Listening to JS Bach´s Organ Music in St Andreas, Braunschweig.

 

The organ in St Andreas, (St Andrew´s Church) Braunschweig.

 

During the summer months, many of the churches in Braunschweig, including the Cathedral, present a series of concerts, free of charge, but asking for a donation on leaving.  Last Friday late afternoon,  I went to St Andreas to listen to an organ recital given by the church organist Rüdiger Wilhelm.  The audience was small in number, but what we heard was some wonderful music by Michael Praetorius, 1571-1621, written at a time when he was Kapellmeister at the court in Wolfenbüttel, a town not far from Brunschweig.  Also on the programme, and best of all to my ears, were two works by my favourite man, JS Bach.

 

I was vaguely familiar with the first work, a trio, "Honour God alone on High, Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" BWV 664, but very much more familiar with the second,  the famous "Toccata and Fugue" in D Minor BWV 565, much performed. and a work most people seem to know. 

 

It was to wonderful to listen to the work live, and to watch the organist perform the impossible task of playing with two hands, while his feet moved in different directions playing the bass notes on the pedals.  The sound was amazing as it reverberated around the high arches of the church, and gave me goose bumps in the process.

 

St Andreas and the Old Weigh House, reconstructed after its destruction in WWll.

 

My camera has flecks of dust on the lens that I cannot remove, so I am sorry for the quality of the above photo.  Normally I take photos of landscapes that contain little sky, where I can align the dust spots in distant trees and bushes, but when it comes to an expanse of sky, the picture quality is awful!  

 

The photo shows the tower of Andeas, which can be climbed on certain days of the week, and to the left, the Old Weigh House, which is now a school, and was rebuilt in the 1990´s after its total destruction during the bombing of Braunschweig in October 1944, when 90% of the city´s half timbered houses were destroyed.

 

The church font with the stained glass windows reflected in the water.

 

I was trying to be clever, and snap the colours of the stained glass in the water, but it did not work as well as in Salisbury Cathedral.  As I was taking the photo, a German couple spoke about what a good idea it was, and they too tried to photograph the reflections in a gold bottomed font.  I told them about the huge font in Salisbury, which has a black bottom, and reflects the stained glass and ceiling arches in high definition.  The lady mentioned that she had visited Salisbury as a student, but many years before the new reflecting font was installed.

 

What a small world.

 

 

 

   

 

Hoppenstedt to Hornburg via the Old Border Watchtower.

Hoppenstedt to the right, and Hornburg and the watchtower to the left.

 

We all met at the old Hoppenstedt railway station, which is now a very long private house, with no track and certainly no trains passing by.  The day was too hot for a walk, but fortunately much of it was through shady woodland, with some wonderful views over the Saxon-Anhalt countryside.   The walking group consists of a number of friends who have walked together for many years, and I am of course, a friend of one of these friends!

Five of our group walking in the shade.

 

I was along this track that we saw and rescued a slow worm, that had found its way into the middle of the hot track, and was in danger of being stepped on or run over by a speedy  cyclist.   We coerced him or her back into the grass, where I tried to take a photo of him, but he moved so quickly and was soon gone.   I was left with a fuzzy photo of green nothingness to record his/her presence!

 

Sitting in a shady hut drinking water and defending our snacks from Dona the dog.

 

Dona was very quick off the mark, for as soon as Monika had taken her tasty roll out of its bag, Dona jumped up, grabbed it out of her hand,  and managed to eat half.  I managed to keep by biscuits close to my chest! 

 

The watchtower on the old border between the DDR and West Germany.

 

Admiring an interesting sculpture on the track.

 

From a distance this looked like two people struggling with a giant grasshopper that was intent on devouring them,  but on closer inspection, it was two people being cradled in the arms of an angel.  There was no plaque to tell us the sculptor's name, or the title of the work, but it was carved out of a huge block of oolithic limestone, and was a mighty piece of craftsmanship, particularly the attention to detail on the angel's  fingernails!

