Tired, moi?

We love being in a new city, wherever in the world it happens to be.  If we’ve only got a couple of days, then it helps if we speak the language so we had at least one thing on our side.

Thankfully, my Hero has a great sense of direction, because without him here, I’d be lost.  For some reason my mental compass has gone completely awry here in Philadelphia and though I know that the tree streets go East-West and the numbered ones North-South, that grid just won’t fix in my brain.  Perhaps one reason is that I’m too busy looking up and around me, at these wonderful architectural landscapes which come into view when we turn a corner.

That’s City Hall, with William Penn high up there overlooking the goings on, and though we’d have loved to have stepped inside and taken a look around, sadly it’s closed on weekends.  Maybe Monday or Tuesday?

 

We’d set off early this morning.  We were both awake and ready to go well before 7.30am, so off we went in the direction of the Reading Terminal Market where we hoped to find some breakfast.  But along the way, we enjoyed stopping to notice small details we might well have overlooked had the streets been busier.

The last time I recall standing in the middle of a street to take a photo was in Paris, on the Champs Elysees on Bastille Day!  I was quick with this one, because somehow when there’s less traffic, the vehicles seize the opportunity to go for it – and I didn’t want to be “it”.

Anyway, we were soon here and beating the door down to the “Down Home Diner”, where the menu had one or two interesting items to be explained.

Scrapple, anyone?

The Corned Beef Hash fan was happy, though it was a new way of describing the eggs for sure.  I thought I’d choose the healthy option and go for a “7 grain flapjack with blueberries”.

 

Ahem.

We enjoyed looking round the market, taking a close look at the goods on sale and the people selling them and as always, wishing we had such an interesting selection of foodstuffs on sale at home.  (We probably have, but the grass is always greener, isn’t it!?)

Time to move on, though – because it was gone 8.30am and we couldn’t waste the day hanging around!

Turning off the main thoroughfares was interesting, because as in many cities, the smart buildings soon became small shabby ones where people were having to work that bit harder to make a living. 

A glimpse down a side street revealed all kinds of grand facades, however, and throughout the day, we enjoyed seeing these fine old buildings put to use in modern shops and offices.

There was the occasional little gem too, sitting there amongst the large stone blocks, looking comfortable and grounded there in the same spot as it’s been standing for a hundred and fifty years.

Then, just as if we needed reminding that we were going around in circles, there was old William Penn again, a welcome landmark for me, still having trouble getting my bearings.

Actually we didn’t need to wait until 9am to step inside the Wanamaker Building, because it’s now Macy’s department store and today, they were opening their doors from 8am until 10pm.  Oh my word…  Some people have serious shopping to do.  Thankfully, we could simply look on and watch the crowds gather for the traditional  Christmas light show.  We had no idea of what to expect, so stood with everyone else and awaited the hour.   You can watch it yourself here.  Suffice to say that like many charming traditions of the season, it was pretty much wasted on the majority of the children who had been brought by their parents and grandparents to see it, for it was simple and rather gentle; the music was fairly soft and the story quietly told and the children around us spent most of the time crying and wriggling around, looking anywhere but the light show regardless of their parents’ encouragement!  Here, there were clearly great expectations of both children and their parents – there was the Christmas Village to view, Santa to visit, the lights to watch…and l-o-n-g queues for each.  Discussions of what is fair and what is not fair were overheard, together with stamped feet and impatient wails.

It wasn’t even 10.15am!

We enjoyed mooching around the city, appreciating the little panels with historical interest fixed on bus stops, like this one (sorry about the reflection!)  We called in one or two shops and left a few dollars behind, before deciding that it was time for a break.

Au Pain Quotidien offered the perfect seasonal refreshment – spiced apple cider.  Though quite how my Hero could drink that sweet little face is beyond me!

Exploring the Farmers’ Market in the sunshine of the square was fun, though we were starting to flag a little and our feet were making themselves noticed, for sure.

The perfect antidote to aching feet was on the corner, however, in one of those grand old buildings I mentioned earlier.  The Anthropologie visual merchandisers had been working their usual magic and created a very exciting space here.

There was a shelf full of “snow globes” – perhaps they got the idea from The One Show, do you think?

Their small vignettes were perfectly placed and cleverly staged

and as usual, there was skilful use of very simple materials too.

Jordi, look at their windows!  (I’m thinking they might have my studio bugged?!)

Though sore feet are soon forgotten amongst such pretty things, when a certain place comes into view, little hunger pangs begin and simply have to be satisfied.

After all

By now, we were really on our knees.  It was mid afternoon, the sun was going down and the air was getting chilly.  Much as we hate calling it a day when there are places still to see and light left to see them by, we had been walking almost non stop since 7.30am this morning.  We felt we’d earned an hour’s rest.

We returned to the hotel and relaxed for an hour before gathering ourselves together again and heading out to the Kimmel Center, because we’d got tickets to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra play this evening.  It’s a marvellous venue, remarkably similar to our Symphony Hall in style and we had great seats from which we could see nearly everything.

