Scenes from Bayreuth (1)

Here are some photos I took around Bayreuth.

Above is Wahnfried, Wagner’s house. Unfortunately it’s closed at present, undergoing restoration for the big anniversary year in 2013. The back may look more familiar:

  

The town is quite Baroque:

But also sports a Bavarian totem pole:

One of the older festival visitors:

Intermezzo did a wonderful series of Wagner windows from Bayreuth last year. I saw many of the same ones (I’m sure they haul out the same Wagneriana every year), but I also saw this, in case you have a wound that just will not heal:

(They must have a required Wagner course in pharmacist school, because this is my third Wagnerian pharmacy. There’s this one in Munich, near the Schloss Nymphenburg. I wouldn’t trust the healing powers of the Nibelungs:

Then there’s this one in Berlin, off Savignyplatz in Charlottenburg. I can’t remember Wotan healing anything either. Where is the Isolde Apotheke?:)

Back in Bayreuth. Is your ass bothering you due to those uncushioned seats?

The tourist office’s slogan is “We always have the best tickets!” (in white on green on the windows):

(*except for any for the one venue you really care about.)

While in town, don’t miss the other opera house, the spectacular 18th-century Markgräfliches Opernhaus.

Photography isn’t allowed inside, so here’s a stock image:

It may look familiar from the ROH production of Adriana Lecouvreur.

But it’s mostly a Wagner town, as evidenced by the street names.

I think my copy of the Parsifal libretto, which I got in Berlin, came with the perfect bookmark.

Finally, the Bayreuth Jugendherberge (youth hostel), where I stayed. I got my tickets kind of late and it was the only thing in town that was available. And it is very, very cheap. But it’s a 2.5 mile walk to the Festspielhaus, almost that far to the train station, and isn’t exactly warm and comfy. Only for the desperate.

In part two, we’ll climb the Green Hill itself.