Richard Wagner in Bayreuth

I spent the day--all day in rain, sometimes torrential--taking in Bayreuth, Wahnfried, the Festspielhaus, all the ambience I could soak up without getting further soaked.

Wahnfried, Wagner's home in Bayreuth, now the Richard

Wagner Museum; fittingly, one is greeted by a bust of

King Ludgwig II, who footed the bill; the museum is

incredbily extensive, not just of Wagner, but of the Festival

and its history, productions, directors, conductors (there

was an exhibit on Toscanini), and singers

The Museum has a no-pix policy, but I did clandestinely

grab this one looking down upon the great hall

Grave of Richard and Cosima

View of Wahnfried from the park

The drive up the hill to the Festspielhaus is one of the most

beautifully-landscaped I have seen

The park presided over by a larger-than-life

bust of Cosima (she too was larger than life)

The Festspielhaus

The balcony from which three trumpeters

traditionally announce the beginning of the

next act

Me, actually inside the Festspielhaus; the day's

performance, Lohengrin, was still an hour or two

away; I wandered around, trying my best to appear

in need of a ticket; but none appeared; alas, I had

left my tux back in Missoula anyway; I repaired to

the festival restaurant for a coffee and for

self-examination and self-recrimination: if only I

had practiced the piano more! But it was still cool to

be in a special place at a special time.