By this point we were gliding over the water between Copenhagen and Malmo, across the bridge that we desperately tried to avoid hitting in the 2007 tall ships race, followed promptly by diving into the water only to pop out again in Sweden. I got into Lund after 6h40min on trains and exited the station to see Loz at the bottom of the escalator!
How lovely it was, two great friends in as many days. We had a brief wander before boarding a bus bound for his house on the outskirts. Such a nice house actually, despite being near a main road, you don't hear anything, and all around are fields and the odd farmhouse dotted around here and there. Towards the horizon can be seen the occasional church spire, so typical of Swedish design.
Making our way upstairs, I was given a lovely greeting by Hanna, Loz's girlfriend and several of their flatmates were there to welcome me in, all of whom very sweet in nature! We relaxed with a cuppa and chatted before cooking up a bolognese. We decided to stay in, all feeling a little sleepy, so it was myself, Loz and Hanna, and then their flatmates Felix and Isobel who I got along with very well. Felix is a passionate socialist, in the funnest possible way! And from a man who has Swedish royal blood in him, too - surely he's destined for elitism and not the complete antithesis of monarchy!
Loz and Hanna really looked after me, they made up a bed on the floor using a spare mattress and sheets and it was just delightful! Next morning brought a breakfast of boiled eggs and Hanna made some scones for us which were utterly sublime, I would have gladly eaten the last one had I not already been stuffed with the amazing food I was being plied with. We walked into town and savoured the lovely cobbled streets weaving their way between some gorgeous architecture.
Oddly despite being Swedish, a lot of the architecture is Danish. What's more is that thanks to historical oddities, Lund university is Denmark's oldest university... In Sweden. Basically, the Danes had a lot of that land just before Sweden became amazing and very powerful, so they built a town and put their first university there. Sweden came along and said "We're having that" so the Danes pushed off and now Sweden has stolen Danish intellect, leaving Denmark a little less intelligent than before.
Heading into the university, I found an entire shelf dedicated to me. Flattering, to say the least. Turns out Fred means peace in Swedish - rather nice! And then Platt means 'flat'. Not quite so lovely, but I have heard before that Platt means field; perhaps it's a surname of Viking origins?
I was even taken to the local butcher/delicatessen and my goodness was it extraordinary. All these absolutely magnificent meats and cheeses were on display, it was a feast for the eyes, and for the nose. After salivating for a few minutes we had to leave and so we had a spot of lunch, booked my place on the sleeper train to Berlin and then on the way home visited the 12th century cathedral. 
Having gotten ingredients for a Swedish supper, we wandered home and got cooking after a cuppa - and a check on emails, I only got a host in Berlin very last minute, thanks to a lovely man called Christoph - but more on that in a bit.I tried my best to learn from Hanna how to make this superb Swedish sausage stew, but despite asking at least three times I have still managed to forget the name of the sausage itself. Sorry Hanna. But it was essentially finely chopped onions, chopped sausage, both of which were fried up before adding chopped tomatoes and seasoning and allowing to simmer for a while and reduce a little before adding some cream. I feel like I'm missing out a vital ingredient, especially as it tasted so incredible. It really was so lovely, and we made far too much, so Hanna put some in a little pot for me, along with some rice as a packed lunch for my journey, and presented me with a fork. Just so lovely that they thought of me so much and fortified me for the travels that lay ahead, I came away so touched.
Alas, it was time to gather my things and take my night train. Really sad to leave Lund actually, despite only spending a relatively short space of time there I just fell in love with the atmosphere, with the food, and everyone was just so lovely, and of course I was blessed to have such a wonderful reception from Loz and Hanna, I was just blown away by their constant generosity :)
Loz took me to the railway station to find a large school group on the platform making a lot of noise. Hoping I wouldn't be in a carriage, let alone a compartment, in their company I boarded to find my couchette. The people in my compartment were very sweet actually, although I was still a bit miffed to be in a couchette at all. I'd read that one can get seats for €4 but no, there were none so I had to get a couchette for 230kr. This combined with noise all night and lack of sleep, and just a general disorientation - at one point we realised the train had in fact boarded a ferry and we were stationary on a boat just completely threw us, but we did enjoy the novelty! - meant that when I arrived in Berlin at 0630 and left the station to find myself in a drab, grey city under a leaden sky, I already detested being there in the first place. I reassured myself that a city this large must have things going for it, and so many people come away from the place full of praise, so I just galvanised myself and started to wander.
