Just an indulgent, relaxed tram trip through small towns to Bonn today. Bonn has been the capital of Germany and it's jsut a hour on the tram thre, so why not. The attraction was Beethoven haus, where LvB was born but the intent ws just a day away from more serious outings. For us, the tram passes underground through a local square jsut metres away, then comes to ground level for most of the trip, past various metropolitan stations then small feeder towns and to the Bonn Hbf. There are crowds throughout the malls, it being a Saturday, and it didn't let up. Incredibly, we didn't even cross a road, the city centre being just wide cobblestoned malls throughout, or so it seemed. What a wonderful lifestyle, healthy and slow and humane although I wonder how to transport double basses in this world (I've seen it, actually, with double basses lugged like big backpacks through railway stations). Meeting a fellow dachshund owner (one of only 2 dachshunds we've seen in Germany this visit) and visiting a strange modern-art display in an otherwise colourful Jesuit church. Then to the Beethoven Haus. As I expected, presumably a private museum with not much that's original, although they do have a treasury with a some original writings under decent security. Otherwise there are facsimiles throughout, LvB's last piano, some hearing aids of the time, his viola and a string quartet of instruments gifted to LvB from the local prince, requisite death mask and the like. And some paintings including one that's used frequently, not least for at least on program I've played in. So the indulgent pic. They also present concerts and do musicological research and even maintain a publishing house so a worthy institution, but we missed most of that. As for the Beethoven Haus shop, my favourite item was the little LvB statue with the solar powered conducting arm, a Bonn-esque Maneki necko, the Japanese lucky cat (€20 from Amazon, eBay etc; there's also a waving QE2). As you would do, a pleasant Saturday outing to Bonn.
The Beethoven Haus is in Bonn.
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