We arrived in Germany via Frankfurt airport at 0630 on Sunday and made our way across to Terminal 1 where we went around in circles looking for the right platform for the train to Bonn. We spent a while trying to figure out where to go traveling up and down escalators but eventually found the ICE ticket counter and coughed up the 122 euros required to get us both to Bonn.
The journey to Bonn/siegburg was uneventful other than my boom pole getting a longer train ride the either of us. We are yet to hear from it and are assuming that it is currently sitting on a deckchair somewhere in the French Riviera sipping cocktails.
Once arriving in Bonn we walked from the tram stop up to Beethoven Halle and made our presence known. The orchestra was getting ready for a short trip around Bonn before lunch so we grabbed the cameras and sound gear and joined them on the short trip to the Munsterplatz. It was fascinating seeing the guys form their first impressions of the birthplace of Beethoven.
After lunch a brief tutti rehearsal was held for the benefit of the new German tutors who will be taking over from the British and American tutors we had in Iraq. The handover of the students was quite an emotional time – some tutors equated it to leaving your kids at the school gate for the first time.
The students had already met their host families so after the rehearsal they went their separate ways and I ventured into Bonn to locate my hotel.
