Weblog: Nigel's Visit to Europe 2006

Friday June 23 : Sydney - Seoul

Up at 5 a.m. in Sydney airport motel for 8 a.m. Korean Airlines flight. Among the first to check in. Airport fogbound, flight did not lift off till 10.30!

Arrived Seoul, Korea, 20:30 (it's just one hour behind Sydney time). KAL very kindly included an overnight stop at the Hyatt Regency near the airport. A luxurious sleep to break the journey!

Saturday June 24, 2006 : Arrival in Germany

Depart Seoul dead on time and arrive Frankfurt 10 mins early at 17:25! No great wish to stay in Frankfurt - from what I've heard, it's just the business centre for Germany. Long distance trains depart from the airport, so I decided to make a small start in the direction of Austria.

Got off the train in Stuttgart, it's stinking hot, by the way - 32 degrees C, and found myself right in the middle of what I'd been hoping to avoid... the station was packed with crazed football fans, chanting and waving flags and in various states of drunkenness! Apparently there'd been a big world cup match in Stuttgart that day. Had I known, I would have carried on to Ulm!

However, 15 minutes from Stuttgart by local rail is the town of Waiblingen, where I first got to know the German family I befriended back in 1970. I thought I would go there and see the old place again, and it would probably be a nice quiet place to spend the night. How wrong could I be?! The local train was also packed with mad football fans, and after walking down the Bahnhofstraße to the old the town centre with my baggage, I discovered a huge street party going on in the streets of the picturesque old town (I am assuming Germany won the football in Stuttgart!).

I struggled back up the hill and, at 10 pm, checked into a hotel by the station.

Sunday June 25, 2006 : Germany to Salzburg (Austria)

Seeking refuge outside Germany from football crowds, I used day 1 of my 5-day EurailPass to enjoy a high-speed, 1st class trip from Stuttgart (dep. 11:58) to Salzburg (arr. 16:10).

Went straight into an internet cafe to find a suitable hotel between the station and the old town, booked a room online, then walked down the road to check in.

Spent the rest of the day strolling around town and having the occasional beer. It's bloody hot here too!

Monday, June 26 : Salzburg - Graz

In Salzburg, I revisited Mozarts Geburtshaus (The house where Mozart was born), which I had not seen for a couple of decades. It wasn't quite the same: the violins Mozart owned are now displayed behind glass-covered recesses in the wall - a more secure and 'modern' style of display, but you don't get such a good look at them. And I'm sure there used to be a fortepiano there, which Mozart had also played, but it's not there now. However, Mozart's own clavichord is on display.

More interesting, on this visit, was an exhibition in the Cathedral Museum, "Zwischen Himmel und Erde", based around Mozart's sacred music. Many original instruments from the period on display, and a few original Mozart scores.

In the afternoon, I took the train to Graz in the south-west of Austria. A four-hour trip - it is not one of Europe's super-fast trains - but passes through some spectacular alpine scenery.
 
Was met in Graz by my friend Henriette ("Henny"), extremely talented violinist with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, currently performing at the Styriarte Festival in Graz. Henny had arranged accommodation for me in a beautiful rural setting on the edge of the town, the Hirschenhof, a big old farmhouse, next to a forest, converted into charming, rustic accomodation. Check it out at http://www.legenstein-hiw.at/de/hirschenhof.html

Many of the orchestra members stay here, because it's such a restful escape from city hotels. The surroundings here are teeming with birds and wildlife, including deer, and there are even some llamas on the property! But Henny was now moving from here into the orchestra's city hotel, as she needed to be close by for rehearsals over the next few days, so it worked out for me to take over her place at the Hirschenhof. On this first night, Henny made us some dinner in the room and we ate outside where there is a balcony and pool area, just as the night air was finally becoming pleasantly cool. A delightful atmosphere in this place - that night I had the best sleep since arriving in Europe, despite llama noises outside the window!

