Bonn Triathlon - Museumesmeile - Choirs in the Church

What a great day and a great location for the triathlon! A 3.8km swim then 60km on the bike with a 15km run to complete the event. The swim sounds long compared to the other distances but was actually swum from the Adenaur Bridge to the Kennedy Bridge along the Rhine. This is down stream and the current is quite strong. The strong swimmers shoot down river in no time.

Swimmers leaving the Rhine in the Bonn Triathlon; note the spray from the boat in the background

But even the non-swimmers are ok; as long as you can keep your head above water then the current will deliver you to the bike stage. Trust me, there were a few heads simply bobbing along, delighted that the current was working to their advantage! Bonn has turned on a lovely day as well; a few clouds but enough sunshine to keep things warm and a breeze to drag most of the heat away, revealing a beautiful light to see Bonn and a pleasant day to be out and about, watching other people sweat through a triathlon!

Bike transition - swimmers come from below, grab their bikes and ride out by the Rhine above. What a great location for a Triathlon!

I thought I'd head upstream and see if I could find the start of the swim. Unfortunately by the time I'd arrived the last of the swimmers were in the water. I did successfully find a mobile coffee vendor by the side of the river and a cappuccino was just the ticket. I'd heard that there was a family day/event in the Museumsmeile precinct. Remembering Steven Wright's mantra that everywhere is walking distance if you have the time, I set off on foot back over the Rhine toward the DHL offices.

I found the museum district and it was pretty well packed out. I arrived just in time to hear 'Us &Them' (a German Pink Floyd cover band) just as they kicked off the second half of the 'Dark Side of the Moon' album. They were good too; very good! The guy on guitar and the girls' vocals especially. How nice in a Sunday afternoon to be swaying contentedly to Pink Floyd in the now warm sunshine. Sublimely pleasant. The main attraction appeared to be tightrope walkers; I did mention this was a family day. The wire walkers seemed very competent but a little old fashioned; does that sound a little snooty? Too bad! I'd just enjoyed some live (if a cover version) playing of the best album ever made so perhaps lunch was the next best thing to consider. Unlike me, everyone seemed entranced by the tightrope so suddenly the massive queues at the food tents had dwindled to a few grumpy old men. I fitted right in! I succumbed to some fresh bread rolls smothered in cheese (not sure if it was a Brie or a camembert) tomato and lettuce; a taste sensation! The wire walker continued to enthrall the locals and I moseyed out and back toward Bonn central.

It was after 2pm by the time I stumbled into Munsterplatz. As is often the case, a craft market had broken out in the square; Beethoven's statue was once again beset by tents smothered in ceramics, jewelry, leather goods and the like. Some of these folks are amazingly clever; as ever it was most pleasant just to potter from stall to stall and admire just how creative people can be.

There was more music again. This time, a young lady (perhaps more accurately I should say a lady of indeterminate age but just lately it seems that everyone is younger than me so 'young lady' is probably accurate) standing on a box seemingly just large enough for her feet. She plays a piano accordion and has a kazoo (that looks like a plastic trumpet but is obviously a kazoo once she starts to blow it) and a harmonica in a hands free frame around her neck. She introduces each song in German but they are invariably 1930's American swing tunes. Her accompaniment is straightforward but it is her voice that is wonderful. Soaring above the hubbub of the marketplace, she sings with a careless ease and the result is delightful. She has a wicked smile and, while gifted with a beautiful singing voice, has no hesitation in blowing that damn kazoo for a verse in each song! This strange combination of wonderful vocals and annoying kazoo solos combined with that wicked smile suggest she is sharing her little joke with us. It's like she is suggesting that she knows she has an amazing voice but it's only busking for goodness sake! Listen to the kazoo and think what a nice day it is and how much better things will sound when I start singing again.

Time for coffee and cake! This is one tradition I am beginning to embrace with alarming regularity. The coffee here is ok but the cakes are to die for. Invariably the piece of cake offered would feed a small family for several days but, like the brave Antipodean I am, I somehow manage to struggle through and demolish my allotted portion. I am happily killing time with the remnants of cake, waiting for 5pm to roll around. There is a church (in German the Namen-Jesu-Kirch) which is just up from the Beethoven house and museum in Bongasse. It's been closed for renovation since I arrived here and has only opened in the last few weeks. I noticed that there is a choral recital at 5 this afternoon. Choral music in the acoustic wonderland that is a large, old church - how could I say no? Music by Sandstrom, Verdi and Mendelssohn. Strangely to me, not Felix Mendelssohn but Arnold Mendelssohn. Arnold? Sorry for you music buffs, but Arnold sounds like Felix's geeky American or English cousin. My imagination conjures  an image of Arnold as a spectacled nerd who tends to speaking slowly and is enthralled by model trains. Apologies to any  Arnolds reading this ... As a form of apology, I am genuinely looking forward to learning more of the musical genius that is (or was) Arnold Mendelssohn this afternoon.

The concert was amazing; I'd guess there were thirty voices with no accompaniment in a church with fifty foot ceilings. They sang ten pieces with an extra one as an encore and the sounds were sublime. For one piece, the choir moved from the standard configuration at the front of the church to being individually spread around the church. The sopranos led off and neatly, they sang individually with each singer separated by half a bar. The effect wasn't a round but an echo. The spread of the voices around the church just added to the acoustic effect of space and echo. A couple of the pieces also had dissonance rather than harmony. I find these pieces challenging to listen to but always interesting nonetheless. They must also be challenging to sing as they seem to sound 'wrong' but work almost in spite of this. A marvelous choir in the perfect setting. At the conclusion of each piece, the church's acoustics held a couple of seconds of sustained sound, ensuring a full and complete sound. A wonderful day in Bonn. From the Floyd cover band to the young girl's singing and playing her kazoo to the choir in the church built in the late 1600's. Quite the aural excursion.