Angelika

Angelika is on her way home after a weeks holiday in the north of Italy. My regular readers know who she is. My new readers will not. Many years ago this very nice lady appeared in one of my VHS classes to improve her English.

In the introductions she said her name was Angelika, lived locally and was a musician. I asked about her job and she said she was a 'Bratscherin' = viola player in the orchestra of the Komische Oper. This is one of three opera houses is Berlin.  Yes, we have three opera houses here :-))

That was the start of a long and interesting relationship. This included invitations to the Friday morning rehearsals where I learnt a lot about how the conductor and players come together. Lots of concerts and operas followed.

We also enjoyed sitting together in the canteen after rehearsals, or concerts, and talking about the performance. As we get to know each other better we met for parties and birthdays. I have posted reports about having a great time at the family house/garden near to the biggest lake in Berlin.

She's coming to my place on Thursday morning at 10.00 am to sit in my garden while sipping a cuppa coffee and enjoying a cake or two. I look forward to hearing all about her recent trip to the north of Italy between sipping the coffee.

She sent me a few photos of the trip and I share them here. The first shows crossing the mountains into Italy - just look at the clouds on the hills. The next is a great shot of Lake Como. The third is of Angelika posing with a nice friendly looking animal called Ricardo!