Vive la France, Tasmanian Violas and More...

Finally I manage to write to the English blog... Sorry that you always have to wait longer!

After some days with a lot of small and great experiences, I arrived in Karlsruhe yesterday.

And that's what happened:
Monday morning, I had a little street music session, with Bach's 1st suite. Just in front of a bank in Freiburg, next to a building site, under a roof to be protected from the rain. The money I got was enough for lunch and dinner, so I was quite happy :-) Then, I met Hannah, my best friend from primary school - so nice :)

Rhine-Rhône-Canal Path

 Afterwards, I started from Freiburg. According to the principle "I will find some place to stay", I simply started and changed my plans even more: From Breisach, so around 25 km behind Freiburg, I switched to the French Part and went on there. I just couldn't see the gravel path anymore, and people told me it should be great on the other side. It was, so I went on through forests and villages, and really enjoyed it (and also the possibility to talk some French, in order to keep it in mind a little bit...!). Ok, honoustly, after some time, it got pretty boring, because the path was always along the same canal.

"My" Terrace

In the evening, I had to look for an accomodation, which turned out to be much more difficult than I had thought. I was in "Marckolsheim", somewhere in Elsass, and there was supposed to be one hotel in the village. I found it after some time, and there was one appartement free for 300 Euro a night. So I had to go on with my search, and my rescue was "Gites de France": A system of private rooms in France, which has quite a lot of offers in Marckolsheim. After trying at some places that were  full, I ended  up at a wonderful, sweet place from an old Lady. I had my own little flat with a little kitchen and  a huge terrace on the roof, just for me - amazing! And the lady was so sweet :)
By the way, the "Marckolsheimer" welcomed me with a great honking concert for about 2 hours, everywhere in the town. Just didn't get why they were driving around with French flags...;-)

Bridge of Strasbourg

After a short practice session in the next morning, I had to leave this wonderful place. Still got a lot of good and nice tipps and advices, some food for the ride and went on to the north.
Next Stop: Strasbourg! As you might know, I already have a lot of favourite cities, but now I got another one. Strasbourg is just beautiful and amazing. With all the half-timbered houses it looks a bit like a beautiful little German town like Heidelberg, but this with French Charme and as a world city - so special and nice!!

Beautiful Strasbourg

After a break with Frozen Yoghurt, a Smoothie and an old women who told me about all her suffering with the  hips, I went on. Crossed the border again, back to the German side. After quite a lot of kilometers, I thought, it might be good to find a place to sleep. But it turned out to be even more difficult in Germany than in France. I was in a village next to a village next to the little town "Rastatt", which is close to Karlsruhe. So, brief, simply in the nowhere. After another 20 km, I found a guesthouse in the German Metropole "Hügelsheim" and fell into my bed.

Wednesday morning: Going on to Karlsruhe, to the first concert! Following an advise of my host, I changed the side again and went on on the left (French) side of the Rhine. It was a really beautiful way!

There I met a really nice couple from Tasmania, asking me what I was carrying on my back. On my answer "a viola", the women seemed really relieved and replied "Oh, and I thought, you would carry around a musical instrument!"

My beloved bike on the ferry :-)

Some kilometers later, I got the occasion to one of my favourite things: Going by boat! Ok, it was a Rhine ferry, took 5 minutes, was really noisy and smelled bad. But I went on a boat with my Bikey! :-) After around one houre more in the blazing heat, I finally arrived in Karlsruhe at my friend Julia's place. After some ice cream and a shower, I had time for a short practice and then went to the concert. And if you are surprised: Right, I hardly practiced in those days :-(
In the "Laden 33"  in Karlsruhe, I met Annette from "The Justice Project", who had organised the evening with me. The concert was just fixed a few days before, so we adapted ourselves to a cosy evening, and that was, what it got. A cellist played

On the boat :-)

the first suite from Bach, and I played my Hindemith and 5th suite. Between, there were informations about the topic of Human Trafficking in general, and about the practical work from "The Justice Project".

There was quite a small audition, but nevertheless, it was a really beautiful evening with music, interesting information and a small financial contribution for the work of "Gemeinsam gegen Menschenhandel". I wouldn't want to miss it!

Yep, and today, there was already the second concert, in Baden-Baden! With a lot more people listening, another really nice evening in the Methodist Church of Baden-Baden, which, by the way, has a very nice acoustic, it's a great pleasure to play there. Afterwards, with some sparkling wine, we had a couple of nice talks with interesting people :-)

Now I am sitting here, not knowing if I shall go on tomorrow or the day after.... We will see, maybe I will get the conclusion in my dream tonight ;-)