I made my way down to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. Not really knowing of any composers from Berlin - unless I'm very much mistaken - I decided that there were two choices for Brandenburger Tor, namely Beethoven's 9th or David Hassellhoff.
Tight though it was, I erred in favour of Beethoven and started walking. Thing is though, I know it sounds a little odd but in my tiredness I'd confused Brandenburger Tor with a landmark which I think is in Vienna, and so I was a little disappointed and not even sure if I really had found the place at all. More walking and investigation confirmed that it was infact the place, and by this time I was tired again, losing patience, and it still wasn't anywhere near 8am when the Reichstag opens. After several ages passed, they opened the Reichstag and I joined the queue to go up the dome. I must say, I was quite impressed by the design, and they had a fair amount on the history of the building and also on how German parliament works, which I very nearly understood.
From the rooftop I spotted a cluster of pretty looking buildings out in the distance and made note of which direction they were in (I was without a map) so upon leaving I set off in pursuit of nice things. I happened upon the library which I loved and thought was quite beautiful, but they denied me access and wanted to charge me for a month's membership just so I could go up and look at the music section for an hour or two. Even more miffed now, I carried on towards the centre and soon found myself at the foot of the Berliner Dom,
and generally admiring the pretty buildings around there, including the Staatsoper, the Humboldt University, various churches, including one which had been turned into a gallery of marble figures. I found a bust of Goethe which I found quite exciting, and then there was an unidentified lady lying down, I could have sworn I saw her breathing. Maybe another sign of tiredness?
Still, I carried on regardless and eventually gave up at about 2 in the afternoon by which time my legs were agony and just refusing to work, and it felt much more like 7 in the evening. I was starting to feel a little better about Berlin, but not much. I went to meet Christoph, a man who helped me out when I sent out a last minute appeal on CS for a place to stay. He's a really nice chap, in his late forties, and an avid fan of classical music! His cd collection rivalled Dad's and he also plays the flute and sings bass. He was working from home, so after a brief chat I took the opportunity to take it easy and try and fix the fact my host in Weimar had to cancel, as well as catch up on other bits of correspondance while he carried on with his list of things to do. Needing to find an electrician I walked down to the nearest shopping centre, about 15min walk into Charlottenburg, where the bombed out church is. Quite extraordinary to see this place with the windows blown out, the spire generally missing, that sort of thing. A rather chilling reminder as it was so visual.
I certainly haven't seen such well preserved examples of bomb damage in the UK, and it's so easily forgotten how forcefully we retaliated to the Blitz.Later in the evening Christoph and I had a couple of beers - LOVE German beer now! - and chatted of one thing and another, particularly music. A very kindly man, and one doesn't feel uncomfortable in his company, but he isn't always terribly responsive and so it felt a little one-sided at times.. But not in such a way that it felt awkward, he was still very smiley and a nice chap, and showed great interest in what one had to say.
Next day he lent me his bicycle. Now, I have always had a deep hatred of bicycles, being from Bath must have made me extremely prejudiced, but as I pedalled through the Tiergarten on my way to the musical instrument museum, I really started to see what people love about them. Berlin is flat, easily navigated and there's almost always a cycle lane provided. If I lived on the continent, then maybe that'd be the way forwards. That's the only way though.
So, musical instrument museum! I went MAD for this place! My jaw was fixed in the open position with sheer awe at these beautiful and very old instruments, ranging from violins to organs to hurdy gurdies.
