IN PROGRESS
More photos (but it seems I was not in a communicative mood on that trip :-)) from my visit to Chemnitz in 2020 in this post.
Day one: “Rummelplatz”: A new opera commissioned on the occasion of Chemnitz Capital of Culture 2025
Travelling to Chemnitz on my Deutschland ticket was yet another tale of cancelled connections, no replacement buses, and misinformation. DB truly has problems. But I had started out early and did get there in time for the opera.
And what an opera. I enjoyed every minute of it. Everything came together, an opera about something rather than silly blither, music, brilliantly conducted by Benjamin Reiners, that kept you listening every second, curious to hear what comes next, and with some – to me – truly original passages, but then again, I have never before heard any music by Ludger Vollmer. I have no idea why not and it is definitely something to catch up on. And the singers, the choir, the orchestra – perhaps especially the percussionists – everything, and if the opera had been on the next evening, I would have moved heaven and earth to get in, one way or another.
During the „Q&A“ with a couple of the singers afterwards – oh, and by the way, the atmosphere throughout the evening was so nice – , the question came up whether this opera would work in other regions of Germany. I think an opera that makes you think about human rights violations and social injustice would work anywhere in the world. Real-life events in recent history – yes, please. After all, for most opera-goers (not me), somebody dying of tuberculosis, singing to her full lung capacity, or poisons that turn out to be love potions or vice versa, is universally relevant and moves them to tears. Moving on from that ought to attract a whole new demographic of opera audiences.
Day two: Exhibitions:
Or so I thought. I wanted to visit the following but only made it to the one at Hartmannfabrik. The weather was pleasant and I got caught up in some bird photography. I even saw a Kingfisher (my eternal Achilles’ Heel) but still did not get a photo.
The ducks, which I am not sure I have ever seen in Berlin, are Mergansers, females or juvenile males, according to Merlin.
I gather that some of the exhibits will become permanent fixtures, so perhaps next year and especially if “Rummelplatz” is back on the repertoire in the 2026/27 season. Hope springs eternal. Leaving the links here just in case …….
- https://www.kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.de/ausstellungen/collateral-sculptures-kunst-an-der-hartmannfabrik-2025/ (outdoors so I assume open 24-7)
2. https://chemnitz2025.de/en/programm/tales-of-transformation/ 10.00-17.00
3. https://chemnitz2025.de/veranstaltung/termin/3000garagen-die-ausstellung-20251011/ 12.00-18.00
4. https://chemnitz2025.de/en/hallenkunst/ 13.00-19.00
Day three: no zoos or anything else, just return to Berlin
Woke up early and played around taking photos of the view from my hotel room while it was still dark. Even without a tripod, that can give some interesting effects:
Then, suddenly, my gut told me that the return would probably be at least as ridiculous as the outward journey, so I decided to set out early, and true enough – the same saga of cancelled connections, trains so short that not everybody got on, this time a replacement bus, but too tiny for the hundreds of passengers, and finally a train to Leipzig – standing room only – and from there an ICE (with totally dysfunctional internet …..) – that is how they earn money on the no longer so cheap Deutschland ticket, at least not if like me you walk to most places: Cancel enough regional trains so that most people end up having to buy a ticket for an EC, IC or ICE train after all.
Thanks for nothing, Deutsche Bahn. Please just solve your problems and stop making Germany seem like a third-world country.
And by the way, Deutsche Bahn, Saxony is part of Germany, and has actually been for more than three decades. It really ought not take eight-nine hours to travel between Berlin and Chemnitz.
And finally, a word about Elsterwerda. Taking regional trains between Berlin and Chemnitz takes you through there, so quite a few people change trains there, which seems logical, on the screen, but in real life, you keep cancelling the trains from Elsterwerda to Chemnitz. They only go every two hours, and you only inform people of the cancellation about half an hour before. There are no (read: ZERO) public toilets in Elsterwerda, not even at the train station. Is ONE toilet there really too much to ask?
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