This one is fur Elise.
In one of those symmetrical moments that Travel gifts us, myself and my companion Elise find ourselves in Hotel Beethoven.
You’ll know the tune… it is a favourite of jewellery box makers https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wfF0zHeU3Zs.
And I would hear it often playing in my Mum and Dad’s bedroom growing up.
I presumed it was that… there was no radio, record player or piano.
But there is in the Cafe Beethoven which is tucked away along a myriad of corridors and down some stairs of the Hotel Beethoven in Teplice.
In the Czech Republic where I have come for a beer, spa, War and culture (I’m nothing if not an all-rounder) break.
Now it is always worth celebrating oul’ Ludwig’s music but this year has special resonance.
Because this year is the 300th anniversary of the German composer’s birth.
Now it was to Teplice that Beethoven came to find some rest, perhaps a cure for his failing hearing.
And there in the pictures in the corridors are the horns and fancy implements they tried on him.
There are any number of restorative cures, medical treatments and massages, saunas, baths and pools here.
Which draw 60 nations to the doors of the Hotel Beethoven.
Thankfully there is nothing wrong with our ears and Beethoven has endured for music lovers.
It was here in Teplice where he worked on his Ninth Symphony.
After this wicked hot chocolate and chocolate mousse with black currant cake I feel a movement of my own coming on.
And for more on the Czech Republic keep reading these posts, visit www.czechtourism.com and this one I prepared earlier… Hope springs eternal.
