Little Harp Sister

During my holiday in Ireland last year I missed my harp very much. For some time I had dreamed of getting a smaller one for playing outside in the forests or beside rivers. To get it on a plane it should be very small. So I started searching, but it seemed impossible to find a harp with enough strings but light weight, a nice sound and less expensive than my first one.

I never stopped searching and when spring knocked at our door I got restless. In April I noticed, that a harp builder had moved from the Lake of Constance to a place only 50 km from us. He's a teacher from a Waldorfschool who wants to make instruments for his pupils, without any luxury, but sturdy. When I called him, he was just building one of his small and medium size harps and he called me, when he had finished them.

On April 19th I made a little trip to this old farm house.The small harp of this harp maker still is too big to sit on my lap in a plane, it also has 3 strings less than would be perfect and weights still a little bit too much to carry all day on my back - BUT - it only costs as much as I had already earned playing with my first harp. Well, I couldn't resist and took little Biddy home with me:

She is one of the reasons I'm spending less time at the PC, as both harps get jealous if I don't play them every day, so my practise time has increased. With less strings and less levers I can't play all my songs on Biddy, but most of them can be adapted and it's so much easier to take her outside. I can even open doors with her in my hand! 

Instead of metal levers used on most harps, Biddy had the medieval version of hooks:

They work in the same way.

Her 4 kg are easy to carry around to the neighbours or for a little walk - and she loves to be outside. Her sound is strong and she stays tuned much better after playing outside - and in front of listeners.

This way she's asking to be taken along when I travel - by train or car.

As a real harp bag would be just as expensive as the harp itself, I looked for a different solution. One day our kids sleeping bag caught my attention - and yes, Biddy has the size of a child and feels very comfortable in it's own sleeping bag:

That's perfect for walking and travelling by car, but to take it on trains and walking in the rain (i. e. from car to platform), it's not enough. So I remembered the way I kept my camera save on my first cycle trips way back in the 80s and bought some waxed cloth, took some duct tape, a stapler and some velcro strips and made my own harp-rain-coat.

Luckily I had it on our first adventure when it rained heavily the last day and the sleeping bag would have been soaked on the way to the car. Now little Biddy is ready for plenty of outings and she just loves it, as you might read in one or the other blog.

 Travelling on the train.

Fountain in front of the main station in Würzburg.

Cyclingholiday along the river Main

Three years ago my husband and I cycled along the Main from Bayreuth as far as Würzburg. That year we travelled on to Nuremberg and a medieval festival in Abenberg. This year we had decided to cycle along the remaining part of the Main and although it turned out a longer distance than expected, it was the most comfortable cycle trip we did so far.

We took the train to Würzburg and after lunch beside the famous old bridge we cycled to Gemünden, the first stop, about 52 km.

 It was a perfect day for cycling: sunny, but not too hot, no wind except at our backs, even cycling paths under a blue sky, beside fields of grains, gras and many colorful flowers and hills with grape wine.

 We passed by the first castle ruins, watching us from the top of the hills.

The next day we saw many more castle ruins and well kept castles. We also visited the home of Snow White and stayed in a small place of wine growers called Homburg.

Sometimes we saw som special treat beside the cycle path:

The 3rd day took us to Freudenberg - the main reason for this trip. This place is the home of one of the best destilleries of fruit brandy and German Whisky, which I sell at work. We got some samples to taste and were allowed to look at the casks, where the Whisky is sleeping, as well as a smal tour through the destillery.

The following day started just as sunny and promising, but during our lunch break a soft summer rain started and stayed with us most of the afternoon. Luckily there was no wind and no thunder storm although they were forecasted for the area all week.

That night we stayed with a friendly couple offering their attic flat via Airbnb. We had plenty of space to dry our wet stuff and enjoyed a very lazy evening.

The next morning we had a look at the castle and market of Aschaffenburg and cycled on to Seligenstadt where I had a look at the local cloister.

Next we climbed the hill in Steinheim for a look at the castle and then moved on to Offenbach. There were plenty of clouds that day and some looked loaded with rain, but those never were above us. We even enjoyed a break beside a ferry, still taking cars across the Main.

When we had checked into our hotel that day, we still had energy left and walked down to the river to enjoy a wonderful sunset playing with clouds down there.

The last day took us along Frankfurt to Mainz. We were suprised about the modern outskirts of the city and the green surroundings of the cycle paths. As it was a Sunday, it was busy but we never had to get off our bikes.

 There was a long stretch of urban gardening.

 All day arriving and starting planes were above us.

 In Mainz the river Main flows into the river Rhein.

That night we spent at the youth hostel - on top of a hill as usually. Then it was time to say goodbye to the rivers and travel home. We were tempted to cycle on but had already booked our train tickets.

 We had some time to spare while changing trains in Frankfurt and went down to the Main once again to say goodbye.

At home a wonderful sky welcomed us.