. Living well is a big ’thing’ in Frankfurt, with local delicatessen shops spotted throughout the city centre and Sachsenhausen, as well as man y other parts and neighbourhoods.

‘Schirn’ Kunsthalle

Situated just off the Römerberg, the Schirn Kunsthalle it is one of the most important exhibition venues for contemporary and modern art in Europe. They work in collaboration with many leading museums and galleries in the world, including the Barbican in London and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. They’re exhibitions always hold a special angle to art, attempting to open up new view points, breaking traditional patterns of reception. This also applies to their show about Lee Krasner, wife of Jackson Pollock, an American painter, feminist and artistic pioneer in her own right (see TA-DAH.TV’s Art Exhibitions & Fairs section).

This exhibition is followed by another blockbuster about Frida Kahlo and you get the drift about the mission this show space is on. Since its opening in 1986, it has shown over 240 exhibitions, having welcomed just under 9 million visitors. Their mission statement says it all: ‘The Schirn sees itself as a place for making discoveries and as a seismograph fro explosive developments in the visual arts. At the same time, it articulates combative opinions, sparks debates, and provides space from lively exchange for the relevance of art for our society.’ Typically Frankfurt, say we!

Museumsufer

Unique in there world, there is no other city, which can claim being host to a range of leading museums that are placed in line, one after another, along a picturesque river such as the river ‘Main’. It is a sight to behold and a landscape to experience. ‘Frankfurt am Main’ has created a completely original landscape, with leading museums lining its river – some of them housed in architecturally elaborated city mansions, which Frankfurt is famous for, and some of them in ultra modern buildings, built for their specific purpose. The ‘Städel Museum’ for historic art leads the ‘pack’ on the South bank, alongside the ‘Liebighaus’ holding a vast collection of sculptures, the ‘Museum Giersch’ showing a permanent collection of 19th century artists, the ‘Portikus’, which is a free exhibition space showing temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as the ‘Museum für Kommunikation’ (Communication Museum), the ‘Deutsches Architekturmuseum’ (German Architecture Museum), the ‘Deutsches Filmmuseum’ (German Film Museum), the ‘Museum der Weltkulturen’ (Ethnological Museum) about world cultures, the ‘Museum für Angewandte Kunst’ (Museum of Applied Arts), and the ‘Icon Museum’, which houses one of the largest collections of Russian, Bulgarian and Greek icons, as well as others, in the whole of Germany.

On the North bank, you can visit the ‘Jüdisches Museum’ (Jewish Museum Frankfurt), the ‘Historisches Museum’ (Historical Museum Frankfurt), displaying artefacts of the city’s history from Roman times until today. There, you can make your way into the Old Town, which is not quite on the river bank to visit the Schirn, The Museum für Modern Kunst (Museum for Modern Art) and the ‘Archäologisches Museum’ (Archeological Museum Frankfurt).

If you think, you can do the Museumsufer in a day, think again! The Museumsufer is a tour de force – typically Frankfurt, we’d say again…

‘A Magical Night of Opera’ was lifestyle destination Sotogrande’s very first annual event and a complete success: opera sung by international star soloists, held in the polo fields of the Santa Maria Polo Club with a select party of distinguished guests, a gourmet dinner & champagne, which kept flowing until the early hours. A most unusual surprise got the whole party incredibly emotional and kept people giving, so that one day, finally, a cure for cancer and leukaemia can be found! It was the social event of that summer, which has now become an annual event in aid of the José Carreras Int’l Leukaemia Foundation!