Rainy Days And Songdays goes all classical this week.
With a nod to Ludwig Van Beethoven on the 250th anniversary of his birth.
Not growing up in a musical family we had limited exposure to Classical music with one accidental exception.
The Jewel
Fur Elise would play out a couple of times a week from my Mum and Dad’s bedroom.
Not because my Dad was a secret fan of Ludwig but because it was the music on my Mum’s jewellery box.
All of which allowed me to look all sophisticated.
When I drew my Travel companion Elise’s attention to the synergy of our staying in a hotel, the Beethoven Spa https://www.lazneteplice.cz/ in February.
I dare say The Great Man’s name proliferates on hotels, bars and cafes all over Central Europe.
Ring of truth
But our Hotel Beethoven in Lazne Teplice in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire but now Czech Republic has a ring of authenticity.
Because Ludwig actually stayed here and the good people of the Spa and medical town even helped him.
With that delicate problem of his… his hearing!
The Hotel Beethoven boasts a gallery of Beethoven artefacts on its walls on the way to its baths and saunas.
Including pictures of a number of ear horns and creepily the life mask he had made here.
Chocolate heaven
If you ask too you can be taken to the ornate door of the room where he stayed.
And I dare say you can work on a price with them.
And then there’s the Cafe Beethoven where they play his music (obvs) and you can sit at the piano and pretend to be him.
Did I mention they have a glass cabinet of home baking with a carousel of the most calorific chocolate cakes?
Go the full hog, you’re on holiday after all, and pair it with a Hot Chocolate.
Ludwig’s birthday coming in December means that there are possibilities that some of the events planned in his name may go ahead.
Check out www.czechtourism.com and Hope springs eternal.
And for where we are with Beethoven 2020, see https://www.bthvn2020.de/en/.
