After lunch we walked back to the city to catch a bus to Bad Lauchstadt for the performance of Purcell´s opera `King Arthur´. It was in English, so we had a big advantage. The only recognisable character was Merlin; everything else we´d never heard of before.
(Photos thanks to google, because ours have got lost somewhere.)It was a quiet night at the hostel as many guests have left.
Friday 13th June
It rained most of the night, and we had an early start (left hostel at 7:30) with umbrellas, for the first of our Handelfest activities. We bussed for about 45mins to Lutherstadt Eisleben, and had a tour of the new museum built around Martin Luther´s birthplace, followed by a tour of the town.
Most of the commentary all day was in German, but all the information at the museum was written in Eng, so we read everything while the others were listening.
Then back on the bus again to Freyburg for lunch, (we took sandwiches to the park), and on a little way further to Schloss Neuenburg, built around 1150, and after that a winery.
By then we had teamed up with 2 Eng guys, 1 Eng lady and 1 USA lady, (all oldies of course), and we all misbehaved and made quiet comments while the winery lady raved on and on.
We cooked our own tea, then at about 8:15 walked back to the Aldstadt for the 9pm, 10pm and 11pm free concerts for OrgelNacht at 3 different churches, with a walk in between. We were surprised by a txt message from Kath in the middle of a Mendelson sonata at 11:20.
Bed by 12:30 after a long day.
Thursday 12 June
We bussed back to the station and left our bags, and then headed off on our tour of the town, following the trail of white rats painted on the footpaths. Unfortunately many had worn off, and there was no printed guide, in German or English, so we lost the trail a few times, and got caught in more rain.
Back to the station and got the train to Hanover, then another to Halle, and found the hostel.
Quite a funny set-up. You sign in in the owner´s bedroom, and the rooms are identified by colour - the green one, the purple one, the smoking one - written on the door. She is huge, and speaks only German, but is a jovial soul, and we are having a happy time.
We walked to the tourist office, had Vietnamese dinner, and went back via the supermarket at the station.Wednesday 11 June
We left Köln (note the German keyboard) by about 9:15 on the ICE (Inter City Express - in English), sitting up in first class with the business people. Our carriage attendant said that we had probably reached 200kph, but the new models go up to 300kph in some places.
We changed at Hagen to a local train, and then were at Wetter-Ruhr, for the Albert pilgrimage. I´d planned on leaving our bags at the station, but it was unattended, so we dragged them along too. The lady at the information sent us off to the left, but no luck. Then I began accosting elderly locals with Albert´s photo of his hotel, and with much gesticulating, we were there.
The front has been remodeled, but it was easy to see it was the right building, and it is still a hotel. It didn´t open until 12:00, so we sat on the verandah for an hour, having explained to the new landlord, in my best German, why we were there, and given him the reprints of 3 of Albert´s 1955 slides. At 12:00 we drank to Albert´s memory, resisted throwing our glasses over the edge, and caught the next train to Dortmund.
Changed at Paderborn, and got to Hameln. The YHD hostel is a way from the station, so we caught a cab, then took a bus back to the tourist office. We were going to eat dinner in town, but it started to rain, so we hurried back, and arrived just as dinner was over, so ended up at a little Greek restaurant up the road.
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