I fell in love with one clavichord in particular, the mahogany-keyed one above, though the photos didn't come out terribly well. The brass instruments were all so ornate, one even having precious stones set into the bell! There were various keyboard instruments going as far back as 1568 and I was just blown away by the entire thing, I was in my element. I must have spent about three hours there, just agog, before carrying on by bike to Potsdamer Platz to see the Sony Centre - a recommendation made by the other surfer staying at Christoph's. And yes, it was quite impressive by scale, but not terribly pretty. I then made out a route to go home via Checkpoint Charlie which was a bit of a disappointment, it's just a box in the road with a couple of Germans dressed as a Frenchman and a Russian. Not much else to it. I cycled through it and went back home through the Tiergarten again to chill out before the incredible evening that we had planned.....!Berliner Philharmoniker. Kitaenko conducting. Bartok's Hungarian Sketches, Glière's Horn Concerto and Scriabin's 3rd symphony. Utterly unbelievable. Christoph and I got the cheap seats just behind the orchestra which was actually fine - the horns and timpani were a little loud to begin with, but one's ears adjusted and being on bench seats we had ample legroom, and it meant I could watch the conductor (dirigent in German!) do his thing. I really liked his style actually, I found it very easy to follow, everything was clear and precise and yet still expressive.
The Bartók was wonderful, my experiences of his music is limited to Duke Bluebeard's Castle - which I adore - but this must have been an earlier work, it was very organic whilst still remarkably virtuosic for the players. It just didn't last long enough :)
After that was the horn concerto. I must admit I'd not heard of Glière before, a Saxony man born in Kiev, but his concerto was lovely. And the soloist was a very accomplished player, but didn't he just know it. Radek Baborak his name was. He kept gesturing at the orchestra when not playing and grinning and nodding at the horn section. That's not your job, you stupid man! Stop looking so unprofessional and put a tie on, you're with the Berliner Philharmoniker! And stop distracting the horns, they'd probably play it better than you, they certainly wouldn't need the music infront of them. Do you even realise how much you look like Robbie Coltrane you silly jowly man? And the moment that comparison arose in my head I just couldn't get Nuns on the Run out of my head and kept picturing Baborak in a habit. It suited him, actually. Certainly better than a faded black crew-neck and a french horn. And much better than his cadenza suited the piece. For a piece written in a post-romantic style, he proceeded to play his cadenza as for a classical concerto. Stop running up and down scales! Be at least a little melodious, please.. But the stupid man kept going until the very very end of the cadenza where he did do the odd variation upon the main theme and then did some clever effects with the horn, but the whole thing just felt so clichéed.
Everyone seemed to love/pity him so he got lots of applause and did an ok encore, but then it was time for the Scriabin!! I know no Scriabin and so throughout this piece I was completely transfixed by this extraordinary symphony. As I write this I am exceptionally tired so I am struggling to express myself, but I essentially forgot where I was. I was not bothered about reading any programme notes, about what time my train is tomorrow, anything like that. It was one of those performances you come away from slightly out of breath, with a broad grin across your face!
Christoph and I had a beer back home to order our thoughts and bring ourselves back into the room, as it were. I settled down for bed feeling exhausted but excited about my departure for Leipzig the next day.
Naturally, travelling to Leipzig I could only be listening to Bach. His B Minor Mass kept me company as the InterCityExpress (ICE) took me there in no time at all. Not enough time to write this blog, certainly! Playing catch up right now :)
I think I shall leave it at that for now, Leipzig will have a seperate entry, otherwise this would just be of ridiculous length. I do think I'll start doing blogs by destination rather than every other destination however. It's getting to that point where I'm just doing so much, each two day period in each place feels like a week and there's endless amounts to report on!! Expect the next installment tomorrow evening.
Again, apologies that this entry took so long to do, and also took so long to read!!
Much love to all at home xxx
Tut tut)) Glière wrote the anthem of St. Petersburg)))
ReplyDelete