 

The signboard at the entrance to the village of Hornburg, the birth place of Pope Clemens ll in 1005, and the home of a plate of giant Currywurst (see under) in 2016.

Currywurst and beer, what more can a girl ask for!!

Hornburg, a little village full of wonderful traditional half timbered buildings.

 

We eight walkers had a good time, and even though it was very hot, we managed to survive on traditional fare and large German beers.

Street Music in the City on Saturday 21st May.

"Hello Cello" playing Baroque music under a hot tent in the shopping mall. 

 

I am tempted to post a cheeky comment here, one made by Sir Thomas Beecham,  when he met a lady who could not play a sweet note on her cello, but I will refrain!

 

The city often stages musical days, mostly for amateur musicians, school choirs,  choirs for the older generation and for assorted bands and digeridoo players.  Usually they are all grouped together in one place, such are in the Burgplatz near the cathedral, which makes watching and listening easy, and especially as it is out of the way of shoppers involved in intense shopping.

 

This time the musicians performed in three different places, and you had to move around to watch and listen to them.   It was a hot day, so in the case of the above cello group, they played under a tent, we the audience stood on the other side of the mall in the shade, and the shoppers walked through the middle of the proceedings, which made listening to Baroque music difficult and failed to create any kind of atmosphere.   Maybe I should write to the City council, giving them a few suggestions for the future!

 

The choir from Mascherode First School singing in the Kohlmarkt.

Two men, two digeridoos and a drum in the shopping mall.

Once again this group played on one side of the mall, whilst we watched from the other.  I snapped many a quick photo between crowds of shoppers that afternoon, as they walked between me and the players.

 

The seniors´ choir from Hötzum playing in the shade in the Kolhmarkt.

Braunschweig Irish Band playing jigs, reels and Irish songs.

 

Irish music is so infectious, that during the playing I danced about, and pretended that I had my hankies in my hands, and did a bit of Morris Dancing to Irish music amongst the crowd.

Out with the Old Clothes, In with New German Garments!

Peek and Cloppenburg, for the smart lady, (me sometimes)

 

I'm normally not a shopper, having a very real dislike of knowing what I want in advance, and then not being able to find it, or worst still finding what I like, and that it costs too much or they haven't got my size.   However Tuesday was different, because I saw exactly what I wanted in the above smart shop, and although I had no cash with me, I came straight back on Wednesday morning, and bought a really nice dark blue blouse, with a pretty pink and pale blue flowered pattern. 

 

Further along the shopping mall I bought a nice pair of grey suede shoes, not in the above shop, but in a reasonably priced shoe shop meant for the younger generation.   I had a good shopping experience, which I believe is common parlance for such an unusual happening on my part.  

  

Wicky in the Burg Passage, a bit down market, (more to my taste)

 

After shopping I bought a big baguette filled with fish, salad and a delicious but heavy on the calories mayo, and then found a quiet seat to munch away and watch the world go by.  Not that the peace lasted long, as a drunken man turned up and sat too close to me, and started mumbling in German about the police and homelessness.  I then did what I always do in such circumstances, feigned all ignorance of German, and answered him in English.  This time it did not work,  because he replied to me in perfect English!

 

I was so surprised, and even though is rambled on with a beery breath, he told me he had worked in the Rover Plant in Swindon.  I told him I lived nearby, and that was it, we are now friends for life!  Later I caught the tram home, and there he was again, and continued a loud conversation in English on the tram about Virginia, his lady friend in Swindon, and how nice she was.  They had lived together in Old Town for a short while, and he wondered if she was still alive.

 

He waved to me as he left the tram at a later stop, and was gone.   Poor man, how does someone lose everything in life, even his own self respect.   I went from the discomfort of trying to ignore a drunken man, to a compassionate listener in five minutes.  I wonder where he is now?

 

A Wet Whitsun Weekend at the Medieval Market and at Classics in the Park.

