Bayreuth

We have mostly been concentrating all our trips on little day outing close to home. This jewel of a town is only about 45 minutes away. I fell in love with it. It has a rich history of music, being the birthplace of the famous german composer: Wagner.

This is the famous opera house

Markgrafliches Opernhaus

This, like most buildings in Europe, Looks pretty general and non-descript on the outside.

But then you step inside and see....

This!

This is facing towards the back, so you can see the "princes box"

This Opera house is considered the "crown Jewel" of Germany.

Napoleon came to this opera house, and loved the blue velevet curtains so much that he sent them as a gift to a Duchess in Vienna. They have never replaced the stage curtains, instead they have thin wood and canvas painted to look like blue velvet curtains. It is still very beautiful, but I wish Napoleon had kept the originals in place.

You hear, in history, vague refrences to Napoleon's height and how he was sensative about it. I think that generally, people back then where shorter in stature. Here is Matt and the girls standing under the balcony in the Opernhaus. Matt's head almost reaches the ceiling!

This is the palace Neues. It is a grand structure in the center of town. We arrived to late to take a tour, but we were able to walk in the gardens and the park connected to the palace grounds. They were so lovely...even on a rainy, wet day.

Another wing of the palace.

We were also able to visit a small dinosaur museum while here. Who knew that you could find these things in Europe too. Ha Ha! The kids were impressed. There is more documented in Europe about dinosaurs and early man. It was a different region then the Americas, so we have seen different species of dinosaurs then we saw in the States. It is so cool! We have also seen the remains of an ice age man.

Hannah loves Geodes. She has a collection of Geodes she has been working on for awhile, along with different stones and crystals.

This, by far, has to be the biggest, natural Geode we have ever seen. Sitting inside a tiny little museum, tucked away on the busy streets of Bayreuth where Wagner was born.

It was a fun day!