After a successful shopping trip, a wonderful lunch at Hamburg’s “Passagenviertel,” and a glass of “Cougar Juice” at the hotel bar, Franzi went back to her hotel room to prepare for a phantastic evening at “Elphi.” I’ll tell you more about “Elphi” in a moment.
Portrait of the evening. Pearls! Fake pearls, I assume, but I do not know for sure, because at least the necklace is an inheritance from my paternal grandmother. I love the fact that I wear my grandmother's jewelry. I also have a very simple tin signet ring, which bears the initials of my paternal grandmother's married name. My grandmother and my grandfather married in 1936 and a signet ring with the initials-to-be it was a common engagement gift at that time. Hence, I assume that the ring is around 90 years old. And I love to wear it on my pinkie finger. I also have a wonderful bronze ring with an amber, of which I think to remember that my mother told me that she found the stone on the beach at the Baltic Sea when she was a teenager. She had it put in a ring, and I get to wear it 80+ years later. Isn’t that all wonderful?
Outside of my hotel – on one of the many bridges in Hamburg, before being picked up by my Uber to head to “Elphi” – wearing my new black winter coat.
“Elphi” is the colloquial name of “Elbphilharmony,” a spectacular 110 m (120 yard) high, 26-story philharmonic concert hall, in the form of a rectangular glass trapezoid, with a wavy roof, built in 2014, on top of an existing 37 m (40 yard) high, 10-story red brick harbor warehouse from 1963. It truly is spectacular!
Let me show you a picture (from the web).
When you arrive and made it past the ticket office, you take an escalator that will bring you up 37 meters to the ground floor of Elphi” in one shot within a 2+ minute ride.
From up there, you have a great view over a part of Hamburg’s close to 1000-year-old harbor.
The next steps are several staircases that, eventually, lead you to the “great hall.”
Franzi’s outfit of the evening was a wonderful layered black floor-length dress, worn with a dark blue bolero and dark blue 8 cm / 3+ inch heels, and black clutch bag. The last time I had worn this dress and outfit was at Bayerische Staatsoper, during my second weekend trip crossdressed to Munich.
And then, finally, there’s drinks available! Fortunately.
This is but part of “Großer Saal” during the “introduction.” You might remember that the “introduction” is what Franzi tends to enjoy prior to opera performances, especially those in foreign languages. This time, Julius Heile, a musicologist and music educator, who regularly appears as a moderator of introductory events of this orchestra, explained the four pieces we were about to hear. These were Richard Strauss: Don Juan op. 20, Camille Saint-Saëns: Violine concert No. 3 h-minor op.61, Sergej Prokofjew: Symphony No. 1 D-major op. 25 »Symphonie classique«, and Igor Strawinsky: The Firebird / Suite (version from 1919), all performed by the NDR (the public broadcaster of Northern Germany) Elbphilharmonic Orchestra, shortly before their departure to a concert tour at several major cities around Asia. He explained the background of both, the composer and the pieces and he played recordings of short parts of the key elements we were to hear. I loved it!
The great hall was starting to fill up. And then we got to hear a phantastic classical concert by the wonderful Orchestra of NDR in a spectacular (both architecturally and acoustically) concert hall. When I looked around, all I saw was people, wonderfully dressed (for the most part – or – to their abilities) and faces full of joy, amazement, and appreciation.
And when it all was over, I was hungry and thirsty. But, fortunately, I knew about a wonderful restaurant in walking distance to “Elphi,” where I had been with my wife a few years earlier (after a concert at “Elphi”). So, I took my chances and was lucky to get a spot at the bar (which I love anyway) for some wine and cheese.
And again, it was late, and again, I would have loved to stay longer (even though there was a highly annoying and noisy group of “Kegelclubbers“ at a table close to me). But, again, an exciting program awaited Franzi on Saturday: arts and culture – interrupted by lunch – the former at Kunsthalle Hamburg, the middle part at “Außenalster,” and the latter at notorious “St. Pauli.” Stay tuned! Sign up as a follower or follow me on Instagram.
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