Adventures in Deutschland: Wonderful day in Mainz... in Wiesbaden

Today's glorious adventure was spurred by Tag des offenen Denkmals, a special day in Germany that happens once a year where hundreds (!) of monuments, historic and archaelogical sites, museums, churches, etc are open to the public all Sunday late morning through the afternoon when we normally can't count on such free access. Sebastian, Janak, and I set out to learn more about city of residence, the capitol of our state, Rheinland-Pfalz, so we went to Weisbaden, the capitol of the neighboring state, Hessen. Via Sebastian's red 1992 VW Passat Wagon, they're only 15 minutes apart.

Borrowed from www.sehenswertes-biebrich.de

Schloss Biebrich (Schloss = palace) was built because Prince Georg August of Nassau-Idstein wanted a more impressive office space. The west wing (on the left) was originally built for his wife, but he kept bringing his entourage there, so they built the east wing (all the way at the right end of the photo) for her, on the other side of the rotunda (round part in the middle), which had a garden in the center of it at the time. Eventually, these three parts were connected by galleries (long hallways) to form the massive residence of luxurious proportions in the 1700-1705 time frame. Its size, intricate Baroque embellishments, and its waterfront location, will always catch the eyes of locals and visitors, so it's no wonder that this is one of the best preserved and most often renovated landmarks in this area.

While visitors can ascend a flight of stairs to look over the Rhine, the entrance is around back, where you realize that this palace is just the face of an expansive plot with gardens, alleys (a road or walk way canopied by tree branches from both sides - 'alley' has a very positive connotation here), a lake, and a smaller stone castle-like structure we dubbed a 'kinder schloss'. Visiting this place is free, and the land behind the palace is much like a park, with picnickers, runners, bikers, duck-feeders, and home-built remote-controlled toy flyers.

The palace is that big C on the left end of the map.

The back side

We went on the guided tour, Sebastian was kind enough to translate the important points for me.

This tree is a cave

Gallery from the west wing to the rotunda

Neat wood floors

The ceiling in the gallery

As we passed through the rotunda, programs were being placed on the chairs for a free concert tonight INSIDE the rotunda. Handel, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, were all on the program among others. Should we return? You bet! I'll close this posting with more on that. Let's finish touring the palace and the gardens.

The floor pattern upstairs

Some of the original paint, motivating the colors used for the renovated exterior

Family portrait, Prince Georg August et al

The air was humid for Mainz and in the mid 20's (Celsius). The greenery of the gardens and trees tempered the sun, and runners, dogs, grad students, effortlessly became engulfed in this world where half the trees were as old as the palace.

Huge sycamore (I think) tree

A princess drowned herself in this lake once upon a time

Ducks gossiped

Then cussed at other ducks in the lake

'Kinder Schloss'

Chestnut trees lined the allees (allee = alley)

A guy brought his home-built flying space ship, and we really enjoyed watching it.

Our hungry trio then ventured to a 'Greek' restaurant for some gyro and souvlaki plates, with fries of course, everything is served with fries here. Like that evening at Baron with Yuriy and flammkuchen, we saw the front edge of the rain cloud head toward us, and all diners outside were asked to move inside as the rain and wind increased. From the table by the windowless inside, we watched the front and back edge of the dark cloud pass to the east. We proceeded to the neighboring ice cream shop.

With a couple hours left before the concert, we ventured by auto into the center of Wiesbaden to see Kaiser Friedrich Ringskirche.

The Ringskirche, note the scale bar called Sebastian

The Ringskirche was seated among the most upscale apartments in Weisbaden:

Admission to the concert was first come first served, with doors opening half an hour before hand. After filling our appetite for amazement and failing to access stairs to ascend into the balcony or towers of the Ringskirche, we headed back to Schloss Biebrich shortly after 4:30 for the 6pm concert. As we arrived, dozens of horn players were closing their afternoon session with occasional drizzling rain.

Small groups distinguished by uniform first performed before conglomerating for the finale

Elkhorns!!

We waited patiently in the drizzle. The doors opened as the rain became heavier than tolerable for waiting outside.

The concert was given by students of the Wiesbaden Musikakademie who performed eight pieces total in small groups or solo. The marble columns and walls inside the rotunda brightened every sound to a pleasant and vibrant glow that resonated with the audience. The quality of all performances was especially high and the audience demanded an encore bow from every performer. I felt the flutes were especially enhanced, and listening to Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's Concerto in b-flat minor performed by a quintet of only flutes was new and remarkable. Just before the intermission, the audience giggled as the thunder rumbled as the soprano sang words of spring and hiking in the forest in Shubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. The audience became even more energized as an organizer invited the audience to enjoy free sparkling wine during intermission, courtesy of Henkel's (they make sweet cooking knives, although not as sweet as Cutco). The concert closed with a quartet consisting of a harpsichord, cello, wooden flute, and a majestic, though young, Scandinavian looking soprano performing O Let me weep from Henry Purcell's short opera, The Fairy Queen. Her height over all other performers of the night, blond hair contrasted by blood red lipstick and earrings, and complete resolve in her wide-eyed expression and voice completely convinced me that she was a queen and in mourning.