We’d actually heard Lars Vogt before, in Antwerp, and on that occasion we were none too impressed.  What a difference a few years make, because tonight he was on top form, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 superbly.  I giggled to myself as he waited for the coughs to stop before beginning the quiet second movement – it took some time and if felt rather like one of those embarrassing classroom situations where the teacher is waiting for something – someone – and there’s a slightly awkward shuffle in the room in spite of everyone doing their best to be quiet.  Well, it was worth waiting for – eventually people did stop clearing their throats and he began what was for me, the most sublime of the movements, finishing the third and final movement to rapturous and well deserved applause.

After the interval, we heard five pieces of Wagner which left both of us utterly stunned.  Neither of us had heard these pieces played live by such a huge orchestra and the conductor, Donald Runnicles was truly magnificent.  We walked back to the hotel having forgotten all about achy feet and the fact that it was some peculiar time of the night in another part of the world…we sat and enjoyed a nightcap to try to extend the memory of such a wonderful evening of music.

And yes, here we are, gone midnight and I’m even awake enough to blog.

Good grief.

There’s no place like…

We were a happy bunch at the Italian restaurant on our last evening in Rapperswil.  The organiser of the concert and exhibition and his delightful wife are such interesting and lively company and the arrival of the conductor of the concert was an added bonus. Our conversational German was assisted by a couple of glasses of a rather delicious red wine…

So, whilst the youngsters of this small town sat by the lake and played with their mobile phones, we shared our thoughts and ideas about music and more before returning to our hotel to pack our things one last time for this trip.

We retraced our journey, through green meadows and small mountain passes, bypassing Appenzell this time and looking forward to the next visit, of course.  As we drove through the Rheintal towards the Austrian border, the clouds settled into the valley and by the time we reached Bodensee, we’d left the sunshine well and truly behind in Switzerland.

After an uneventful flight home, thankfully, and a wet drive along a busy motorway we were truly glad to be home, to sleep in our own beds and to do as Mummy would have done: enjoy a Proper Cup of Tea!

Late nights, early mornings

A day full of sunshine in a lovely place.  An evening of beautiful music played in stunning surroundings.  The company of friends around a table until late in the evening before driving home to the other side of the lake left no time for blogging yesterday!

Maybe you noticed that?

A lesson in Bavarian history

When we were planning this trip, we realised that it was going to be the perfect chance to tick a place off our “to go” list.   Staying in Kempten meant we wouldn’t have too far to drive and so last night, I crossed my fingers that we’d wake up to another fine morning.

As soon as I opened the curtains, I was thankful I’d rubbed that lion by the Residenz the other day!  The forecast was good and those clouds were going to burn off once the sun rose.

Fortified by a decent breakfast, we set off to the South East.  Can you guess where we’re headed yet?

The roads were thankfully quiet and we marvelled at the colours of this wonderful landscape as we left the motorway.

Those of you who know us well won’t be surprised to learn that we were the second people to arrive this morning.  To hear that ours was one of the two cars in the car park and we were there well before anything opened!

Having parked the car, we looked up and gasped.  There it was…Neuschwanstein, all wrapped in plastic. 

Before we could do anything else, we had to go and buy our tickets, once again braving the various road building equipment to get there.

Getting here early was a Good Thing, because the tickets are timed and we were able to plan our day perfectly.  The chap in the office recommended we visit the “other castle”, the one few have heard of, first.  From there, we’d take the shuttle bus to Neuschwanstein and pick up the 1155 tour there.  OK.  Seemed like a plan.

We took a steady walk up to Hohenschwangau, then, enjoying the sunshine and feeling pleased we had our day sorted.

We had plenty of time before our timed entry, so sat and chatted on the ‘phone to Karin for a while.  Her advice about not sitting in the front seats of the horse drawn carriage wasn’t needed because, sadly, the horses weren’t working today.

Unfortunately, it’s not allowed to take photographs inside the castles, so to get an impression of the breathtaking wall paintings and other treasures inside, you’ll need to follow this link.  We were a group of around twenty of so with an English speaking guide and enjoyed the explanations of the decor. In one room, we recognised the legend of Lohengrin on the walls, spotting a swan here and there before learning that the swan was the motif adopted by Maximilian and his son Ludwig, who built these castles.

Having recognised that, of course, we saw swans everywhere (and of course, recognised “schwan” in all the placenames, too)

We caught another view of Hohenschwangau later, on our way up to Neuschwanstein.  Isn’t this just the most beautiful countryside?  We hadn’t walked all the way up here, but had caught the bus half way.  How thankful we were later, that we had done that, for there were many more steps to climb!

Of course, this was the “main event”, we thought.  We made our way to the entrance and remarked how much more solid it looks once one is up there at the gate.

This “fragile” failrytale castle appears to be nothing of the sort when close up, but a strongly built structure in several different materials.

Sitting in the yard waiting for our tour time, we watched hundreds of people arriving – a tour was leaving every five minutes and we couldn’t imagine how this place would feel in high season.

