What to Do Outside the Opera House in Bayreuth While Waiting for the Opera, Part A

Dress like a Rhine Maiden...
Imitate Siegfried...
Strut your stuff...
Flirt...
People watch.

What to Do Outside the Opera House in Bayreuth While Waiting for the Opera, Part B

Look debonair...
Engage in really good conversation...
Parade your power....
Fasten your corset...
Rush for the opera.

What to Do Outside the Opera House in Bayreuth While Waiting for the Opera, Part C

Schmooze...
Show your colors...
Catch up on gossip...
Stage an elaborate picnic...

Older Men and Younger Women at Bayreuth Opera: Is There a Pattern Here?

Bayreuth Opera: Women in Colors

Colors of the rainbow - as good as bird watching.
Basic black and very expensive. Handbag (not visible) even more expensive.
Basic black, a little more tapered, but also very expensive.
Not much colors, but who needs colors?
On the other hand, as the sun goes down, maybe it is good to stand out.

What to Do at Bayreuth Festspiel Opera Grounds

Relax in front of the gardens and water pool.
Pay a tribute to Franz Liszt, Wagner's father-in-law.
Visit Cosima, Wagner's wife and widow, and Franz Liszt's daughter.
Get yourself photographed with Richard.
Wait for hours and hours in line in the hope of getting returned tickets. The odds are not good, as Marianne told us. She and her husband see about 70 operas a year.

What to Do in Bayreuth During Non-Opera Times

Walk the lovely old cobblestone streets.

Go to an opera. This one was at Richard Wagner's house and played on his own piano, shown below!
Take in a lecture on Wagner, the Ring, philosophy, and history.
Talk about the opera late into the night: John and Ulrika from Sweden.
Get to know new opera friends: Peter and Raf from London.

The Bayreuth Hofgarten

Princess Wilhemina, the sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia, put Bayreuth on the map well before Richard Wagner. Her "Residence" is a confectionary residence, with the Italianate Hofgarten adjoining. Classical mermaid statues...

Allees of trees...
Romantic statues rising out of pools...
And inviting statuesque caryatids supporting a balcony on the Residence.

Hitler's Bayreuth

As mentioned before, Hitler summered in Bayreuth. He was close to the Wagner family and seemed poised to marry Siegfried Wagner's widow. Perhaps a great gift is that Hitler did not marry Winifried Wagner and condemn Wagner's music to the dustbin of history.
Below, left, is the annex to the Wagner family compound where Hitler stayed.

Parkstrasse 4, where Hitler stayed before Wahnfried.
The Aryan type olympic statue at the base of the Festspielhaus/Wagner opera house grounds. The Nazis staged rallies around the opera house and had plans to replace it with a large complex nearby.
The tie of Bayreuth Festspielhaus Opera House to the Nazis is a complicated part of its history that is still being worked through. Richard Wagner himself died well before the rise of the Third Reich, but his music and Bayreuth itself was appropriated by the Nazis as symbols of cultural nationalism.

More on Wahnfried, Wagner's House in Bayreuth

Above the door is a giant mural, depicting Wotan, King of the Gods and the philandering wanderer, being welcomed by classical type women.

Is it Wotan or Richard Wagner pronouncing, below, "Be this house named by me" in magisterial tone/script?
"Here where my delusions found peace..."
The annex of Wahnfried, to the left, was built by Wagner's son as bachelor quarters. It was also used by Adolph Hitler on his many intimate visits with the Wagner family. He was an honorary uncle to Wagner's grandchildren and made Bayreuth his summer retreat. Is it Wagner, Wotan, or Hitler seeking tranquility and peace from delusions?