Travel: Good days and bad days

Sometimes everything goes as planned when travelling. Museums are open, parking spots magically appear and language barriers melt away. Other days are a lesson in what not to do when visiting new places.

Case in point: Leipzig was wonderful. Even though it was crowded, everything pretty much worked. The train from Munich was on time, even though our hotel was on a pedestrianized street it wasn't very far from the cab stand, and the hotel itself was pretty fancy and totally accessible.

Thomaskirche was right across the courtyard from the hotel, and we spent a lovely hour or so listening to a visiting choir rehearsing.  We admired the very well maintained old church, marvelled at the two organs, and gawked properly at the Bach stained glass window. After a short walk to look at the Mendelssohn statue, we adjourned to a nearby outdoor cafe and got a charge out of our table mates, who spoke no English but had some tourist Hungarian. After a little rest, we sat in the hotel bar, also outside, right across the street from the Bach statue, for a nightcap.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel and then scurried across the street to attend Sunday service in Thomaskirche. We had missed the afternoon performance of the famed boys choir the previous afternoon and were hoping to hear them.  And we did, and it was lovely, even though the sound seemed to get a bit swallowed up in the nave. The sermon, which was unintelligible to us, went on for some time, and the service clocked in at 90 minutes.  Nice to hear to good old Lutheran hymns sung with gusto and played at proper speed.

After church we went to the Bach museum, right next to our hotel. It was really well done, with interactive exhibits and lots of opportunity to listen. Then we checked out of the hotel and went to get the rental car so we could go to Halle, a half hour drive, where Handel was born.

One strange thing about Leipzig:  Thousands of German lay Catholics were having a conference, all wearing green t-shirts, green scarves and green caps. At first I thought it was a bus tour, but seeing hundreds more of them suggested I needed to dig further. Leipzig, like most of the former East Germany, is pretty much post-Christian, but those who do claim religious affiliation are mostly Lutherans. I at first thought it odd that lay Catholics would want to congregate in the heart of Protestant Germany, but the more I thought about it, it seemed a lovely place to have a meeting.  And it embodied the spirit of ecumenicism to boot. And, it explained why hotel rooms were so expensive that weekend.

We had a little trouble finding the Handel Haus museum and a parking place, but were rewarded by some nice exhibits.  Since Handel really didn't work in Halle, the museum was a little thin, and one floor was taken up by period instruments that had nothing to do with Handel, but it was still nice.

Then we went off to Naumburg, a small city about an hour away from Leipzig.  We only had to circle the town twice before we found the hotel. At first I thought we had made a terrible mistake -- the doors were locked and there was clearly no one around.  But there was a buzzer, which we pressed, and a nice English-speaking woman told us how to retrieve our key from the Key Boy. After settling in, we ate in a nice cafe next to one of the old city gates at Marienplatz. The food was abundant and heavy, with gravy on the braised pork, hollandaise on the asparagus and butter dripping from the roasted potatoes.

The next day was not quite so successful. It began with breakfast, when the attendant asked us (I think) if we wanted coffee.  We already had coffee--instant from a jar on the table--so we said no, thinking that instant was all there was. The next day, of course, we figured out that it was decaf in the jar, and that there was indeed real coffee on offer. Maybe it was the lack of caffeine that jinxed the rest of the day.

We then started off to see the organ that Bach played. After not too much circling we found both St. Wenceslas church and a parking space. St. Wenceslas is a gothic structure that needs TLC.  It has a remarkable and ornate Baroque altarpiece, which is somewhat tarnished. The organ, which is gilded and highlighted with robbin's egg blue paint, doesn't quite fit with the rest of the church. There were some monuments to guys in armor, some shrines to local notables who had supported the church in centuries past, and a general air of decay. All the steps to the many entrances were covered with moss, suggesting that traffic is light.

We thought we had seen all there was to see and were leaving when the attendant said emphatically that there was a concert at 12 o'clock. Why we determined this makes no sense, because even our extremely limited German was good enough to read the signs that advertised concerts at 12 o'clock on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It was Monday.

