Denkergang - the thinking path - Eutin
On July 13 I flew from Stockholm to Lubeck, Germany. There, a new friend, picked me up at the airport. Jurgen. I met Jurgen by chance in Istanbul, Turkey when I was walking along the waterside. We talked for about 20 minutes. He told me he was a landfill engineer. I told him I was hoping to visit Germany, as I knew he was from Germany. He told me that if I visited the area around Lubeck he would be my tour guide. I thought that was a good idea as I had no particular reference or reason to go to any particular area in Germany so I took this as a sign. We exchanged e-mails and kept in touch.
The wet stage at the outdoor theatre in Eutin
So through e-mailing back and forth, I sort of, unintentionally, invited myself to stay at his place as he showed me around his home area. He was very gracious and agreed. So Jurgen picked me up at the Lubeck airport and we headed to Bujendorf, where he lived. He had already plans that night to go to see Don Giovanni, the opera, at the outdoor theatre in Eutin, about 20 minutes from his place. It was their annual festspiele: http://eutiner-festspiele.de/ He kindly invited me to come along and got me a ticket.
Me blending in, in my 4 euro raincoat fending off the rain
I had not been to an opera since I saw La Boheme at Chatauqua in New York when I was 24 – so almost 20 years later here I was again. Singing in Italian, narrating in German, needless to say, I had to rely on the actors body and facial expressions and the action to get a gist of the story. It was a long opera – almost 4 hours – but it was an experience.
Giovanni's assistant tells one of his ladies about all the other ladies he has charmed
The rain spat for awhile and then stopped which was a relief, but just as the opera was coming to its climax the rain started to pour down. The actors were very brave and carried on not missing a bit, and well dressed in clear raincoats. It was quite a site and I felt badly for them, but the whole show was great. It was a wonderful greeting to the special area of Schleswig-Holstein and the beginning of an interesting 4 days.
Jurgen looking far more fashionable than myself
That night I only got a quick glimpse of the chateau of Eutin – called a schloss in German – to me I think I would refer to it more as an estate – but we were to be coming back in a couple of days. So more to come.
The opera reaches its climax and the rain keeps the orchestra pit cover in the front slick
Jurgen must be a wonderful host – and to see Don Giovanni in the rain – something to remember.!!!
Yes Jurgen was a very attentive and kind host.
First of all, willkommen aka welcome to my birthplace of Germany. I do hope that you will like the people, the food, the history and architecture. Is this your first visit to Germany? Don’t forget to practise your German; however, most German people know how to speak English, esp, the younger ones although they might be a little bit shy at first to speak it. 🙂
Thanks for that beautiful picture of that path in the forest. Oh, how I miss the German forest! I have many happy memories of hiking with my grandparents. By the way….you do know that one has to sing German hiking songs when one is in the forest? HAHAHA
Obviously, I look forward to many more posts from Germany.
Please, make a stop in Hamburg and vist St. Michaelis Church aka the Michel, which is Hamburg’s landmark. 🙂
I don’t know a lot of German but I am trying. Jurgen’s english and his friends english was quite good but I have met a number of people who don’t speak any English. The architecture is quite different from anything I have seen to date – lots of brick. Not sure if I will get to Hamburg but we’ll see.
I just thought since you were in Luebeck, that you would be able to make your way to Hamburg seeing that the two cities are close. I know that you would love Hamburg, because it is fun and lively…. 🙂
Yes – I had hoped to but it was a bit further than Jurgen had wanted to go and I had to get directly to Cologne on the 17th. I may go back for a day or two trip anyway.
I should imagine you could pick up quite a bit of German – you always were very quick with languages. Nice to have such a good host.
Well I am picking up a bit but it is very different from English really. I found Italian easier because it has similarities to French and Latin whereas German does not even though it is from where some English comes from too.
I always thought that you took German class in SMLS, but even if you had done, it was so long ago, right?
Having learnt German first, I always found it easy to learn English, because of the similarities, On the other hand, having learnt Spanish first, it was somewhat easy for me to learn French, at least the grammar part; however, I never could pronounce the French words, because most of them are long and silent not like in German. You write it, you say it; for example, Porsche (the “e” at the end does get pronounced)
Sorry, if I’m rambling….
Nope – never took German. I find the rules with the words (how many words are put together) and the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants do not come naturally for me, whereas the pronunciation of French and Italian is much easier. I even found pronunciation of Swedish easier. It is true that French and English have a lot of silent letters but Italian and Swedish don’t. Perhaps it is the long words of German or really I think the pronunciation is where I am struggling.
Well hello Sara,
It has been quite a while, heard by your mother that you where travelling
the globe and she forwarded me you site/blog??
Anyway that I would say hello, all is well, Saw your mother on Sunday looking
as always extremely great!!
Write a quick HI back when and if you get a chance, will be also saying hello to
grandma Jill!! and a big congrats to her! Take care and have a blast.
Hey Judy – great to hear from you. Didn’t recognize the last name at first. Had to ask my mum. I sent you a quick e-mail. Keep in touch.