Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum journey nortern Germany, Hamburg, Seesen - Steinway loaded..

http://my.opera.com/BerndAB/albums/show.dml?id=13338792

Some bad pictures from a little travel through northern Germany, Hambrug and Seesen.

1- I visited the Kunst- und Gewerbemuseum (Beurmann stock of 200 harpsichords and pianos, sorry, no photographs as there is a marvellous set of two books by Andreas Beurmann),

2- Steinway Hambrug Rondenbarg shop & concert hall,

3- Seesen city museum (home town of the Steinway family with an ancient upright, a Parlor Grand style II from 1864 - and with the very first New York built square piano serial no. 483. ...

Had a lot of fun playing with the Parlor Grand of Max Matthias in the Hamburg Museum, built 1871, very light weighting, and with it's "brother" on Seesen stage, a Parlor Grand from 1864. Liked the elder one slightly better even if it's weighing was a lot heavier.. Both pianos with the warmer, base-tone-oriented sound pattern, opposite to the actual Steinway sound with duplex scale grands.

But I also had a very lot of fun with the brown B-211 on stage of Hamburg Rondenbarg concert hall. Nice piano. Loved it. Very kind people there, greetings to Mrs. Kröger.

Bernd,

Thank you for the delightful photos and the recounting of your trip.

Hey Bernd:

No offense, but at this time of the year I'll be rather here in Germany:



Vergib mir...

Norbert

yeah Norbert my dear, believe me: I do know all of these Weihnachtsmarkts all over Germany. What these Weihnachtsmarkt guys all and everybody seem not to know (or more probably to ignore) is that the quality of the Gluhwein depends on the quality of the ingredients, not only sugar, not only spices but most important ingredient: wine. A bad wine makes a bad Gluhwein. So it should be a good wine to fabricate a good Gluhwein. Into the rucksack of Knecht Ruprecht with them! .., the evil punishing adlatus of Santa Claus.

As they all are of the same lousy ignorant type, I do prefer to manufacture my own Gluhwein which is mainly based on The Chateau La Tour de By, vintage actually 2009.



http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_La_Tour_de_By

Ich verzeihe Dir.

Cheerio Miss Sophie, the butler shouted. ("Diner for One", my only favourite TV show.) And stumbled over the tiger's head..

But I would like to check out the Weihnachtsmarkt in Vancouver at any time coming. On a big journey to visit every existing and known Centennial D concert grand. "To Build the Best Piano Possible." The Guideline of a well known German U.S. family.. A travel of >>9.000 miles through the whole U.S.


Wish you all a nice slide into the year 2013. It will be a lucky year for me. The critical figure is 13, our lucky one.

(OT BTW We were brave - married on a friday the 13th. .. until now I did no regret. - .. oops regd. my wife? Ask her.. )


Happy new year!

*sigh*
I'd rather be in Germany just about any time of year.

Germany keeps looking better and better as we near the fiscal cliff.

Norbert, where is it? Nürnberg?

You won't even have no fiscal cliff during the next three centuries if you'd pay as much taxes as we the working germans.. On top I pay for every addy Euro earned 42 ct. taxes.

Is it allowed to name it "robbery" - or isn't it, because it is "democratically organised"...?..

But the states administry is well accomodated to absorbe any taxes - regardless how much taxes are.

See a graph about the two curves of taxes in Germany:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...kommensteuer_D_effektiver_Steuersatz.jpg

(..and believe me, the lower curves do relate to a much better profit for the high-income of capital owning people, banc managers, but the normal working were not able to take profit of lower taxes. So the lowering of taxes under the reign of cancellor Schroder was for the profit of the highest earning people and for the riches. "Genosse der Bosse" i.e. socialist friend of the billionaires.)

Proof:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einkommensteuer_%28Deutschland%29


They managed this by lowering the top of the "progression zone" - so that nearly every well-earning working man reaches this top taxes area.. You only earn 55.000 Euros per year - then you pay 42% max tax. So most of the "working middle class" contribute the huge money for the government and the "Euro rescueing" and the European Union et cetera.

There is a giant bureaucracy in Bruxelles with excellent payments and even better retirement schemes..

And if they the authorities people don't manage to consume it by themselves, they spread it to the bancers and the Greeks and the Italians and the Spanish.. The greek ship owners pay no taxes. Officially. The other Greeks pay no taxes - inofficially. The rich Greek buy houses in Germany's top cities as a capital invest to gain loans.. Friends of mine pay rental fees to greek house owners. And the loans increase. The house market is strictly regulated, so it is not so very easy to build a new house. To the profit of the house owners, to the disadvantage of people who intend to build a house. To ensure good return-on-capital-invested.

For working men who do not own a house: It sometimes looks like a modern type of slavery.

The Spanish built a gorgeous infrastructure, no longer there are any river ferries in Spain, all the nicest bridges and broad highways. Totally financed by money loaned.. related to low "european" interests, once.. to the profit of spanish building companies and to the profit of the politicans who handed out the orders. The Italians invested (..) in nice young morocco girls for their beloved big family head Don Silvio. .. who is a piano player hobbyist.
:-)

<duck & cover>

This game is named "Euro-Rettungsfonds" (Euro rescue fonds), and is IMHO the biggest organized robbery in the history of mankind, to ensure good capital return-on-invest quotes for the non-working riches. As we are told that capital is a shy animal, it will flee if taxes were too high.. Actually we see it in France. Some prominent french citizens drop their french passports to go to the U.S. or Belgium becaise the socialist president Francois Hollande announced a tax quote of 75% for very high incomes.

Stupid european system.

The billionaire Mr. ex wannabecome-president U.S. is paying 12% taxes? Pheeew. A notorious thief. Or a stupid american system..?..

The American riches pay too low. Same with the rich Europeans. The European working men pay much too much. It's an organised robbery to the benefit of the riches who manage to make the rules - named "law". By lobbyism.

It's free countries.. nearly.. Please choose.

Sorry for the length. Happy new year!

..and pray that all taxes may be drafted moderately and then may be invested wise..

It looks like Nürnberg. One of the nicest Weihnachtsmarkt cities.

Other recommendable cities with a nice Weihnachtsmarkt are Münster, Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Heidelberg and Aachen. It's nice there!

I like the Aachen one and the Münster one. On the one hand the usual stuff, Gluhwein and Bratwurst. On the other hand very interesting handcrafts shops with nice woodwork, glass work, nice clothes et cetera. A lot of good ideas and stuff-to-make-you-smile for x-mas presents.