“I am the humble servant of the Creative Spirit.”

Adriana Lecouvreur, Act I scene iii

One last look at the Bayreuther Festspielhaus without crowds or security this morning.

And then off thisaway:

Kept losing time all morning. Nothing in particular, just dragging. Knew I would get to the Salzburg Festspielhaus quite late. Definitely no time to check in to hostel and shower (sorry, reihenfreund). No biggie, just dumped my motorcycle in bicycle parking outside the venue, dashed upstairs and changed into dry clothes, and dumped my bag at the garderobe (whyyyyyy does NYC always charge for this, buried in the basement and seldom used, so that every tier looks like a hobo camp of puffer jackets and messenger bags?!). One minute to spare.

Ah, Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur: opera’s most tragic 4-act cat-fight. Performed in concert. Lead Anna Netrebko. Her “I was just holding them for a friend” lover Maurizio sung by AN’s actual husband Yusuf Eyvazov. Anita Rashvelishveli as the jealous princess (big rep from the former USSR today.) The audience was amped for fireworks and they got ’em.

Came out to a cluster of Polizei encircling my bike who I just knew weren’t merely trying to guess its horsepower (110). So I got a little souvenir:

I was sufficiently contrite that they didn’t make a big fuss, not that there is ever any arguing, their main concern was security, they made a little joke that it doesn’t compare with the costs of a NYC ticket, and I was on my way.

I have my first free evening in a while. Going to see what kind of trouble I can get into at the Biergarten.