Tuesday, June 27 : Graz

Walked around the Altstadt (old town) in the centre of Graz, and got my bearings. This must be one of Austria's best-kept secrets... It is every bit as beautiful, in its own way, as Salzburg, and is rich in history and culture, but because it can't lay claim to Mozart, Beethoven, Goethe or Schiller, it is NOT FULL OF TOURISTS like Salzburg and Vienna!

(And it wasn't full of football-crazed lunatics either!)

Henny had shown me how to get in the musicians' entrance to the Stefaniansaal (the hall where the COE is rehearsing and performing). So today I let myself in and watched some of the rehearsal from the balcony.

Tomorrow night, the orchestra would perform a speacial "Happy Birthday" concert to celebrate 25 years since the COE was begun. I heard them rehearsing Prokoviev's Classical Symphony. Quite stunning, their precision and dynamics. I was really looking forward to tomorrow's performance.

Met Henny during her lunch break, then picked up some essential supplies for the room (Nescafé, Gösser Bier, wine) and headed back on the tram for a quiet evening at the Hirschenhof.

Wednesday, 28 June : Graz

Came back into town towards midday to catch a little more of the orchestra rehearsing.

Henny then had the afternoon off before the performance that night, so we went up the Schlossberg, the "mountain fortress" overlooking the city.

A lift takes you to the top through a vertical tunnel carved out of the rock, and you can walk back down to the town via a set of zig-zag steps. At the top is a large Clock Tower, a landmark above the city, from where there are fabulous views over Graz. We also stopped for a drink in a unique cafe built into the side of the cliff face. Spectacular!

The concert that evening lived up to expectations. Prokoviev's Classical Symphony really blew my socks off. Great stuff!

Happy Birthday, 20:00 Uhr, Stefaniensaal 25 Jahre Chamber Orchestra of Europe! Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, op. 47 Strauss: Oboenkonzert in D Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80 Prokofieff: Symphonie classique in D, op. 25

Thursday, 29 June to Saturday, July 1 : Graz

Henny's sister Martina, my friend from 1970, also arrived in Graz on the Thursday. This was Martina's first trip to Graz. So, we spent the next couple of days of catching up and sightseeing. Martina and I watched some of the orchestra rehearsals, and when Henny was free, she joined us for some cafe visits, dinners in the evening and sightseeing around Graz.

Sunday, July 2 : Graz

A big day! Martina and I went out to the Schloß Eggenberg, a historic castle on the edge of town, hoping to attend a chamber music concert that was taking place there at 11 a.m. On the program were some Schubert Romances, which Martina herself plays on the flute, so it was of particular interest. We got there to find the concert sold out, but nevertheless managed to listen to half of it from outside the ornate baroque room in which it was held. We could see the performance too, through the windows!

So after enjoying much of the music for free, we then took a look around the castle itself, which houses a a fine art collection dating from the middle ages. Incredible to see oils on wood, and religious icons and sculptures, preserved and restored in vibrant colours from as far back as 1280 or thereabouts! The baroque and Renaissance sections which followed seemed positively modern after that!

Then in the Evening was the COE's all-Mozart concert:

Mozart pur II, 20:00 Uhr, Stefaniensaal Pierre-Laurent Aimard und das Chamber Orchestra of Europe Mozart: Klavierkonzert Nr. 17 in G, KV 453 Klavierkonzert Nr. 18 in B, KV 456 Symphonie Nr. 33 in B, KV 319

Pierre-Laurent Aimard conducted from the piano, and the orchestra responded with an expressive performance - not as dramatic as the Birthday concert, but most enjoyable. An appropriate concert to attend in Austria during Mozart's 250th anniversary year!

Monday July 3 : Vienna

This morning we all left Graz in different directions. Farewelled Martina, sadly, as she headed home by train.

