The entrance to the Steingraeber gallery.
After repairing Claudia’s broken shower in Ulm, we set off for Bayreuth, as Vroni had arranged for her piano to be inspected and tuned by the manufacturers. We were greeted at the Steingraeber factory by the boss, Udo Schmidt-Steingraeber, and by Wolfgang Schaeffler, who has worked in every department of this impressive place, and who gave us the most wonderful tour while her piano was fixed up and tuned. We saw every stage of the piano-making process – fascinating! (I took plenty of pictures but these are not allowed to be put into the public domain.) The factory’s records showed that Vroni’s piano was sold on 21 September 1937. They have long since ceased making the diminutive upright model she has, and I doubt there are very many in existence.
Piano fixed, Vroni played in the main square, and was received with great enthusiasm by the locals, not least because she had been featured in the local paper as the face of the day! I wandered the streets towards the end of the day and took the pictures you see, chancing on a wee boy teasing a dinosaur, as one does.
Vroni was received enthusiastically by the public and interviewed and filmed by journalists.
Two pigeons enjoying a fountain in Bayreuth.
Entrance to the Steingraeber gallery.
Now you know where Bayreuth is!
Bayreuth scene
Boy teasing dinosaur in Bayreuth
Dinosaur in Bayreuth
Bicycles galore - as in most European cities. How backward we are in the UK, it seems!
Get your lederhosen here! #1
Get your lederhosen here! #2
Gun sculpture - muzzle tied.
Bayreuth alley. Chinese spoken here, it seems.
Bayreuth street.
Building in Bayreuth.
Threatening skies above beautiful Bayreuth.
Emetic fountain.
Another view of Vroni playing. This was a brief quiet moment.
Fiddler statue near the Steingraeber gallery.
The Steingraeber logo on a grand piano.
After a fabulous day we drove to Halle, arriving late that night.
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