Day 3 Frankfort, Day 4 Frankfort to Bayreuth, Day 5 Bayreuth.

Well, you'll be glad to know I have had several good nights of sleep since we last spoke.  So.....

Monday, day #3 of our trip, still in Frankfort.  Peter hadn't slept any more than I had, so (especially considering we had no particular Frankfort agenda), a lazy day was in order.  We walked, by the river, of course (it is nice to have a river running through the center of town), and crossed, this time over the Old Iron Bridge.  As you can see by the photos below, the Germans have adopted the custom (I think started on the Seine in Paris) of putting padlocks on bridges as a sign of eternal love....

.....(I understand the bridge in Paris was overweighted by the locks and - torn down?  repaired?  I don't remember.  Anyway, the Germans haven't gotten that far yet...)

We saw one of those day-cruise boats ready to leave, and thought "What a perfect way to spend a lazy couple of hours, on a lovely, sunny day!"  So, off we went.....

We got off the boat not far from the Jewish Museum, and decided to go in.  Not a good idea.  It was a strange little museum, about the history of the Jews in Frankfort.  Considering how tired we were, we both thought it too much talk (or, to be more exact, read) and not enough show.  So, we made short shrift of it, having learned one new thing - I had not known that the Rothschilds came from Frankfort - and confirmed another - that people loved the Jews when they needed them (for commerce and money) and hated them when they didn't (jealousy and debt repayment), but then, I already knew that!!

We took a brief walk in the business district, taken a bit aback by this evidence of the European Union...

And then after the required (on this day particularly) nap, on to the aforementioned Italian restaurant, Casa Nova.  As you might expect, it was in a small house, not too far from the hotel, with lovely gardens and atmosphere..

The service was a bit slow (even for fine and leisurely dining - perhaps it just seemed that way because I was hungry), but the food was excellent - I haven't had good Italian food, pasta and all, for a long time.  

....followed by a lovely (short) walk home, and, gratefully, to bed.

Day 4 was a travel day, breakfast (darn, forgot to get a picture of the buffet) and a taxi to the train station for the three hour ride from Frankfort to Bayreuth.....

....and arrival at our hotel in Bayreuth in time for lunch.  We are staying at the Ramada Inn, which, although definitely a step down from the Villa Kennedy in Frankfort, actually costs more - because, don't you know, it is in Bayreuth, and they have you by the short hairs.  It is perfectly nice, however, and if lunch was anything to go by, the food will be fine (breakfast - buffet, of course - is included)...

.....and time to rest up before the opera.  And there we are below, in the first of many pictures of us in our opera finery...

They are rehabbing the Festspeilhaus, but, as only the Germans would do, have cloaked the building not in the dreaded blue tarp but, instead, have taken pictures of the original building and printed it on the tarp.....

I must say, it makes for much better photographs.  The grounds are lovely too, set on a hill with lovely greenery.  (by the way, the hotel provides a complementary glass - or two, if you would like - of champagne before the complementary bus - and I do mean bus, not shuttle or car - up the hill to the opera)

And here is the infamous Festspeilhaus itself, wooden floors (great for stomping on during the applause, we discovered), wooden seats (plush would absorb the sound, don't you know)....

.....and what a sound.....We have scored the most fabulous seats throughout, today in the sixth row center, but people have said that the sound is fabulous through the whole house.  I have sat close in opera houses in New York, in Seattle, In San Francisco - but I have never, ever, heard sound like this.  It was truly glorious, even better than I expected.

The staging, however, was another matter.  Our first performance was The Flying Dutchman.  As noted, the orchestra and music and singing were all divine, not one sour note (so to speak) in the bunch.  The staging?  Instead of a ship, the setting was a factory (which seems to be de rigour, see day #5 following) where they were making fans.  However, while I didn't love it - or, indeed, understand it, until explained to me later by Peter and others), at least didn't get terribly in the way.  Basically, I kept my eyes closed.  I should mention that there were no supertitles - I didn't really expect any - and no clapping after individual bits, and, although there were three curtain calls, and a tremendous amount of clapping and stamping of feet, there was no standing ovation, which is apparently highly rare in Europe.)

But oh, it was glorious.  Dutchman is a short opera, only two and a half hours, and they start the "short" operas at 6, so we were back at the hotel at 9 for a late dinner and a debriefing.  We are already talking about coming again, the next time they do another Ring.  I know, I know,, bucket list items are only supposed to be done once.....perhaps I will just give up the term "bucket list" (Peter hates it anyway.....)  In any event, we have been lucky with the weather.  It has not been hot, so the house, which is notoriously torrid, was not too bad.  And the seats were wooden, but not as bad as we expected (the hotel provided complementary cushions!!)

And on to day 5 of the trip, our first full day in Bayreuth.  It is a short walk from hotel to town.  We pass the first of many, many statues of Wagner....

...and then pass the Spitalkirche.....

Before arriving at Maximillian Strasse, the main drag, a pedestrian walkway in the center of town full of coffee shops and bakeries and shops....

....and the occasional old castle...

.....until we arrived at Wahnfried Haus, where the Wagners lived.  It too is closed for restoraton

, it to is cloaked in a replica of the exterior, and fronted to a bust of Cosima, the infamous wife, topped by a frieze of the (also infamous) Wotan and his spear....

.....and, of course, the great man's grave.  We were asked by the Northern California Wagner Society (through whom we got the tickets) to lay a wreath in honour of our "pilgrimage", but both Peter and I thought that was a bit much.  So, below, grave, sans wreath....

and this cute little statue on the way back to the hotel, on top of the obligatory (at least in Europe) First World War memorial....

And day 2 of the opera garb....

Well, the opera was Tannheuser, one that I have never heard or seen.  The singing, the orchestra, the sound, were still glorious.  The staging?  Worse than yesterday.  Below, a sampling.....

This is a longer opera, with two intermissions, each an hour.  The first, we had bratwurst and beer (trust me, we needed the beer)

....the next we had ice cream.  And beer.

And this time, there was booing.  Not for the singers and the chorusmaster (did I forget to mention the chorus?  OMG.....it was a cast of thousands, and briliant) and the conductor,, who were all loudly cheered, applauded and stomped.  But for the staging and direction, boos pretty much all around.  I mean, it was set in a gas factory,for god sake, and Elizabeth throws herself in the gas chamber at the end.  Really?  In Germany?  In Bayreuth?

We met some lovely fellow patrons, Donald and Bob, also staying at our hotel who asked us to join them for a late snack.

Debriefing was definitely in order, so we yakked about this and many other performances (they are regular Met goers), and finally said good night about 11:30 P.M.

Which brings us to Day 6.  We had a lovely breakfast (and yes, it was a buffet, and yes it was lovely, and yes I ate too much.  Their breads are fabulous, and their vegetables actually taste like vegetables and not like cardboard, not to mention eggs with real yellow yolks...)

Peter has gone off to a lecture with a fellow Wagner society member, leaving me here to blog (one of the reasons for our always successful travel experiences is that we give each other a day off now and again).  

I'm off for a walk into town myself, to get whatever shopping I want to do done(Peter is not much of a shopper).  Tonight is the first night of the Ring, - Das Rhinegold - also short, but the staging - well, I understand closed eyes will again be in order.  Stay tuned....