I guess we heard what we wanted to hear, as when we returned at 11:50 (gotta get there early to get a good seat), there was no concert. So off we headed to Weimar.  Our goal was the Bauhaus Museum.

It literally took us at least an hour and maybe more to locate it--the city fathers and mothers have decided they don't want cars in the Centrum. It's a laudable idea, but finding not only the actual museum but also a walkable place to park proved almost impossible.  So when we finally miraculously found not one but three spaces nearby, we grabbed one.

However, OLGS was suspicious and he may have been right.  There was a sign that suggested the spaces were reserved for people visiting or working at the shops nearby. Who knows? But the thought of having the rental car towed was enough to make our trip to the Bauhaus Museum very short indeed--we walked down the pedestrianized mall, took a look, went inside to get some flyers, and then went back to the car. So much for Weimar, which looked like a lovely and bustling small city.

Finding our way back to Naumburg was also a challenge, due to construction and the lack of gas stations with bathrooms! However, we finally got there, slightly discouraged to the point where seeking out a different restaurant for dinner was just too much. We drove around the closed cathedral, which also had moss problems, went to the same outdoor cafe, and called it a day.

The next day dawned bright and clear, a good omen. We made it back to Leipzig within an hour, although we could have done it much more quickly if OLGS had felt able to drive at 150 kms.  We drove in the truck lane, which was fast enough by American standards.

Got to the Berlin train early, got on board, found our assigned seats, and relaxed because we were going to a place where we knew the landscape better and more people spoke our language.

The moral of the story: Serendipity when traveling is great if you are flexible. No parking space? Fine. Pedestrianized streets not listed on map? No problem--if time, language and mobility are not issues. When they are, it is best to plan ahead carefully.

Back in the day, OLGS and I had a policy that we would not travel to places where we didn't speak the language.  That limited us to France, the UK, Canada, Hungary and some Francophone African countries and Caribbean islands. We broadened this to include Italy, where French and high-school Latin allowed us to cope with the language barrier. However, we miscalculated the extent to which people in the former East Germany speak English.

Another moral: Go back to the original rule: Visit countries where you speak the language.  Or at least take a phrasebook.

Music Hath Charms

We went to the stunning Franz List Zeneakademia concert hall, the Grand Hall, for some Mozart piano concertos. The pianist was Vajron Denes, playing with Concerto Budapest. Where to begin?

He was terrific, relaxed but intense and powerful. And the concertos, one of which I had never heard before as far as I know, reminded me what a great pianist Mozart must have been and why students need to practice scales. I was also reminded that musical warhorses exist because the warhorses are usually good pieces of music.

The audience was almost exclusively old, more so than in the U.S. This is surprising in a country that prides itself on its classical music heritage. After all, it's the birthplace of Bartok, Liszt, Kodaly and Ligeti. There are six orchestras in Budapest, providing employment to graduates of the Franz Liszt Academy. Music is subsidized by the city of Budapest and by the state. Maybe the demographics were skewed because of the day--young people have to get up and go to work on weekday. A weekday concert is less attractive as a result.

Attending a concert in Budapest, which is almost always a wonderful musical experience, raises an issue that has nothing to do with the music. It's the clapping at the end of the concert. At first, the clapping sounds the same as clapping in New York or St. Paul. By the end of the second bow, the clapping has changed. It is rhythmic and all audience members clap at the same pace. At the third bow, not only do people clap in unison, but they become insistent, speeding up in concert, demanding an encore. Audience members not only clap together, but they clap faster and faster together.

This leads to unpleasant reflections about the nature of crowds and the development of a single voice in that crowd. Does the style of clapping at Budapest concerts mean that these elderly classical music lovers have fascist tendencies? Does it explain Viktor Orban, the country's right-wing prime minister? Nah. After all, people in the U.S. clap independently, yet look at our politics. So instead of digging too deeply, I am instead going to reflect on the sources of decoration of the amazing building, some of which are shown here. PS--acoustics are pretty good, too.

Adventures in Real Estate, Part 17

It's been some time since there was an update on our Maine adventure.  Let's see .. 

