After a lunch of Roast Bratwurst mit senf (mustard) und Brot (bread) ...
NOTE: There will be a future post devoted entirely to food - lets just say for now that I am not really starving here.
... the entire group hiked up the mountain to vist the Wartburg Castle. This is a very historical site. First of all it is the location where Wagner set the opera Tannhauser (we walked past the house where he stayed). More importantly, after Martin Luther was excommunicated a friendly noble "kidnapped" him and hid him in the castle, where he sat down (he sat a lot because he suffered from terrible constipation...true!) and translated the bible into the vernacular German. We got to visit the room where they say he did the work, although I suspect a good amount was done in a smaller room off to the side, if you know what I mean.
Here is the view from the Wartburg:
The views were spectacular, and the castle was fascinating. The hike up was very strenuous, but absolutely worth it. Afterwards we headed back down to town to visit the Bachhaus. Bach was not actually born here, but the real house has been lost. This house was set up as a museum by a group of people who included Robert Schuman and Franz Lizst. We looked at the displays, had a well needed espresso, and then heard a short concert on organ, clavichord and then harpsichord. Excellent. Below is a picture of the garden behind the house.
We returned to the hotel for dinner - which featured a pork chop and a bratwurst. Seriously - those who are vegetarians or gluten intolerant shouldn't even bother to come to this country. After dinner we had the first rehearsal for "La Spartana Generosa" - "The Generous Spartan Woman" - which is the opera we will be performing in 2 weeks. It went well - obviously there will be more on this later...
You may have heard that the World Cup is going on... there was a big game tonight, Brazil against Germany. The group decided to go out to a bar to watch the game, and believe it or not, I went with them. It actually was fun. It took a little time walking around in a light rain to find a bar that had little smoking (hey - did I mention we are singing an opera in 2 weeks?). We finally found one that was great - big screen, lots of Germans who loved to shout, and beer (well actually, the beer was not hard to find...). Needless to say, sorry Brazil, but the Germans creamed them - sieben/eins. There is great joy in Deutschland tonight - Sunday night should be interesting.
The game started here at 10PM, and it is now well after midnight, so I'm going to bed. Gute Nacht1
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