GERMANY ADVENTURE – Day 5

First, a couple of general observations about our time here. 

1.         We are getting to know the subway/bus system a little better by now.  Didn’t get lost at all today!  However, we really miss Minnesota Nice when riding the transportation system.  People don’t say excuse me or anything – they just barge right on through.  This morning there was a woman waiting for the subway.  She had her bicycle with her – which was going on the subway with her.  There was one place to sit down, and it had 4 distinct seats.  She was in number 2 with her bike in front of her, blocking access to all the rest of the seats.  The station was full – do you think she would at least move her bike so some old geezer could sit down? 

NOOOOO WAY

!

2.         Speaking of bikes, they are everywhere.  Special bike lanes marked out on the sidewalks, and if you happen to walk in the bike lane, you get pushed out of the way.  But I think people here are in better shape than people at home –at least some of them.

3.         We had forgotten, but we are back in the land of pay toilets.  Anywhere from the equivalent of 45 cents to $1.50.  You NEVER want to pass up a free bathroom!

Now the day.  Remember I started one of my other posts by quoting Robert Burns “The best-laid plans…”?  Happened again.  I was so excited to go to Leipzig to hear the Bach choir.  I double-checked the information online before we went down to breakfast, and it all looked right – sort of.  As we ate, I said I had to go and look one more time.  The day of the month just didn’t seem to match the day of the week.  It finally dawned on me that the “motette” was scheduled for  Sunday, June 25 at 3:00 p.m.   When I looked closer, they were displaying 2010 dates on the web page.  When I finally fixed that, I learned that the “motette” are always on Saturday, and the boys choir is already on vacation.  No concert.  Really, REALLY bummed!  Now we had a full day with nothing planned.  So we (I) took a bit of a nap to settle down.  We looked through the guide book many times, and finally decided that another museum might be nice.  We chose the Altes Museum, which contained Greek, Roman, and Etruscan items.  Interesting, but a bit of antiquity overload. 

      After that, we went back to the Lustgarden for a snack and a drink.  Walked through a craft show, tried to get a boat ride around the rivers, but they didn’t have English tour guides on the one we tried.  Walked back and forth on Unter den Linden (a street) and saw lots of neat buildings.  Finally had beer and brats, well, Coke and brats for one of us) for supper, and then headed to the Berliner Dom for a 6:00 evening service.  We had toured the church on Friday, but thought this might be a chance to hear the organ.  Heard them do change-ringing with the bells for 15 minutes before the service.  Probably 150 people there (interesting that many were young people!).  This is a Lutheran cathedral, and the service was all in German.  Sang some familiar hymns, prayed with the congregation, all in German, of course. 

            You may know that I know a little German, and can readily sing along with the German hymns.  What makes it difficult is that I keep trying to translate the words while I sing, and I either miss the meaning or get waaaay behind!

            After missing Bach in Leipzig, the best part of the day was hearing the magnificent organ played for the service.  I’m sure I’ll bore some of you at least with pictures of it.  But for those who might recognize this, the organist played Max Reger’s “Schmuecke dich” for a prelude, and the Bach Toccata in F major for a postlude.  A monumental piece on a monumental organ.  Literally brought tears to my eyes.

            We are safely back in the hotel.  One more full day in Berlin.  All the museums are closed on Mondays, so it’s shopping we will go, visiting the KuDam, KaDeWe, the Europa Market, and various and sundry places.  No pressure, not enough money left to get into a lot of trouble!   We are quite tired but doing well – missing all of you.