2023 Croatia/Germany

Yesterday we flew to Munich, rented a car and drove to a suburb of Stuttgart to spend a few days with an old friend! Gerhard and Davor met when they were students at the Technical University of Munich in 1974! I first met Gerhard and his wife when we moved to Munich in Dec 1979. We really hit it off and have remained close friends. Unfortunately Gerhard’s wife, Heike, had a brain tumor and slowly went downhill for 13 yrs. She died almost 10 years ago. It’s always sweet for the 3 of us to come together and reminisce about Heike and the times we shared and I think it’s comforting for Gerhard too.
The first pic is Davor and Gerhard! He lives in an apt near downtown so we walked down to the market this morning. Pics 2-6 are pics downtown. The next 3 are of the old city wall.
In the afternoon we went to a nearby village where Gerhard and Heike used to live. Their house was on the edge of a vineyard where we would often walk. So the 3 of us did that today! The grapes are ripe, and some have already been picked. There was an art exhibit in the middle of the vineyard! The first pic of the 5 women is called “The Women of Persil”. Persil is a detergent, that’s why their collars are so white. The second art pic is of heads made out of plaster by high school students!
At the edge of the vineyard was a beer garden so we stopped for some food and a beer!

Highlight of the day: the joy of being with an old friend!Читать далее

We spent the day wandering around Bayreuth, the town where Rainer and Olivia live. Olivia had to go to her aunt’s funeral so Rainer walked around with us and told us some history of the town.
Pic 1: Around the 1700’s Bayreuth had a very liberal marriage policy ie different classes could intermarry. In order to be married here you had to be living in Bayreuth so they had this small house. People would spend one night in the little house, become “official” residents of the city, and could get married the next day!
We walked around the pedestrian shopping area downtown and stopped for bratwurst for lunch (pic 2). Pics 3&4 are the pedestrian shopping area.
The rest of the pics are of the Opera House. It was built by a rich family that wanted a special place for their only daughter to get married. It was quite ornate and the building was only expected to last for a few years. Now almost 175 years later it still stands.
The interesting thing is that it isn’t all, as it appears. Pic 5 is of the stage, it does not have all the columns and ornate features that your eye sees, really it was just painted wood or paintings on the walls. The architect was a master of illusion! The ceiling in pic 9 is not painted, but cloth was painted and attached to wood! The other pics really are fancy as they appear. It would be fun to sit in that wonderful atmosphere and listen to an opera!

Highlight of the day: spending the morning with Rainer as he told us stories and the history of Bayreuth!Читать далее