Oh, cat, don't fly away again. My head's killing me.

The damned idiots who are riding thrill-rides at Tivoli, only a block north of here. Just checked in; very nice, centrally-located, affordable and tiny-roomed, just the way I like 'em, and ready for one last night of sleep before flying home. I'm sure there's a very long German word for not wanting a trip to end, but DuoLingo hasn't taught it to me yet.

Last night was the last of the 7 operas at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, the Flying Dutchman, in a serviceable but vaguely cheap production (after that Ring cycle I'm not surprised, gotta cut corners somewhere). Nice concept though -- Daland and the Dutchman are captains of industry, instead of captains of ships; Daland runs a factory that makes fans (???), so when we get to Act II (or Scene II, since there were no intermissions), there are cardboard boxes everywhere. The Dutchman is "new capitalism," he does something that makes him rich, but who the hell knows what -- hedge funds? oil? cocaine? It actually made sense of the story, instead of fighting it at every turn, which the Ring production did (mostly to delightful effect, true). All musical values superb, as usual, and so fast -- it took only 2 hours 15 minutes! By my count, I sat through 24 and a half hours of music, which taken at the SF Opera's clip would have lasted 3 hours longer. Didn't feel rushed at all.

But that's done, as is the 12-hour train ride back to Denmark (I forgot to bring a 4-year-old with me, but, fortunately, nobody else forgot), and the trip's over. And I'm sad. It was a truly great 2 weeks, both the time here in Denmark and the Festival, and made much greater by friends old (hi Erling and Johan!) and new (hi Stephen!). Problem is, sure, I accomplished all but one goal of this trip (I didn't get a magnet at Bakken), everything went great, but I just WANT TO BE HERE, not the USA. If I had a billion dollars, I'd just live here, I would. But I don't, so back home... I know, it's SO SAD, you're CRYING. NOTHING SADDER EVER. Except when Leonardo DiCaprio died in Titanic. That was the saddest thing ever.

Well, off to bed, then plane, then home, and I swear I will take up my knitting again! Also, I will tell you the horrible story of why I stopped knitting. Scariest thing ever.

This is it -- this is why I'm doing this trip! And, yes, I'm good. It's worth it.

Bayreuth is a charming smallish town, good bus system but no trolley or subway, so mid-size for this area. My hotel is a ways from the Theater, but right next to the cobblestone pedestrian-only streets that make the downtown shopping area, and I've got a bus pass now, so I'm getting the feel.

But it's the Wagner Festival that got me here, and I've now seen 2 of the 7 shows I have tickets for, and I'm kinda in heaven. I think this isn't that different from what roller coaster aficionados feel. Or heroin addicts. Just guessing of course.

For the Ring, I got the cheapest seat I could, and it's not even a seat, really, just a bench tucked into a little cubbyhole on the balcony, but it's got a fine view of the stage, and so steeply raked that heads in front of me aren't a problem. Also, my right shoulder is against the wall of the cubbyhole, so that makes my reptilian hindbrain happy.

Musical considerations first, and this is glorious. The orchestra pit is REALLY a pit, with barely a slit for the sound to come out of, which tips the scales to the stage, and lets the singers ring out beautifully (also gives the orchestra an interesting shimmer). Even the weakest of the singers is a joy to hear.

Visually, more of a mixed bag. I love the sets so far -- both are giant 3-story structures on turntables, amazing engineering feats. Das Rheingold is in a sleazy motel/gas-station apparently near Amarillo, Texas; die Walkuere on a massive oil-extraction structure apparently in Azerbaijan. The theme appears to be Greed is Bad. I like a wacky Ring but I'd like wackiness with a more complex intention. This just seems cluttered, especially in Rheingold, when nearly the entire cast of 20 (14 singing roles, 5 homeless drug addicts in swimwear, and the gas-station attendant played by a young David Cross) is jammed into the tiny upstairs motel room; I was hoping the girl with the hat would show up and ask "Is my Aunt Minnie in there?" (That's a reference to "a Night at the Opera," which if you haven't seen, do). Also off-putting was the constant and usually pointless use of video projected on large screens.

All the "magic" moments have been effectively botched (Alberich turning into things with the Tarnhelm, the Magic Fire, etc.), but I'm thinking this is intentional. The text in the program (7 Euro) talks a lot about irony; this is less irony than adolescent mockery, like when I was 19 and a friend and I re-imagined the Ring in pedestrian terms; instead of a sword in a tree, a switchblade in a Formica breakfast table, that sort of shit. Fortunately, nobody gave us a pile of money and a famous theater to wank around in.

Still, I feel kind of small complaining about how poor the visual production is when the audio is so fine. After Walkuere, the conductor got the biggest ovation of all, and it went on for 10 minutes. And such a fast reading! On the stairs out, a little French gentleman engaged me in conversation, and compared the conductor to Usain Bolt. "Un heure cinq minutes! Olympic sprinter!" he said. "Ja, mach schnell!" I replied, completely oblivious to any language issue.

Here's some good reviews from Parterre Box:

http://parterre.com/2013/08/23/first-impressions/

http://parterre.com/2013/08/24/flame-off/

Last full day in Denmark! Erling had an idea, and we rolled with it, up to Helsingor (sic, I forget how to do the O with the slash through it) to tour Kronberg Castle, and enjoy scenes from Hamlet played in various locations by a troupe of very game English-speaking actors. We got a recorded ghost smack-talkin' Claudius, but the rest was live-action -- Polonius trying to make sense of Hamlet, in the main courtyard, then up to the king's council chamber to hear Polonius sucking up to Claudius and Gertrude, and down to a cellar for "the Murder of Gonzago" done as a puppet show. There were other scenes, but there were lots of stairs. LOTS. Still great fun.

Tomorrow off on the train to Hamburg, which goes on the ferry across the sound, which I did back in February and is really neat, and then from Hamburg to Nuremberg. I am of course imagining all sorts of scenarios like "we don't have any reservation in your name" to "we had a reservation but somebody claiming to be you called and cancelled it," so I'll be pleasantly surprised when the Nuremberg hotel lets me stay there. Pessimism is the highest form of optimism.

...because I never update when I stay home. Heck, I barely update status on LazyFace. I'm not lazy enough for Twitter.

Currently in the G102 gate area at SFO, waiting for the flight to Copenhagen. Actual destination is Bayreuth, in Bavaria, for the Wagner Festival, but the SAS flight into Denmark was about a thousand bucks less than any connection I could get into Germany, so more than covers the train ride (plus, I love trains). Added advantage, my friend Erling said "come a few days early and stay with me, it's Pride Week!" So that works out wonderfully. I even made a crochet masterpiece as a hospitality gift for him! No pictures yet since it's a surprise for him, I'll put up pix after he gets it.

Next stop, Copenhagen! And since I've already seen the Little Mermaid, Copenhagen's equivalent of SF's Alcatraz, I can go farther afield in the tourism department. Something exotic like Tivoli Gardens perhaps. We'll soon know!

Something pert and saucy. Not there on this trip, but it does make for a nifty spiral. And I don't even know where the last week will take me!

And as my HTML skills don't seem to be up to embedding the GoogleMap in my entry, this link will have to do.

Always Turning to the Right! Except outside Grenoble.