Bayreuth

Next, we drove, in rain, to Bayreuth, in northeastern-most Bavaria, a fairly provincial place, but now the world's capital of opera, German opera, anyway, where the annual (since 1876) Bayreuth Festival was underway. Tickets to the Festival are unobtainable. Although it goes on for a month, and the festival theatre seats 1,800, they are the toughest ticket around. Germans love to tell stories of their being handed down in wills.

Ground-zero Bayreuth

Wilhelmina's Opera Theatre--she was Frederick the Great's

sister, married off to Bavaria, to which, in Bayreuth at least,

she brought culture; very baroque, very royal, completely

contrary to Wagner's aesthetics (and politics), so he had L

ooney Ludwig build him a completely new festival theater

(next post)

Famous fountain near ground-zero

The whole town, even scaffolding, is decked out in Wagner

paraphrenalia (here also Wilhelmina, Jean-Paul, Wagner,

and Lizst)

Siemens sponsored productions of The Valkyrie and a

childrens' version of Tannhauser

All the local stores sport Wagner stuff

The Holy Family in the Mont Blanc store

window

Even the imbiss

Or are named for Wagner, his operas, or

their characters

Well, not all the stores

Wagner display in one of the bookstores

Munich's Alte Pinakotek

Munich offers five world-class museums to choose from. We chose the Alte Pinakotek--the old paintings--observing our preference for things that have stood the test of time as well as our interest in the older North German and Netherlands works. The museum is overwhelmingly wonderful.

A view of the Alte Pinakotek

Our favorite, at length, was Breughel's (the Elder) The Land

of Cockaigne, a political satire depicting the sloth and

corruption of the classes...knights, clergy, scholars, peasants

too

Our favorite genre is the damnation...here a detail of one

of Breughel's, torment by fart...

The usual St. Sebastians

Durer's incredible self-portrait

The obligatory Rembrandt self-portrait

(did he paint anything else?)

And this, widely thought to be Velazquez's

self-portrait--something the Prado would

like to have back, one assumes

The largest and most varied collection of

Peter Paul Rubens I have seen; this his

damnation

This, Rubens' self-portrait with his first wife;

one of the few he did of non-obese people

with clothes on...

Rubens' Last Judgment

I have never seen a museum with more live

painters at work

Rubens' powerful death of Seneca

Titian's portrait of Caesar Carlos IV

(or V, depending on whether you're

counting Spanish or Hapsburg

kings)

An incredible museum I'd visit again in a flash. The displays were excellent, the order logical, the audio-guide, for once, genuinely tasteful and helpful.

Botanischer Garten

Right next to the Nymphenburg Palace is the Munich botanical garden, 14,000 species, something I could not resist.

Extent of the place

On the grounds

Early August, most everything still in bloom

Lily pond

Closer up

Mexicohaus

 I love bromeliads, cycads

Tree ferns, like New Zealand

And a visiting exhibit from Yunnan and Sichuan

Hirschgarten

After the Nymphenburg, we headed to the nearby Hirschgarten for a late but leisurely lunch.  Although out in the suburbs, the Hirschgarten is reputedly Munich's largest bier garten--seats 8,000, they say--and the scale is indeed impressive.

Entry signage

A bit, but a representative tiny bit, of the Hirschgarten

The Hirschgarten's old-style Pisshof

Help yourself to a mug; maybe give it an extra rinse

The cafeteria-style food area; I had my favorite bratwurst

mit currysauce and pommes frites; and bier; Vicki had my

pommes frites and a gelato, a balanced choice

Nymphenburg Palace and Park and Amalienburg

We spent the better part of the day out at the Nymphenburg Palace, one of a dozen or so palaces and castles of the Wittelsbach family, who ruled Bavaria for 700 years.

Of course, we ran into a wedding

Nymphenburg, the main building--actually it is a huge

ellipse all around the lake

Main hall

How paintings get restored; how chiropractors get clients

Royal bed-chamber

Queen's bed-chamber, original furniture, where Ludwig II

(Loonie Ludwig) was born

Part of the Hall of Beauties--Ludwig I had

portraits done of 40 contemporary women

he regarded as great beauties (no word on

what the Queen thought of this)

My great achievement of the day was

locating and photographing the portrait of

Lola Montez, in the Hall of Beauties, with

whom Ludwig I had an affair that brought

down his government and forced him to

resign; Lola went on to America and was

a famous personage in the American Wild

West (I speculate: the character of Lillie 
von Schtupp, in Blazing Saddles, is based, 
um, loosely, on her)

Nymphenburg Palace from the gardens

The Amalienburg, the Queen's hunting lodge

A bit of the interior

All solid silver, of course

The kitchen, beautiful tile-work