Now I'm just overnighting in Vienna, on my way to Berlin by train, where I'll meet up with Henny again (who flew there today). Cheap hotel near the station, and a bit of a walk around the city. Compulsory beer at the Australian Pub, followed by a stroll through the grounds of the Hofburg (former imperial palace), which was an area I hadn't seen much of on my previous visit.

Tuesday, July 4 : Vienna - Berlin

Used the second day of my Eurail Pass to travel the entire distance from Vienna to Berlin, on the high-speed ICE trains, via Linz, changing at Nürnberg, then via Leipzig, and in 1st class luxury! Not as direct as via Prague and Dresden, but as my Eurailpass offers unlimited travel for the day, this was more comfortable.

Found my way to Henny's apartment at around 8 in the evening.

Henny had just finished a rehearsal with her string trio. I was introduced to her viola player, a delightful German-American, Eve. The three of us had a pleasant dinner at a nearby outdoor restaurant featuring Swabian cuisine (the region in southern Germany where Henny's family comes from).

Wednesday, July 5 : Berlin

Did the 'tourist' thing, for an overview of the city. Henny accompanied me on an open top double-decker sightseeing bus around the city.

After the bus tour, we had a coffee at an outdoor cafe on Unter Den Linden (the Champs-Elysees-like avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate). Who should walk right past our table, but the former German Chancellor, Gerhardt Schröder. And I was the one who spotted him coming... but he stared directly at Henny, as if recognising her (or perhaps mesmerised by her)!

We then went up the Fernsehturm (the landmark television tower) at Alexanderplatz, for a spectacular view of the city.

We sat in the revolving cafe for a couple of circuits, locating landmarks from a map as they passed by.

Also had a look at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, badly bombed in the war. The shell of the tower remains as a memorial.

Then a late lunch/early dinner at an Indian restaurant, and home for a quiet drink in Henny's courtyard garden to end the day.

Thursday July 6 : Berlin

A lazy day!

In the afternoon Henny and I went swimming in the Schlachtensee, a lake just outside Berlin. It was a warm, sunny day, but eventually we found a spot away from the other swimmers and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings.

Later, Eve came around to the apartment again and we had a pleasant spaghetti and wine evening.

Friday July 7 : Berlin

Henny had violin practice to do. I went into the city alone to have a look at the Reichstag, the Federal Parliament building capped with a huge glass dome with an interior circular ramp, up which you can walk, spiralling upward until you reach the top of the dome. Yet another great view of the city.

(I've often seen this dome as a backdrop to Australia's SBS German News broadcasts from Berlin, and thought it would be interesting to climb it myself!)

I took the U-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz and walked up past the Brandenburg Gate to get to the Reichstag. This area was all blocked to traffic for the start of big festivities surrounding the end of the World Cup football, and I had to pass through security barricades to go past the Gate.

There was then about a 20 minute wait to get through more security on entering the Reichstag. Finally, a lift takes you to the roof, where you can enter the dome. Unlike Australia's parliament, where you can view much of the interior, including the upper and lower house chambers, the interior of the Reichstag did not appear to be accessible to visitors.

After climbing the dome, I left the Reichstag and found my way to the huge KaDeWe ("Kaufhaus Des Westens") department store on Kurfurstendamm, where I wanted to buy Henny a small present for putting up with me all this time! That done, I walked out into a torrential rainstorm that had appeared out of nowhere! After getting on a couple of wrong buses and Straßenbahn, I finally got back to Henny's in the early evening. Thoroughly soaked to the skin!

This was my last evening in Berlin and we had not yet played a duet... so I tried to accompany Henny on a bit of Mozart, but I am ashamed to say my piano playing needs AN AWFUL LOT OF PRACTICE. Somehow it all degenerated into an manic improvisation around the song "It's Raining Again" by Supertramp! I promise to practise more seriously in future!

Saturday July 8 : Berlin Airport

Spent half the day sitting in an internet kiosk at the airport updating this blog. Would you believe... My Easyjet flight to London has been delayed, from 1.45pm to 5.45.