No photographs inside once again – because this would slow the tours down, we were told.  Hmm.  Ours lasted not much more than half an hour and though we saw all there is to see inside the castle, we felt we had been rushed through.  This castle is mostly unfinished, so there are just a handful of rooms to see.  These are lavishly decorated and again, the wall paintings are beautiful.  The swan continues to be the principal motif here too, on door handles and carved into wooden furniture, though in a large group of about 60 people, there wasn’t really time to linger. 

We learned that Ludwig II had built this castle in homage to his hero, Richard Wagner.  The wall paintings referenced many of Wagner’s works and there was just one likeness of Ludwig himself in the place – though there were several representations of the composer.

Having seen what there was to see, we made our way out (through the gift shop, of course) and walked down the path back to the village.

This being Germany, half way down was a very nice restaurant offering lunch and snacks.  We resisted the temptation to stop here and carried on to the bottom, fearing that once we stopped, we might find it hard to get started again! On the way down we congratulated ourselves on our decision to catch the bus up as we passed so many people puffing and blowing on the long, long upward walk.

But having reached the bottom of the hill and walked to the lake, this table seemed like the perfect place to take a breather.  With such a view of the lake and the mountains, what more could we ask for?

The village was getting pretty busy now but we weren’t quite done.  We’d seen advertisements for the Museum der bayerischen Könige and having seen the two castles and learned a little about the people concerned, we wanted to know more. This seemed the perfect place to do exactly that.

Newly opened just about a year ago, this was a model of its kind.  We ran the gauntlet of a couple of groups of ladies with talkative guides and made our way through the very clearly laid out exhibits.  We learned lots – about Maximilian and his two sons, Otto and Ludwig, then plenty about Ludwig’s life and mysterious death.  We loved reading about Luitpold, whose work to restore Bavaria following Ludwig’s extravagance was so admirable and of Rupprecht, his grandson, who valiantly continued his his work in the face of adversity.  We thought fondly of another Rupprecht we knew; a member of Karin and Jürgen’s family, who proudly explained to us the origin of his name.  Having learned a little about the Crown Prince after whom he was named, we could quite understand that pride.

Having read such touching family history, so clearly told, I very much appreciated the note on the wall which said “Nehmen Sie ein Platz” (take a seat) and spend five minutes listening to Wagner’s Lohengrin.  The blue robes in the picture were laid out in front of me and I marvelled at the exquisite goldwork border, the ermine edge and the faded blue velvet. 

You might have guessed that, as we drove away, we were talking about our favourite parts of the day.  The museum was undoubtedly up there.  The two castles were amazing and did not disappoint, though having negotiated the buying of tickets, travelling between the two, walking up steep hills and countless stairs here and there (more than 160 up and then 160 down in Neuschwanstein alone), we realise that the time actually spent in each castle was very short indeed!

However, since the Marienbrücke was closed today, the facade of the castle was wrapped in plastic and there were no horse drawn carriage tours, perhaps we’ll have to come back?

Gladly.

and then…

I know, you think we do nothing but eat and drink when we are here.  Well, to tell the truth, you’re probably right!  But in our defence, we’d walked a fair bit and built up quite an appetite, and the Wienerschnitzel really did taste as good as it looks.

Our hosts were the delightful Tosta family.  Volker’s company Edition Nordstern had published the music we had come to hear and we had another lovely meal, sitting around a table sharing interesting conversation in a lively mix of German and English at the same time.  We walked through the city to find an outdoor table for coffee and icecream – the weather was beautiful and we basked in the sunshine for another hour or so before we each returned to our hotels to change and get ready for the concert.

From our hotel it was a good three quarters of an hour’s walk, over the river and past the Friedensengel, high on top of the column.

The Autumn colours along the bank of the River Isar looked lovely in the early evening, though there was no time to stand and stare!  The pre-concert talk was due to begin at 6pm and we didn’t quite know how much further we had to go.  Cobbled pavements and heels don’t make for a good combination.

Of course, we reached the Prinzregententheater in plenty of time and found our way to the Gartenzimmer, where the talk was to be held.  Unlike the CBSO pre-concert talks, this one was absolutely packed with people, all eager to learn something about the opera we were to hear – a rarity in modern times.

I knew nothing of the music and am ashamed to say that I didn’t get a great deal from the talk, either, finding it hard to follow an academic presentation auf Deutsch. 

However, as soon as we stepped inside the stunning theatre and settled into our seats, I was happy – just being here was enough.

Our seats were fantastic.  The steep rake of the auditorium and lack of an orchestra pit meant that sitting in Row 6 was to be on a level with the performers, who were just about close enough to make eye contact.    Though it was a concert performance, the five soloists really got into role and it was easy to follow the story as it unfolded.  The choir were superb – orchestra too – and the whole ensemble came together magnificently.

The performance was broadcast live on Bayerische Rundfunk and is to be issued on CD shortly, too.  But, as was agreed around a table afterwards, with Volker, Sabine, Johannes and their friends, there is nothing like live music to stir the soul and lift the spirits!