Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Forum Members Parties, Tours, Cruises, & Meetings European Piano Tour - See the Pictures!

We arrived in Hamburg last night.

Walked into our hotel lobby and immediately ran into Jim & Sandy Fariss and Ann Cooper. My sister and her husband are also here.

Here is the view from our hotel room window, two tall ships (one is U.S.C.G.).




Weather is gorgeous.

After dinner last night we walked over to the piano bar (also part of the hotel). Pianist had just finished. Introduced myself, he got all excited. Turns out he knows and loves Piano World :-) 5000 miles from home and the first piano player we meet knows PW.

Most of the tour participants should be here by tonight (Sunday 5 June). I'm sure there will be lots more pictures and stories to follow.

And for those of you who have been following my "Importance of Piano Room" thread, I have indeed selected my new piano, additional details to follow.

I have bookmarked this thread and am looking forward to pics. How very wonderful.

We took a guided bus tour of Hamburg, interesting.
One old church has 4, yes 4 organs. Concerts every day at noon.

Shot of Hamburg...



Quick stop for photo op with the tour members...




Off to a little cocktail get together to be followed by dinner (it's after 6:00 p.m. here now). Lots more pictures to follow from all of us.

A church with four organs, my nephew would love that, he'd have fun choosing which organ to play. What is the name of church? Looks like everyone is have a great time.

Hi Musdan,

I've already forgotten the name, but Kathy will know.
She and I are going to try to go back to it tomorrow afternoon to see if we can get inside.

We'll take whatever pictures we can.

Frank, don't forget to pass out the Piano Forum hats and T shirts! Remember the attention they got on the cruise?

Hi Carol,
We will if we can find them. We shipped them to Germany 2 weeks ago. They arrived but the P.O. only "attempted" delivery once, nothing since. So all the goodies we purchased and shipped are sitting in a p.o. somewhere in Germany (if they haven't shipped them back to the states).

Frank:

You must have an exact address where you shipped the goodies to?
Are these the ones they charges you $ 100 customs for?

P.S. While in Hamburg, try to get one meal of "Laabskaas", an old fishermen's meal. They serve it around the "Michel" [church tower] - Hamburgs main landmark. Cheap and totally delicious!

Norbert

Hey I'm visiting Hamburg too this week. Popped into the Bechstein store in Europa Passage but the Steinway tour would have been better

Plan to do the Schnitger organ tour in Jacobi on Thursday too. Otherwise work!

Got caught today in the thunderstorm today, that was fun as well.

Enjoy the tour.

Ah yes, we waited for the thunderstorm to pass, then all walked to the restaurant and had a wonderful meal.
On to Bonn tomorrow.

The Steinway Hamburg Factory Visit...




















Group Shots European Piano Tour in front of Steinway Hamburg...




More pictures to follow

Town Hall, Hamburg Germany...

Group Shots in Courtyard of Town Hall and Commerce Building...



Yours truly bending a piece of laminate in the Steinway Factory

Gorgeous photos!

Can't wait to meet all of you here in Cologne. Weather here is stormy this morning, but I'm hoping it will clear by the time you arrive. The WDR piano atelier will be fun and the Dom, Cathedral? It is AMAZING. I've lived here for 16 plus years, and I am still stunned by the size of it.

Enjoy that nice big German breakfast!

thanks for sharing!

Isn't technology great - we can "travel" with all of you.

As Apple posts - "thanks for sharing".

Okay, I met everyone this afternoon and they are a great group!!! I am completely jealous that I am not on the entire tour with them. My first clue that they were having fun was when I called the tour guide—GUNTHER— and it sounded like the people on the bus were having a really cool party.

My husband and I met them at the WDR Radio/TV station and we were given an amazing tour of the WDR piano atelier. In addition to a bunch of great Steinways, the WDR also is home to many historical instruments, which we got to play. Pretty cool.

We left the group as they were going off to the Dom Cathedral, which is the biggest Gothic cathedral in Western Europe.

Tomorrow the group will come to the castle where I play—looking forward to it!

And Frank's girlfriend Kathy is wonderful!!!

Wow! That shot of the Steinways all lined up almost sent me into sensory jubilation. I fear they would have to pull me from the room screaming and kicking.
Interesting that they keep them on temporary legs. Until they ship?
You know, that floor looks like the same floor in another picture I was looking at this morning...hmmm.

Thanks for the photos. It is great to see the events unfold.

Jerry and I are green with envy, not only the scenery and the Steinways, but meeting all these party folks. We know you'll have tales to tell. Thanks for the daily postings, Frank.

Pictures courtesy of BritishJim.

I will try to come back and add captions to everything as soon as I get a chance. We will have hundreds of pictures to add as well. Kathy had over 2000 in her camera alone.

Obviously we will weed out the duplicates, bad shots etc., but still lots of pictures coming from Jim, me, Kathy (LadyFord) and others.

For now, Jim's pictures.
I promise we will add many more soon.

Robin's husband John Goldsby who arranged an exclusive tour of the WDR (famous public radion station in Germany) amazing piano collection. These are NOT display pieces, they PLAY them! (as did we).



More of their collection, dating from 1700's



John Goldsby, Robin Goldsby, Me, Paul (the technician who gave an incredible presentation on this amazing collection).



The Entire Piano World Piano Forums European Tour Group in front of the WDR building...



A group shot in front of the Magic Kingdom. Oh wait, I think it was actually a Cathedral :-)



Found a piano in the lobby of the hotel we are staying at in Bonn. Hotel is right on the Rhine, the banks of which are studded with castles.
In the picture is me (Frank Baxter), Kathy, Jan Oliver (a forums member who lives in Germany and drove an hour to be with us), and Elle our German contact from Hills Travel (and the person who worked incredibly hard to help make this all come true).



Ah, now I know why everyone was late getting to the bus this morning. Some of our group enjoying the Bier Garden attached to the hotel. Yes, that is the Rhine River behind them.
I will name everyone later, but you should know that the gentlman on the right closest to the camera is Guenter our personal guide for the entire tour. He is one amazing man. Knows all the facts about everywhere we go, makes everyone feel right at home, and fixes anything that needs fixing. We are lucky to have him.



Dinner in the hotel.





More to follow...