Is it coming or going? Look closely!





For Kathy K





And an Estey Organ from Brattleboro Vt. This was a surprise!





And some even earlier...

Sorry for their bluriness - it was very dark in the hall, many were under glass, and we could not use flash.



















See the lady in the corner? She is hiding instruments in her skirt! Hope someone has better pics of her!

Lilylady thanks for all the great pictures. I'm curious, were any of the instruments playable and if so were you allonwed to give it a whirl?

Could be that because of age the answer would be no, but maybe one or two of the instruments were open to the public.

I wonder if the museums you visited gave concerts using these instruments - it would be interesting to hear them played.

MD, in some places use of the instruments was encouraged. And at the radio station 'old instrument quarters', the instruments are used for concerts and recordings!

Pics there will come later by me or somebody.

Honestly, you just cannot imagine the overload we had and hundreds (sometimes thousands for some) pics that were taken.

I am not surprised that other members with lives to live have not yet posted their pics. I, on the other hand, have had 3 days of rain. And I am a gardener!!!

There were so many highlights in all the German / Barvarian / Austrian places we visited but I had a hunch from an early enticement picture that I was going to enjoy Bayreuth (pronounced by roit) and I did. Cobblestone streets, ancient architecture, safe at night, biergartens, musuems, the Steingraeber factory, opera houses. I was in heaven!

Although we could shoot pics at the Steingraeber factory, we were asked to submit them before uploading them and well, they are shut down for summer vacation now, so those will be uploaded later. But I don't want to wait to share the town pics with you!

Before we entered the town, we stopped at the Wagner designed Opera House.

















cont....

Touring the old square.

Each town has a traditional May Pole in the Ctr with flags of the shops/artisans in town.















continued....

Off for another walk and biergarten after dinner.





















Soon (well, not really soon - it had been a l o n g day!)

The hotel room was a welcome site. For tonite anyway!

OK, Udo Steingraeber gave his permission to use the following pictures!

Steingraeber Palace seen above, along with lunch.

A warm welcome extended to PW members from Udo and to Steingraeber owners Bob and Ruth.



And a champagne celebratory start!



With views of two of the older Steingraeber grands (the Lizst piano was out for a performance) and an antique upright



with Kathy playing





My fingers itched to try it out with Chopin 97/2



Some of us got to meet Udo with his Mother





continued

The back of the building has this wonderful old sign (in two parts)





which led over to another factory building



A few snaps of the mfg and veneer

Note the unique Steingraeber straight bass bridge









The famous soundboard sand tapping



A new plate design being perfected



We had a surprise visitor join us in the factory tour. Owner/concert pianist Milus Scruggs who was ever so helpful to point out some tips on what makes the Steingraeber unique.



continued

After the tour, we had a lovely concert by Lisa Wellisch.



Followed by several members playing





Don't you just love the mirror views?





All and all, a most wonderful afternoon. A special thanks to Udo Steingraeber whose factory was actually shut down for their summer vacation, but who kept everything out for demonstration purposes..., just for us!



Now,

If I were a rich man...ya ha deedle deedle...

Additional Pictures are posted in the PHOTO GALLERY

Thanks for sharing the pics Bart and Eric! Nice memories.

I will never again think of Nuremburg just as the place where the trials were located. It was such a lovely old city before the war and I have the pics to prove it!

The old town is only about 10 percent of what the whole city was, and is based on the hillside and fortress. Note that I mentioned hillside!



High on a hill, the fortress area. Yes we had to go over a bridge and in a tunnel to get there!





What were they looking at?









The view from the fortress was incredible.

One of the oldest buildings - I think it was 1300s.



After a stroll downhill - one of many town squares









More strolling downhill and more old architecture

Each city has its quirkiness for some distinctive feature. Old Nuremburg had these

And yes there were churches/cathedrals. Every old city we visited did!

ONE





TWO





And town squares



where here we saw on the ground what must be for a steeple



And other odd pieces of architecture







And a wall sundial



above a beautifully painted mural building



All So Beautiful.

Thanks Lilylady for all the great pictures. It's a wonder that these old buildings survived WW II.

Bet you and others are planning to go back some day.

Frank and Lilylady,
Thanks for the great pics! It certainly reminds me of the times we had in Germany. It sure looks like a great time was had by all.

Only WOW !! What a well rounded tour by such a well rounded group ! ;-)

Did any of you listen to organs (professionally) played, took closer photos of consoles with dispositions, discussed with any organist or even played her/himself ?

From my brief childhood memories of Germany (for heart surgery in Munich) I somewhat recognize the rotating figurine church tower in Munich. And some wonderful toy and train museums in Nurnberg, Munich, maybe Salzburg if that's right too.

Locks of lovers on a metal fence were in the highest place of Tartu, Estonia too. But only put by Russians - native Estonian did not have that custom.

Food. And Spirits.

Great! and plenty of it, daily. For sure we had some great dinners. And the breakfast was an array of food.

First night in Hafen Hamburg overlooking the river. Elegant.



Elegant Hors d'heuvres



Then a surpise from British Jim for his lovely bride for their anniversary





There were outside cafes





and rest stops with gorgeous countryside views



And food, food, food!







And Spirits







Where the Riesling grows - Wachau Valley on the Danube hillsides







I have a more complete listing of pics with notes on WTF if you'd care to indulge

Food
http://well-temperedforum.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9130004433/m/1571085816

The Spirits:
http://well-temperedforum.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9130004433/m/2391037816

and shortly I'll have the breakfast fare up.

The pics of the food makes me feel really hungry! Thanks, lilylady, and Frank, For all these wonderful pictures that you are sharing with all of us!

All that food and beautiful scenery, what a great time all of you had - I'm with Rotom - thanks for "taking us" with you.

Love that picture of you Lilylady - that beer looks good.

One of our first nights on the road was the gorgeous old hotel sitting right on the river. Elegant through and through...

except maybe the old Bechstein in the convention hall which a few of us tried....

but the old Steinway in the lobby got use!

I'll post some pics of the hotel shortly.

Here's the mixed video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3R2qYlL90

Adding pics now -

Gorgeous old hotel sitting right on the river. Elegant through and through...

except maybe the old Bechstein in the conference room which a few of us tried - no matter we had fun....

but the old Steinway in the lobby got good use!

The Rhine side











Ferry crossing the river



Restaurant was right on the river!



Elegant old staircase

Thanks for the wonderful pics Lily! As is always, you are a sweetheart for sharing them with us!

Today's adventure involves the German Technical Museum and their displays of instruments (focus - keyboard) and mechanical musical devices.

It was wonderful and our tour guide most appreciative. We could play some old instruments even.

I'll share a video first and then some pictures. I took lots but some are blurry due to the darkness and reflections of the glass. I cleaned them up the best I could. As Frank mentioned earlier these do take some time to post so I hope you enjoy! It was the most fun of the museums for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYFLtzB8r60

(Thanks to FTP, I was able to turn some vids around upright and put together a vid on Automated instruments right on Windows Movie Maker.) Phew!



Streicher and Sohn



Neo Bechstein





Bosie





Automated Bluthner







more coming...

Steinway automated - Oak

Odd ones...

More automated

The organs -

This one is for APPLE - called the APPLE ORGAN and very rare/early!











A whole room for display of restoring old pipe organs.















I hope that one day you can visit this fantastic museum. I could spend hours there.

Hi Liliylady,

Thanks so much for all those great pictures. I wish I had a way of sending the pictures of the organs to my nephew. He's an organist. Maybe one day he can visit the places all of you
did.