Promenade - (n) A leisurely walk, especially one taken in a public place as a social activity.
Tonight was the 14th annual Oldenburger Promenade. It is a series of concerts at several different but relatively close venues with the idea that you go from one to another for 45 minutes each with time between to meet, greet, eat, and drink in a central location. It is the hottest ticket in town – selling out before Christmas. My host family had secured a ticket for me to accompany them.
Our first concert was in the main church in town – the Lambertkirche – where we were privileged to hear the Munich Bach Chor(ale) under the direction of HansjÖrg Albrecht perform several selections of Bach’s work. The Lambertkirche is of a rotunda design and the acoustics were phenomenal. With a small crowd (probably 300 or less) all the seats were good.
Following a 45 minute interval in the central tent with food and drink, we went to the marble ballroom of the Schloss (a castle/mansion next to the Lambertkirche) for a 45 minute concert by a 20 year old violinist named Azadeh Maghsoodi accompanied by a pianist. She played a Mozart sonota and Bizez’s Carmen to standing and sustained ovations. Following Ms. Maghsoodi was a young tenor named Andrey Nevyantsev who sang several pieces from Verdi, Tschaikowsky, Tosti, and Rossini. He too was warmly received.
After another 45 minute intermission, we went to the main hall of the Schloss to hear a young Sopran(o) named Ellena Galitskaya and a young tenor named Pavel Kolgatin. They sang a variety of Russian operatic pieces. After several ovations, they gave a double encore – singing songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber in Russian.
Following the third concert, it was back to the tent for a 11 p.m. dinner with Helmut, Annette, their friend Jutta, and several fellow Rotarians and their wives. It was a wonderful evening to wrap up a great day.
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We started the morning early at a Rotarian’s bakery – watching them making the breads and cakes that will be in one of his 42 shops tomorrow. Before leaving, he served us breakfast of his wares. I confess that it is the first time in a while that I have had egg and salami sandwiches accompanied by both strawberry cake and rubarb cake for breakfast. To top it off, we had the traditional (and imfamous) Berliner filled with homemade strawberry jam. Yes, we all quoted Kennedy, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
After the visit to the bakery, we drove to Bremerhaven to visit a new museum called the Climate House. The concept is interesting. Bremerhaven rests on the 8° East parallel. The Climate House follows the 8° parallel as it circles the Earth from Bremerhaven to Switzerland, to Sicilly, to Sudan, to Camaroon, to Antartica, to Samoa, to Alaska, and back to Bremerhaven. It has different exhibits on the climate, people, and way of life at each of those locations. You “continue your journey” from room to room – experiencing the heat and humidity of the jungle as you walk over a rope bridge or forge a stream by going rock to rock in one room followed by the cold and ice of the Antartic in the next. It was “hot.” Or should I say “cool?” I don’t know, you take your pick of descriptions.
All in all, a great day. Tomorrow is our last full day in Germany. We have nothing formal planned until our “Farewell Party/USA World Cup ‘Public Viewing’ [I don't know if it is just a translation bug or if they are trying to tell us our chances against England]” tomorrow evening. That means the day will be very busy doing all the last minute things we have not had time to do (I am going to a grocery store and to the equivalent of a Home Depot so I can compare them to those in the U.S.).
In a way, tomorrow will be another Promenade!