The blacksmith and his assistant, dressed in medieval costumes,  forge various metal objects over a flame generated by big, foot operated bellows.  I do like the heavy wooden clogs, and the whole atmosphare in this little corner looked very authentic

 

Each year from Whitsaturday to Whitmonday a medieval market takes place in the Burgplatz near the cathedral.  I have always wanted to visit it, but the weather is always atrocious.  The last time I was here in May it rained and blew a gale of wind, and it did the same this weekend. To make matters worse, it was bitterly cold too.   I was eventually able to take these photos on Whitmonday, when on my way to meet M & R for an asparagus lunch and afterwards a visit to the Burgerpark to listen to "Classics in the Park."

 

A view towards the Burgplatz through the arched corridor that connects Henry the Lion's Palace to the Cathedral.  Seems he didn't like getting wet either.   This  building was badly damaged in the war, and has since been authentically restored. 

 

The blue tent to the right was for the soothsayer, who didn't seem to have a lot of soothsaying to do in the gloom.   I'm assuming she had predicted in advance the damp conditions, and arrived suitably clad in thick medieval sackcloth underwear, woollen petticoats and thick knitted socks and winter clogs.

 

Another view of Henry the Lion's Palace.

A rather quaint medieval wooden merry go round for the children can be seen in the left foreground.  It was built with odd bits of wood, cobbled together with assorted lengths of string and bits of rope, and it reminded me of the street cars my sister and I made out of old pram wheels and dad's leftover bean poles, way back in the 1950s.

Looking damp and feeling forlorn at Classics in the Park.

 

I have been to the Classics here on several occasions, and always in bright, hot sunshine.  This Monday was a different kettle of fish, and such a shame for all concerned.  We arrived later than usual, and could not go into the main arena because, contrary to what we had expected in gloomy weather, so many people had arrived to listen to the music.

 

We were directed to another area, and watched the concert, performed by the Braunschweig Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, on a big screen.  They played popular music from the opera, and many other well known songs, including "Berlin Air," a song close to the hearts to those from that city.   M & R had kindly brought their garden chairs along, so we were able to sit comfortably with coats over our legs, and nibbling too many German nibbles  A good afternoon was had by all, including M's little 10 month old granddaughter, who slept through the first half, and then woke up and wondered where on earth she was!

 

The Big Screen with three soloists singing merrily away.

 

This is called, "Das Public Viewing" in German, and I am very pleased that German incorporates so may English words in its vocabulary, which tend to be neuter nouns.  I am reliably informed that "Public Viewing" in the USA has a totally different meaning!

Friday 13th May. I went to buy a Ticket to Berlin, but came back with New Shoes!

 The old steam locomotive displayed outside BraWa Park office block, aka "The Toblerone" so called because it is long, tbrown and triangular!

 

A new Shopping Centre has been built behind this building near Braunschweig railway station, and on the site of the former forced labour camp at Schillstrasse. 

 

I am going to Berlin at the beginning of June, and was at the station to find out the cost of a return rail ticket.  I also popped into the coach terminal, where coaches leave each day for distant places throughout Europe.  The coach is the cheapest option, but I quickly decided against it, as I don't like being cooped up in a confined space for over two hours.   I will take the ICE train, which cost more but is faster and with more arm rest.  I have done the journey before by coach, and it was not a happy experience, as a very large man rested his arms on my arm rest for the whole journey!  Never again!

 The entrance to the new centre.

 

 The centre has taken over two years to build, and just after I arrived last year, there was a big emergency here, when a digger unearthed an unexploded bomb on the site.  A friend of mine was one of thousands who had to be moved out of the area, while the bomb was made safe.  It was here in the shopping centre that I bought new shoes instead of the rail ticket!

 The memorial garden and plaques commemorating the thousand of forced labourers who died working here.  It is a sad, quiet place and always very still, even though the new shopping centre is close to the site of the Bussing train wagon forced labour camp.

 

The wording above the wall reads, " The future has a long history" an old Jewish saying, and one we seem to ignore most of the time, because we fail to learn from history,  repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

The Memorial Park hidden in the trees at Schillstrasse.

