This is the post I was unable to upload previously. We are now home in Wilmington.
Today we docked in the small town of Marktheidenfeld (try saying that three times fast). We had a choice of visiting a blacksmith, a paper maker, a winery, or a collector of antique pianos. We elected to visit the home of Michael Günther, an artist and collector of antique pianos in the small town of Homberg, Germany, which is not to be confused with the better known, large industrial city of Hamburg located in northern Germany. We thoroughly enjoyed our selected tour. We took a bus to Homburg and then walked through town to his home.
You might think this is the sign for a synagogue, but it is really the sign for a wine bar.Homburg is located in the Franconia region of Germany which is famous for its white wines. The wine bottles of the region are shaped as shown in this decoration on a house. Several real wine bottles are in the decoration.The rear steps to an ancient stone tower near his house.We were led to a room in his home with six antique pianos and seating for all of us.He played a classical selection for us on most of the pianos. This one is a harpsichord, which means that the instrument plucks the strings. Thus the volume of the note is the same no matter how hard you hit the key.This one is also a harpsichord.He also collects ancient musical manuscripts. This one was written by a student of Bach’s who copied the assigned music he was to learn to play into this book. It is interesting to think that Bach once held the same music he is holding now.This is a piano. A piano creates the notes by hammering the strings so the volume of the note depends on how hard you hit the key. It has very simple construction, but had a good sound.This is one of the most valuable pianos in his collection. It has no foot pedals, but the function of the foot pedal is achieved by using the knee to raise the bottom piece of wood below the keys. He got the piano over three other contenders despite paying less, because the previous owner thought he would give it the most tender, loving care.This is a computer generated copy of a piece composed by Mozart when he was six years old. I am pretty sure I couldn’t have written this until I was at least seven.I thought this was the most unusual piano. It was a very interesting and entertaining experience. I really wish we could have seen the rest of his house, some of his art, and the rest of his pianos.His half timber house.The view of the town from his grounds.Street scene from Marktheidenfeld A beer garden on the river behind our boat.I had never seen a rose with flower clusters like this one.
