Lange Nacht an der Museen

This weekend, we had no excursions scheduled, so we stayed home to explore Weimar a bit more. I am starting to get my bearings, at least on the routes we take regularly. In other parts of town, though, I suspect there is some kind of strange vortex which turns you around and sends you in the direction opposite of where you planned, because I couldn't possibly be getting lost. In any case, it seems that if you wander around long enough, the vortex spits you out in a familiar plaza or next to the park, so no harm done.

We thought about going elsewhere for the weekend, maybe Dresden for a day or back to Leipzig for a concert, but I'm glad we stayed here. One of the other teachers in Andy's program told us about a place that rents bicycles, and also about an annual event here in Weimar on Saturday, called Lange Nacht der Museen. All the museums and cultural institutions in town stayed open late, usually around midnight, and many of them offered short lectures and concerts. One ticket each for five euros apiece got us into any of these museums and events, so it was a pretty good deal.

We visited the Liszt Museum for a short piano recital and also a viewing of Liszt's death mask. Are you famous? Recently deceased? Then let us take a plaster molding of your face for all posterity to see! I joke, but I find death masks fascinating to look at, and in the time prior to photography, they make sense. As an aside for those of you with CPR training, I just read that the face of the original RescuciAnne doll (Annie, Annie! Are you okay?) was based on the face from a famous death mask of an unknown girl who supposedly drowned in the Seine River in the 1880s (death masks were also used to help identify unknown corpses).

While waiting for the recital at the Liszt Museum, we took a walk through the Parkhöhle, a series of caves found near the Ilm River. In the 18th century, one of the dukes of Weimar needed a beer cellar (who doesn't?) and a clear source for the water used to brew his beer, so he built (well, of course not the duke personally) these caves 12 meters underground. During World War II the caves were used as an air raid shelter.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the Schlossmuseum inside the Stadtschloss, the former residence of the ducal family of Saxe-Weimar. We had no idea where to find the recital that we knew was being held inside, so instead we wandered through the rooms looking at the artwork. Ultimately, we stumbled onto the recital, which I consider to be another example of the Weimar vortex: get lost and it spits you out into the right place.

It was fairly late at this point and I hadn't had any ice cream. Immediate action was taken to ameliorate the situation. One can't go wrong with Nutella ice cream, which Andy ate, and I purposely chose something that I had no idea what it was: Quark Waldfrucht. The best I can tell, Waldfrucht is the equivalent of our "mixed berry," while Quark is cheese curd. Verdict: excellent.

After a fruitless (but not Waldfrucht-less) search for some Funky Funky Fresh Music Jam Dance Party as part of the museum night, we went home. We had had a long day, including a bike ride earlier, and even the best shoes get a little uncomfortable with too much walking. Tomorrow, I'll write more about our weekend cycling adventures, but thanks to Andy's colleague for her excellent ideas!