The Opera Pilgrimage is over...

Now that the Festival part of our journey was over as we had (a) no more tickets and (b) a visit to Vienna planned we would leave the Opera routine behind and venture to one of our favorite cities in the morning.

As was our norm after the show we didn't rush to get away as the traffic from the parking lot is one lane, now that the road is open again and there is a long procession of cars returning to the real world.
We like to find a bench and sit in the darkness, looking a the theater and inwardly reliving what we had just seen and heard. Taxis come and go and the number of people dwindle until there is us and the small  security team (a couple of guys with flashlights).

Although we had eaten a sumptuous meal 90 minutes ago we had arranged to meet Ciaran and say farewell over dessert (and beer) at Weihenstephan after the show. He was on an early train next morning and would spend most of the day heading towards the North of England where his daughters live.  As an English teacher in France he has he entire month of August off work. I had a week to cram a lot in.

We don't know when we will be back in Bayreuth to attend the festival. We just apply each year and get on with our lives while the process unfolds, knowing that one day in a future month of March we will get the good news and rearrange our plans accordingly. Whatever we have planned gets cancelled once a letter from Bayreuth comes through the door.  If you have invited us to your August wedding and we don't show up, you know the reason. Best wishes for a lifetime of Happiness!

So, we would have to leave Richard Wagner for now and thank him for all that he has given us during these past 4 days.  You can't spend every night of your life at the Opera, although Carol would probably say "why not?". We needed to de-compress and return to the real world. It was time to say Auf Weidersehen to the Festspielhaus and leave it in the rear-view mirror of the Jaguar...