It was sad to have to bid farewell to Henny and Berlin this morning, although of course I'm looking forward to seeing my sister Cynthia and her son Alexander if this flight ever takes off...

Not the best of days...

But finally, the flight took off towards 18:00 and landed in Gatwick 2 hours later at 19:00 (England's an hour behind Europe!). By the time I got through customs, retrieved my bags, figured out train connections, then somehow wound up on a slow train that stopped everywhere in south-west England, I eventually arrived at my sister Cynthia's closest railway station, Grateley, where she picked me up at 22:40.

Sunday-Monday, July 9-10 : Wiltshire, England

Catching up on family business.

Cynthia's old friend Sue paid a visit and the four of us did a trip to West Lavington, where we once lived, and Devizes in Wiltshire, for lunch at the old Bear Hotel.

Tuesday, July 11 : A visit to Salisbury

Attended Choral Evensong at the cathedral, sung by the cathedral boys' choir. The congregation was seated in the choir stalls to one side of the choir, so we could hear every part with great clarity. Seven trebles, seven altos, three tenors and three basses. The organ also has two sets of pipes located on either side of the choir stalls, so sitting in the middle afforded a great antiphonal, or 'stereophonic' effect. I like Salisbury's organ - it has a certain brightness of sound that is lacking in many large English organs. The choir sang a musical setting for evensong by Rubbra, with which I wasn't familiar, but which sounded perfect to me (as one would expect in a major English cathedral!).

Wednsday, July 12 : A visit to Bath

Just outside the town, we stopped at the church of St Nicholas at Bathampton, where Australia's first governor, Arthur Phillip, is buried. His tomb is marked by a floor plaque just inside the entrance to the church. Just off to the right, as you enter, there is also an Australia Chapel, where the Australian High Commissioner attends a service every year on the Friday closest to Arthur Phillip's birthday, October 11th. The chapel features stained glass windows showing the coats of arms for the Australian Commonwealth and each of the States. The church's visitors' book is full of entries from Australian visitors! I duly left my mark in the book, along with the comment "God save our Queen! No republic!" (heh-heh!). Strolling around Bath later, we passed the house where Arthur Phillip lived after returning from founding Australia. This was also the house from which he fell to his death out of a 3rd-storey window in 1814. Apparently the possibility that it was suicide may have precluded him from being buried in Bath Abbey, hence the reason he is now in the little church at Bathampton.

Thursday-Friday, July 13-14 : Winchester

At Winchester Cathedral, also not far from where Cynthia lives, the Winchester Festival is underway this week. Thanks to this, my sister and I are suddenly in the middle of a concert and choral marathon! In the space of 24 hours, from 9.00 pm Thursday to 9.00 pm Friday, we attended the following two concerts and two choral services:

13  Thursday 
21:00  Winchester Festival: A Little Late Night Music
SALVE REGINA/HYMNS TO THE VIRGIN
Southern Voices, Charles Stewart (conductor)
Works by Gesualdo, Hassler, Cavalli, Verdi, Bruckner, Lauridsen, Gorecki, Rütti

14  Friday 
11:00  Sung Eucharist with the College of Canons
President: The Bishop; Sermon: The Dean
Setting: Mozart  Missa brevis in D  K.194
Voluntary: JS Bach   Alla breve  BWV 589

17:30  1st Evensong of Swithun, Bishop and Patron
Responses: Smith
Canticles: Wood in E flat No 2
Anthem: Bruckner  Locus iste
Voluntary: Howells  Rhapsody No 3
 
19:45  Winchester Festival Concert
Andrew Lumsden (organ), Julian Poore (trumpet)
Works by Bach, Viviani, Fantini, Handel, Clark, Hultmark
Ticket Information: Cathedral Box Office (01962) 857231

