My last few days in Germany

Travel sure takes it out of you. Though I'm beginning to recover, traveling halfway around the world sapped my energy for the last couple of days, so it is only now that I'm getting around to catching up my recollection and thoughts about my trip. And I have yet to write about two trips that Paul and I took during my last few days in Germany. So in the interest of chronological accuracy, I'll begin first with the trip we made on Tuesday, the 30th, to Quedlinburg. Paul suggested this trip so that I'd have a chance to see "old" Germany in contrast to the inner city of Berlin, that is undoubtedly on the other end of that scale. I'm glad he did because it provided a chance for some pictures of the picturesque old city. Because film costs are not nearly the issue they used to be (because of digital cameras), I made a lot of shots of different buildings that illustrated the architecture of the city, but because they are all so similar I've only chosen to put a few of them up at my gallery. It was during this trip that I had the chance to experience the Autobahn for the first time and to see the countryside for the first time.

On Wednesday, October 1, we made the trip from Berlin to the island of Usedom on the Northeastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea. The trip of about 220 KM took about three and a half hours, in part because much of it was on the less-than-perfect Autobahn in what used to be East Germany and on narrow roads on the island of Usedom. The promoters of the concert had secured us a room at a very nice hotel in Heringsdorf, a seaside resort town toward the Southeastern end of the island. The concert itself was held in Pennemunde in what used to be an electrical power plant that still, of course, retained the appearance of an industrial facility, but the hall in which the concert was performed was remarkable amenable to that role. After a substantial lunch that included a local delicacy called Soljalke (spelling uncertain), a tomato-based soup with a definite lemon flavor, which is an essential ingredient Paul told me, we took a needed nap. Maxe knew instinctively how to make use of the facilities. (See photo here.)

The concert, as previously noted, was in Pennemunde, a town that during WWII was the site of Werner von Braun and his team of scientists' development of the V-1 rockets used by the Germans against the Brits. Though I took a picture in the twilight of some vestiges of those times, they are too dark to warrant posting in my web gallery. The old power plant was decorated elaborately for the event and served remarkably well for the occasion.

Paul's friend, Krystoff Penderecki conducted the concert with the orchestra from Hannover and the Polish Chorus and Boys Choir from Krakow all of whom performed his Credo, a work written originally in 1998. As I said to Paul, it seemed like a musical "Dagwood Sandwich" in that not only the "normal" instruments were used but also such things as chimes, bells, gongs, all manner of precussive instruments. Two choruses, five soloists, and a split orchestra (the brass section was at the back of the auditorium) performed the very interesting piece. It wasn't tunefully familiar, but it was entertaining and I never lost interest.

Both the visit to Quedlinburg and the one to Usedom gave me the opportunity to experience very different German environments that I'm grateful I had the chance to know. My last full day in Germany was spent with Paul at home attempting to enhance his understanding of using his CD burner to create backups and to capture some of the files from his computer onto CD.

Now, that brings me up to the time on Saturday, the 4th, when I made the trip back to the U.S. But that is a long enough story to leave for another entry, when I have the time. So stay tuned.
- posted by Perry @ 8:31 AM