Erfurt teems with history and with pristine medieval architecture left relatively untouched by World War II. Erfurt is also home to Kika, a children’s TV channel and the city is dotted with life-size figures of children’s TV characters, 14 to be exact, that we have bumped into all around the city. Ron particularly likes Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread).
Our first weekend arrived much too quickly, and we found ourselves back on the train, heading to Apolda. We had been invited to a concert in the park to see a performance by “Late Summer”, a musical group in which our friend (and future in-law) Andreas is a member. Those of you who followed The Road (https://www.notthatday.com/post/the-road-ends-the-final-blog) know Andreas as part of the duo that performed “America”, the background song for the final blog. Like much of the world, Apolda had hosted a series of outdoor musical and theatrical performances for the summer, and the popular local group Late Summer was scheduled for the final performance of the season.
By the time we boarded the train to Apolda, the day’s events had expanded to include pre-concert coffee and cake at an outdoor café adjacent to the concert grounds, and a traditional barbeque with extended family at the home of Andreas and his wife Kathrin after the concert.
What a day! Most of the songs were American hits from the 70s and 80s, with a few original songs from the band members.
Even though I couldn’t understand much of the German in the original pieces, I was incredibly moved by the lyrical quality and soulful delivery. That’s art, right? Like love, it rests in the eye (and ear!) of the beholder. The video clip above is a little taste, recorded during their encore.
The dinner table was overflowing with hot and cold vegetable dishes from the garden, plates of perfectly grilled Thüringen Wurst (very long and narrow light colored sausages - a specialty of the region), and home-made meatballs. Then coffee, and more cake....
The food, the fellowship, the post-dinner lingering in the garden. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Glad you have resurfaced on the blog! Keep lots of pictures coming. Make sure that Ron takes a few of Linda, too. The Bread Guy looks a lot like Sponge Bob, but not so colorful.