Winchester Cathedrals's accoustics extract a huge, lush sound from the choirs. You can count several seconds of echo before a final chord dies away completely. This also dramatically enhanced Friday night's trumpet and organ music, especially in the two modern, slightly avant-garde pieces by Clark and Hultmark, where some stunning harmonic effects reverberated around the cathedral. During the services, Winchester's choir, with 7 or 8 voices to each part, was slightly larger than Salisbury's earlier in the week, and they also sounded superb. A bright, almost playful (!) setting of the mass by Mozart yesterday morning, was quite delightful. Of course, in the middle of all this, we took time to explore Winchester and the cathedral in particular. Although the cathedral has in many places been renovated or rebuilt over the ages, much of the mediaeval structure remains, and there are some fascinating artefacts: one small chapel contains well-preserved wall-paintings from the 12th century. Mind-boggling, in a way, when you've become accustomed to living in Australia, where you tend to think of anything from the 19th century as relatively "ancient"!

Saturday, July 15

On a different note, today is the day of the annual Village Fete in the village of Cholderton, where Cynthia lives. She's manning the bookstall!


In the evening (15/7) Cynthia and I went to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's outdoor concert of Spanish music at Wilton, near Salisbury. This was something a little different, especially for an Aussie visitor. In the vast grounds of this "English Stately Home", Wilton House, hundreds of us brought our own chairs and sat with picnic dinners and drinks while the BSO performed on a shell stage. They played all the best-known works of a Spanish flavour (mostly by French composers, e.g. Bizet's Carmen Suite, but also the Rodrigo Guitar Concerto, and other such pop classics). All jolly good fun, and capped off with a 30-minute Son-et-lumiere display with fireworks.

Sunday, July 16 : London to Paris

Regrettably, it was now time to farewell Cynthia and Alexander and head back to Europe for the last week of my trip. I took the Eurostar under the Channel to Paris, where I overnighted at a small hotel in Montmartre, just around the corner from the Moulin Rouge.

Monday, July 17: Paris to Cap D'Agde

Next morning, Monday (17/7), I took a stroll around Montmartre and climbed up to the basilica Sacre-Coeur. But after the overdose of culture over the last few days, I now felt like a change of pace! In the afternoon, I used day 3 of my 5-day Eurailpass to take the high-speed TGV to the South of France. These amazing trains can get you from Paris to the Mediterranean in around 4 hours! As a break from the cities, I headed for the seaside resort spot of Cap d'Agde.

Tuesday-Wednesday, July 18-19: Cap D'Agde

For all of Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, I spent the time unashamedly relaxing, immersing myself in sun, sand, salt water and Kronenbourg... Wednesday afternoon, I started heading back north. The trip's not quite as quick and easy when there are no direct high-speed trains heading towards the German border! After changing trains twice, at Nimes and Lyon, I finally made it as far as Nancy that night, not quite into Germany, but still pretty good value for day 4 of my Eurailpass.

Thursday July 20 : Nancy to Eisenach

This morning, I strolled around Nancy for an hour or two. Quite a nice town, with some impressive-looking public buildings and some interesting architecture. Many of the corner buildings on the main street feature little castle-like spires or turrets. Then back on the trains... after changing at Metz, I found myself on an Intercity which crossed into Germany at Saabrücken at 13:00 and plonked me in Frankfurt shortly after 15:00, just in time to make a connection on a high-speed train to Eisenach, where I arrived shortly after 17:00. (German Rail is great - amazing how it suddenly all gets faster and more efficient once you cross the border!)

<- the only way to travel: high-speed, first class rail, sipping on a German beer!

So now I'm back in Germany, in Bach's birthplace of Eisenach. Bien sur, la France est belle, but I feel "at home" here in Germany! Hier in deutschland fühle ich mich daheim! And what I've seen of Eisenach so far is very beautiful. But, unfortunately, I only have 3 more days till I have to return to Australia, and time is flashing by...

Meanwhile, I found a neat little hotel, and I'm looking forward to seeing Bach's birth house museum tomorrow!