We have a builder.  He's a really nice guy, and he and his carpenter are the son and son-in-law of family friends, which makes things both easy and challenging.  We are quite sure they won't gouge us -- they are only doing the project as a great favor, not as a moneymaker.  However, we could become the clients from hell, and our friends would almost certainly hear about it. I think that overall this is a good arrangement that benefits both parties and encourages each side to keep its collective mouth shut and behave. I certainly will.

We have a design.  It replicates the exterior of great-great-grandmother's house pretty well.  The interior will be modern, although the bits and pieces salvaged from the house will add some historical patina to the rooms.  What's not to like about an 18th century door? 

We have a view.  It is remarkable. Campobello, Eastport and Lubec, as well as many small islands (one of which is ours), will all be visible from our deck.  A deck is not an 18th century design feature,  but my desire for 18th century authenticity only extends to the front facade. If my ancestors had had the view that we have, they would have built a deck, too. 

We have a road (or will have soon).  The drop dead date for road construction is the end of June.  Our road builder is a laconic downeaster who is highly recommended and much beloved.  However, he doesn't say much, except, Yes," "No," and "We'll see," so the proof will be in the road itself, if not the pudding. 

Our road guy, and several of the other sub-contractors we have identified, are from the same village where great-great-grandmother's house once stood.  Since we removed the house from the tax rolls by tearing it down, it seems only fair that we spread a little cash around to make amends. 

We're going to have a big fire this summer.  When the house came down, it turned out that many of the beams were not useable -- full of carpenter ants.  They are just lying on the lot that we sold to the neighbors. So we are going to have a bonfire.  We will get a burn permit from the village fire chief, who just happens to be the son of the road guy, get some beer and marshmallows, and invite the town.

Our road now has a name -- Lois Lane.  I thought at first this was a joke, but no one seems to find it funny.  Turns out that the owner of the only house on what is now Lois Lane was given the chance to name it, which he did. Apparently his mother's name was Lois. 

We have a conditional building permit -- our application goes before the board of selectmen and the planning committee next week. It would be disappointing if our application were denied. However, it would be almost worth it, as the town clerk to whom we submitted our application not only spoke just like my grandmother, but had the same hairstyle, nearly 40 years later. Things change very slowly in eastern Maine. 

Dems: Pay Attention to North Carolina

Nate Silver crunches the numbers about American politics and elections. Back in December 2015, his website, 538.com, published a nifty piece with an interactive map.  It allows the viewer to shift demographics in five groups to see how the shifts would affect the outcome of the 2016 election. Based on the 2012 election, the map shows baselines for the following segments of the U.S. electorate:

• College-educated whites
• Non-college educated whites
• Blacks
• Hispanics
• Asians and others

After fiddling with the map for a bit, I was pleased to see that what I have suspected for some time is true, at least based on Nate's stats.  The country is primarily democratic and only gerrymandering and low voter turnouts have gotten us into our current mess. Although this is certainly an over-simplification, consider these nuggets gleaned from the map:

• If just a few more college-educated white voters -- maybe a couple of percentage points -- voted for democrats, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona could be in play and shift to the blue column. An increase in turnout, unless it was huge, would not affect the  outcome very much, since this demographic already casts the largest percentage of votes. 
• If just a few more whites without college educations voted for Dems, then the same states would be in play for the democrats -- North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona. However, if more of this demographic voted as they had in the past, that would put Florida in play for the republicans. 
• If more blacks voted, that would put North Carolina in play for the Dems. Since very few blacks vote republican, an increase in the number of democratic votes cast by this group would not change things much. 
• If more Hispanics voted, that would put North Carolina more solidly in the democratic camp. And if more of them voted democratic, that would put Arizona in play.  And if a lot more Hispanics voted, that could put Texas in play.  Wow!
• If more Asians and other ethnic groups voted democratic, North Carolina would shift into democratic territory. However, an increase in the overall number of votes cast by Asian-Americans and others would not affect the outcome significantly.

The moral of this story is this:  Democrats need to focus on -- you guessed it -- North Carolina. Barbecue, anyone?