Watching Old Films about Braunschweig in the Rathaus Museum.

 The Altstadt Rathaus - The old city Town Hall.

 

Each year I visit, I go to watch old film clips of Braunschweig,  which are shown in the film studio in the basement of the old Town Hall.    This year is no exception, and yesterday I saw six short films, showing various aspects of life in Braunschweig from the 1930´s up to the November weekend in 1989 when the Wall opened, and people from the East could visit the West.  The border was not far from Braunschweig, and the city gave each visitor some welcome cash, which they spent on having a good time in the city.

 

One film, which I had seen before, showed the city´s devastation after the allied bombing in October 1944.  It is sad to watch, as the city with the largest number of half timbered hoúses in Lower Saxony had 90% of them fire bombed and totally destroyed.

 

Another short film showed the building of the bunkers in the early 1930´s to protect the city´s population from allied bombing.   These buildings were so thickly constructed, that some have been impossible to knock down, and have been incorporated into the foundations of new blocks of flats.  The Kralenriede Bunker is sometimes open to the public, and I visited it in 2012.

 

The third film showed the emergency food rations given to children just after the end of the war. Most children were very underweight, and were fed at special centres set up by the British and Germans, with rations from American and Britain.  I did shed a few tears during this film, as the children looked so sad and hollow eyed.

 

Another film showed a beer festival with much merriment taken in 1974.  German beer has not changed since that time, I am pleased to say.

 

The last film was about a married couple with two children, who exchange roles sometime  in the late 1930´s, as he goes off to war as a soldier, and his wife takes over his role as a tram conductor.  This was interesting, as the film followed the tram around the city as it was before the bombing, and shows the narrowness of the streets, where it was possible to shake hands out of the windows across the roads, because the jettied houses were so close together in places.  The tram numbers have not changed either, I still catch the No.3 and the No.5.  At he end of the war he comes home, and the family is once again reunited.

 

The whole afternoon was really interesting, and as the  film projectionist spoke little English, I had a field day with my German, which seems to be flowing this year without the need to drink much German beer.   Since being a teenager, I have  always wanted to be bilingual, and now it is happening.  I am very pleased with myself, and things can only get better!

 

The facade of the Rathaus shows statues of Henry the Lion and his English Queen Matilda, the first 12th century members of the Bath Braunschweig Twinning Association.

 

Down in the depths of the museum, waiting for the film to begin.

 

 The Altstadt, with the Rathaus in the middle, St Martini to the left, and  the Marienbrunnen (fountain) in the square.   All the buildings to the right were rebuilt after the war, as much of this quarter was totally flattened.  The shell of the old Town Hall still stood, and also most of St Martini managed to stay standing.  These two buildings were reconstructed after the war.

The Marien Fountain, a copy made after most of the original was destroyed in WW2.

The original large lead trough at the base is now displayed in the museum.

 

 

Asparagus in Hornburg, Yoghurt and Strawberries in Bad Harzburg.

Our lunch in Gasthaus Schützen in Hornburg, where asparagus was the speciality of the day!  The beer was particularly good too.

 

This was my first visit to Hornburg, although I had read about it in the Braunschweig Jewish Museum, where the interior of the building has been re erected.  Before the First World War, Karl Steinacker learned about the planned demolition of the synagogue.   He managed to postpone it and to fund the disassembly, transport and the reassembly of the interior.  He was supported in the project by several Jewish friends.   Any remaining expenses were paid by the Jewish communities in Brunswick.

 

Architecture students from Braunschweig helped to reconstruct the interior after the move. Until his early retirement in 1935 Karl Steinacker managed to protect the synagogue from the Nazi regime.  From 1935 – 1945 the Nazis abused and misinterpreted the exhibition. Unlike many other exhibitions displaying Jewish life, the Jewish gallery was not sourced out to Prague, but remained in Braunschweig.   Since 1987 the interior and artifacts have been displayed in Braunschweig´s Jewish Museum. 