Friday, July 21 : Eisenach and Leipzig

This morning I did the two "must-sees" of Eisenach, the Wartburg and the house where Bach was born.

The Wartburg is a castle, part of which dates from the middle ages, perched on a hilltop a couple of kilometres out of Eisenach. It is where Martin Luther hid himself away from the pope's lynchmen for ten months and translated the New Testament from Greek into German. To get there, you can wait for an hourly bus, or walk for about 30 minutes up a pleasant trail through the surrounding forest, which is what I did. The Wartburg houses many interesting artefacts from Luther's time, a room where the Minnesinger (early German troubadours) performed, and a fabulous ornate concert room, where performances are still held regularly.

After returning down to the town, I visited the Bach House, a museum featuring many musical instruments of Bach's time, and these are demonstrated by a resident musician/guide. (It took a great deal of willpower for me not to sit down and try out the 17th century harpsichord myself!) Much better than the Mozart house in Salzburg, which had hardly any instruments from Mozart's era when I visted at the start of this trip.

Then this afternoon I took the train to Leipzig, only 1.5 hours from Eisenach by fast train, to see the Thomaner Chor (the boys' choir of the St Thomas School - a sort of German equivalent to England's choristers of Kings College Cambridge) sing in the Thomaskirche (St Thomas's Church) The Thomaskirche is where Bach spent his later years as Kantor: among his many duties, he directed the Thomanerchor. Now, as in Bach's time, the Thomanerchor still sings regular services at the Thomaskirche, although these days they probably do more concerts and tours as well. Today I was lucky enough to hear them sing a service in the church - and it was their last one before an end-of-term break, so I timed it well! Although it was in the church - and free entry - it comprised mainly of a selection of motets sung by the choir, and so was more of a concert than a service. The choral music was by Mendelssohn, who also spent some time in Leipzig, and Reger. A bit disappointing for me they didn't sing any Bach this time, however the organist played Bach voluntaries at the opening at closing. So I still got to hear Bach's music live in Bach's church... and the choir was superb!

Saturday 22 July : Eisenach - Esslingen - Köln

I used the final day of my Eurailpass to cover a pretty big distance in order to pay quick visits to two of the other musically-talented sisters of Martina and Henny, both in different parts of Germany.

Eva-Maria (violinist with the Musiciens du Louvre) lives in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, next door to her father. I went there from Eisenach on Saturday and spent the afternoon with them, before heading up to Köln (Cologne) in the evening, where I overnighted.

Sunday 23 July : Köln

Then Sunday morning, I met up with Ulrike, organist and choir director, at the church where she plays not far from Köln.

Next thing I knew, I was back on the train from Köln to Frankfurt airport for the marathon flight to Sydney. Took off right on time, at 19.45.

Monday, July 24 : Seoul

I've just completed the first leg, Frankfurt-Seoul (10 hours). I'm writing this in an internet kiosk in Seoul Airport Transfer lounge, where I now have to wait 6 hours until the next 10-hour stretch to Sydney, where I'm scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Tuesday 25th at around 6 am. After Sydney, I then have a 3-hour drive home to Canberra, which will make a total of over 30 hours travelling. Then I should probably go to work the next day.

Sadly, this blog seems to be drawing to a close.....

Tuesday, July 25: Canberra

It's over. I'm home.

Flight from Seoul arrived in Sydney right on schedule. I retrieved my car from my brother's place and drove back to Canberra, arriving 13:15 Tuesday local time, that's 06:15 Tuesday in Germany, 34.5 hours after taking off from Frankfurt.

But what a trip it was: Salzburg... Graz... Vienna... Berlin... England... Paris... South of France... Eisenach... Leipzig... Stuttgart... Köln...

I suppose all I can do now is put on my Chamber Orchestra of Europe CDs, unpack, and think about going to work tomorrow.

Here endeth the blog.

Back to Travel start page