 |
| As sunny day and friendly crowds |
 |
| Trash and treasures! |
I get frustrated when I hear people complain about nothing to do, right here in Germany, in the living, breathing heart of central Europe. Right. After you’ve been to all the weinfests, bierfests, historic cities and towns, sampled the huge varieties of foods, including special seasons for strawberries, asparagus, and pumpkins… Well, I guess there really is nothing to do. Wait a sec! I left out flea markets and music festivals that spring up when the weather turns warm.
Homburg, just up A-6 toward Saarbrücken, has both. Every first Saturday, there’s a huge flea market. It’s located a few blocks from the old market square. All you have to do is ask and people will point you in the right direction. Vendors from all over Germany and France, as well as locals, bring their trash and treasures and display them in the open air. Very extensive. It’ll take you over an hour to wind in and out and around the new Rathaus area. Of course there is wurst and bier, along with crepes, sweet waffles, and soft ice cream. It’s a bargain hunter’s paradise. Great selection of middle eastern carpets.
Another thing you don’t have to worry about is a shortage of cash. In Homburg, from April to late October, there are free rock concerts every Friday night at 1900 and jazz concerts every Saturday, from 1100 to 1430. What kind of rock and what kind of jazz? Oh, you beggars are soooooo choosy. Varies. The bands change every week and in the case of jazz, it goes from modern to Dixieland to traditional big bands. These are accomplished musicians. Seldom do you see sheet music or music stands.
 |
| These folks change instruments as easily as you and I change hats! |
 |
| A plethora of styles mix seamlessly. |
 |
| Nobody can resist a good book. |
 |
| Karl Marx and Truman Capote dropped by. |
Hemingway was asked what he did for inspiration. He said he went to the Prado and gazed at a few canvases. You could say the same for music, or dance, pottery, or goldsmithing. Art has a direct connect to the soul.
 |
Homburg is a magical place on Saturdays!
Music, as with most art, soothes, relaxes, and takes you to a floating island of sentiment, high above your cares. Think I’m wrong? Hear a few bars of rock from your high school days and you sing along. Can’t help it. As you sing, faces and places float past, a panorama of triumphs and failures, loves and loses. You gain glimmers of acceptance, thin slices of understanding. In the same way, jazz washes you in moonlight and the scent of roses. |
While you’re making that connection, sit back and order a bier, or a wurst, or a full meal (all at normal prices) and enjoy the show. Don’t feel like eating or drinking? Enjoy the music for free, in one of the most quaint old market areas around. The cobble-stoned market square has a beautiful stone fountain, surrounded by buildings that date back to forever, with their gabled and tiled roofs. Bars, restaurants and shops are all around you, as well as vendors selling fresh produce, cheeses, honey, and sausage. The old Rathaus (city hall) is also on the square, complete with a crest of arms that indicates this city was once a part of Bavaria.
Nothing to do? Well, go back to your warm milk and cookies and TV reruns. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, rich man, poor man, or beggar, there’s a rainbow of activities going on in Homburg every weekend.
| "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
|
|
| -- Berthold Auerbach (German novelist, 1811-1882) |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