 

Hornburg castle was first mentioned in a property deed of 994, when a castle was built on top of a limestone outcrop, and a small town grew around the fortress.  Pope Clement ll was born in the town in 1005. 

 

 One of Hornburg´s many half timbered houses.

 Up at the fortress of the Great Harz Castle, looking out towards the Salzgitter steelworks, and a distant Braunschweig.  We came up in the cable car, although I did climb up a few years ago, and I never want to do it again.

 

From this high point in the Harz mountains, you get a wonderful panoramic view of the Lower Saxony plateau below.  A hotel once stood at the top, and a couple of years ago a new small hotel was built with a lovely cafe selling beer of course, and lots of delicious cream cakes.

 

Harzburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harzburg

The Harzburg, also called Große Harzburg ("Great Harz Castle"), is a former imperial castle, situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range  

 Coming down on the cable car.

Strawberries, Joghurt, ice cream and a sweet sauce, what more could a woman ask for.

After refresments at the top of the hill, we paid a visit to an ice cream parlour in Bad Harzburg itself.  There are many clinics in the town, where the waters are used to aid healing.

I have added three links, as these can give you all the information about the places we visited.
 

Bad Harzburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Harzburg

Bad Harzburg is a town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised ... 


 

 

A Quick Catchup! (I am a few days behind on the news)

 Back in the City on Friday afternoon, for a bit of shopping, (I bought a new top) and then a walk to the Louise Schroeder House to meet friends in my music group.

 

 A walk through the Old City, with the old Town Hall to the left.  The weather is lovely at the moment, although all is set to change next week, with rain and gloom forecast.

 

 

 The Piper, who sits in the park outside the Louise Schroeder House, where the Braunschweig Hobby and Education Exchange meets and runs groups, all very similar to our U3As.

 

The Louise Schroeder House, named after the lady who first established the groups.  I will write more about her at a later date, when I have caught up with myself.

 

 

 

Looking through the windows of the Louise Schroeder House, from the room where we meet to make music on Friday evenings.  The little piper in the previous photo is out there piping away his merry timeless tune. 

 

First Words from Timmerlah.

The view from my front window towards the Brocken, with the wind park to the right and a local train passing by on its way to Hannover.

 

The journey went well, in spite of me thinking otherwise!  I travelled up to Dorking on Tuesday afternoon and stayed overnight with a friend.  I suppose I managed two hours sleep in a strange bed, which is definitely not enough for  me.  The taxi driver for Heathrow Terminal 5 picked me up at 5.30am, and I flew to Hannover in a bit of a sleepy dream!   The other passengers were yawning and sleepy too, so an early start to the day is not just a problem for  me.

 

The plane landed almost on time, and my good friend Dorothea met at arrivals, and drove me back to my flat in Timmerlah, where we arrived at midday.  It is good to be back in my second home, and after a good night's sleep, I shall feel very much better tomorrow!

 

My Last Words from Devizes!

The view towards the "Brocken" from the front window of my flat.

My suitcase is now packed, and its contents have been checked and rechecked several time over the last few days.   Today I had to wear "shabby chic,"  old leggings, tatty blouse and cardigan, and all the moth eaten stuff I am not taking with me.   My PC case if similarly packed to the hilt, with all my gadgetry and accompanying cables, rechargers and headphones.   

There are so many bits and pieces to remember, and this year I am also taking my mini USB fresh-air fan, just in case there is a heatwave while I´m away.  That of course also has a vital USB cable to make it work.

I leave on the 15.45 train on Tuesday 3rd, May for a night with my friend in Dorking, and on Wednesday 4th, a taxi will pick me up from her house at 05.30 to take me to London Heathrow Airport.  My flight leaves at 08.00 (hopefully)  and I should land in Hannover at 10.30 German time.   My friend Dorothea will pick me up from the airport, and with luck, I will be back in my lovely flat my midday!  The first thing I will do is to make a good, strong cup of English tea!