Saturday June 2nd 2018 - walking tour and night of culture

Saturday was Culture day and we had booked the walking tour in Gottingen which was in English at 11am. The man was interesting with a good sense of humour but he lacked fluency which made it a bit stressful. His name was Claus Magnus – not Santa Claus just Big Claus – but he was small! 

The city was all prepared for the night of culture. This stall is likely to be one used for Christmas markets.

We got an extensive tour of the town hall with its paintings depicting actual events in the town's history and its stained glass and some of its quirks.

This girl from our group was given the honour of unlocking the door to the main chamber.

The city's gold was stored here. And its important documents.

These holes are vents for heating the room from the room below.

We emerged from the Rathaus to start our guided walk through Gottingen, stopping first at "Little Big Man" and passing by the church where a man was playing a trumpet up in the spire.

The Pauliner Kirche - SS. Peter and Paul's Church . Today it is a conference and exhibition Centre for the Gottingen State and University Library.

This sculpture of a flounder in a hand is the work of Gunter Grass who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999 and who died in 2015. Not only was he a novelist but he was also a poet, playwright, artist, political activist and occasional jazz musician.

Statue of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg  (1742-1799) known for his outstanding achievements in physics.

Our last visit was to the student prison which was very interesting.

When we parted with our guide we had a light lunch in Nuddelhaus in Rote Strasse. We went back home for a bit of a rest and came back into town around 3pm. There was little happening but the crowds had gathered. We were fascinated that there was a big truck delivering settees and armchairs along the main street. We took advantage of this later.

Then I discovered the state of Jim’s trousers so we went back home to get him into something more respectable. Then back again and on to Sambesi – a South African-German restaurant where we had African finger food – sweet potato chips, falafel and plantain chips with 2 dips – aioli and coriander and ginger. Very nice. Then Jim had zebra steak in pepper sauce and I had ostrich steak in coconut curry sauce (very fruity) and spinach in coconut sauce. All nice.

Then we went to Willemsplatz where there were to be bands – it was packed but we were very lucky to get a seat at makeshift picnic tables. 4 Germans joined us and they were very funny and friendly. When the band Satisfaction finally got started they opened with Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”. Jim was in his element! They also played Johnny be Good, Born to be wild, some song we did not recognise, and Satisfaction. We had a great laugh with the Germans who were our age and thorougly enjoying the music. However, we had to leave then because it was nearly 8pm and we had seats for the orchestra.

 It was a great experience. It was the Gottinger Symphony Orchestre with the conductor Christoph-Mathias Mueller. In the first half they played Verdi’s Triumphal March from Aida: Grieg’s Pier Gynt Orchestral Suite No.2 Opus 55; Verdi’s overture to the opera Nabucco; Johann Strauss Junior Liebesbotschaft, Galopp; and Hans Christian Lumbye Drommebilleder – Fantaisie (never heard of him before but it was really nice). In the second half they played Johanne Strauss Junior’s So angstliich sind wir nicht op. 413; Emile Waldteufel My Dream Waltz op. 314; Johann Strauss The Blue Danube and Tchaikowsky’s 1812 Overture. Of course an encore was required so they played Franz Lehar Gold and Silver Waltz, another one I cant remember and finally Strauss’s Radetsky March which was conducted hilariously and was a great finale.