Deutsche Bank

Today was our visit to Deutsche Bank to hear about their history, their current status, and to hear about Europe and its future as a union. Deutsche Bank is one of the largest banks in the world, and has really become an international bank, as compared to just a Germany bank. Deutsche Bank is also a major sponsor of this wonderful program that I have been on for these two weeks. After our talks by very well prepared presenters, we had a quick lunch before a tour of some of Deutsche Bank’s extensive art collection. Their art collection is situated throughout their buildings to brighten up the work environment. They are in a temporary building right now while their main towers are being remodeled. Still, this building is quite nice. Some of the art was quite impressive, but some was a little puzzling as well. I overheard one group member saying, “Germans are certainly financial geniuses, but they don’t know anything about art!” He was of course kidding as there was lots of beautiful art, but one piece that puzzled us is shown below:

This is simply a glossier place on the wall in the lobby, but it is considered a real piece of art and was made by a famous artist. Needless to say, we all don’t think it was worth any more than the paint that was used to paint it! But, to be fair, they had a lot of really beautiful modern art that really did make this building a very nice and pleasant place to work. Below you can see part of the group on their art tour around the building (notice the colorful piece of art to the right of the picture--this was hanging the lobby).

After our art tour we came back to the hotel to have a break before we head to the opera this evening. We are going to attend Don Giovanni by Mozart at the Frankfurt Opera. This opera is known to be very modern in its interpretations of operas, so it should be interesting. I just hope they have English subtitles or it will be a very long three hours! (Of course, it may be a very long three hours regardless!) Still, this is a cultural event that would be hard to attend if it wasn’t booked for us. One last picture from our day so far is below. It is part of the Frankfurt skyline. Frankfurt is the banking capital of Germany, and is home to its most international airport.