15 August 2013.
Our time in Dresden has come to an end. We have spent more time here, than we would usually consider doing in a single location. Initially the reasoning was simple. A Neil Young concert. But I also knew that we would be able to venture out of the city easily. In the end, Neil Young’s guitarist was involved in some accident, and so the show got cancelled. Disappointing as that has been (for Niel, mainly), we still loved our stay in Dresden.
I now have a strong suspicion that Emily’s surname is Murphy. No matter what I do, when I need to engage in a one-on-one conversation with her, to ensure I understand how to better translate her instructions to a more meaningful chaos, Niel will suddenly need an immediate decision as to which confusing route to take. Which then leaves me with little to no time to achieve any form of orientation. Our ability to make a U-turn is coming along nicely.
First, we tried chasing down another wild goose. I have now begrudgingly made peace with the fact that I won’t find a shop that sells bobbin lace goodies. So we found our way back to the Autobahn, in search of Schloss Moritzburg. This beautiful palace was the hunting and pleasure palace of Augustus the Strong between 1723 and 1733. It has a large lake in front of it, which means that it is almost impossible to take anything other than a puzzle perfect photo. 
We now needed to get ourselves to Kassel. If Neil Young wasn’t going to entertain us, then I’m bargaining that there is an entire Australian Youth Orchestra that can back each other up in case of any unforeseen mishaps. As long as Joshua Bell keeps himself in tact. I’m fairly confident that a violinist would be less accident-prone than a rock guitarist. 😉
There are little German towns dotted all along the Autobahn, and we decided to sneak off into one of them for a quick bite. Obhausen was the lucky chosen one. We drove right through it in a flash, and after yet another U-turn, we understood why the town seemed asleep. It boasts that it is a whopping 1111 years old. Yes, I typed that correctly. One Thousand One Hundred and Eleven years. That’s more years than inhabitants, I’m sure! So we tried the neighboring town, Querfort, which is considerably younger at a mere 1100 years. Here we had a quick coffee and snack before we continued to Kassel.
Unforeseen mishaps always occur. But this time, the consequences were not too dire. Our concert in Kassel started late, because the conductor’s flight was prevented from landing at the airport. They did eventually manage to land, and what was to follow is something that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. The Australian Youth Orchestra – about a hundred young musicians, all clearly masters of their instruments – performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Josua Bell on the violin. I will not even try to describe this in words. That was followed by Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps. By now, Niel was virtually on the edge of his seat, convinced that this was the beginning of heavy metal. And for an encore, the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin opera.
Oh Wow!
