Juneathon Day 3: Münster

It wasn’t quite a regular Saturday yesterday. For over six months, we were looking forward to that day as we would be going to Munster, Germany. Not that Munster was ever a top destination on our list. But there was one difference yesterday: Anna Netrebko was performing there, at the open air opera recital at the Munster Castle courtyard. Ever since our first summer in 2008 when we travelled to see (and listen to) Netrebko, Villazon and Domingo in Schonbrunn, Austria, we knew we would try to attend a similar event again.

So when I spotted the Gipfeltreffen der Stars tickets in pre-sale last November (!), I spent the Christmas budget in one online credit card transaction.

The weather forecast was promising everything but sunshine, at one point there were snow clouds expected. Well, no elements could stop us from unpacking the evening gowns from the cupboards  – we just added 2 supersize umbrella’s and long winter coats.

After arriving to Munster, it was actually dry and sunny and we had about 4 hours to the event so we walked to check the castle surroundings to find out more about the location. First of all, we were thrilled to discover that our hotel was merely 922 m away from the venue entrance (thank you, Garmin!). The stage was already there and the stars were practicing. Jonas Kaufmann was last minuted substituted by Ramon Vargas but Anna was there).

We had enough time to walk through the historical city centre and even spotted some wildlife:

Turns out Munster is actually a very nice place to walk around. We bumped into many nice historical buildings but also shops, café’s, restaurants. The city is well kept, green and pedestrian friendly. The weather was still so good that we actually decided to conquer a bench in front of the castle so that we could listen to Anna rehearsing as we were chewing our dinner sandwiches. Already at that point, it was a perfect day.

Back in the hotel, we dressed up (the sun was still shining and for a moment I was convinced the winter coats were a nonsense) and slowly walked (heels slower than running shoes) to the castle. Of course there was enough time to enjoy the sunset and the fact that we were sitting practically AT the stage:

The concert was great. I know I am slightly biased but hey, this is my blog. (The winter coats were necessary, umbrella’s remained unpacked).

The ‘afterparty’ was twofold: first a quick coffee in a smelly Italian restaurant on our way back to the hotel and then the champagne part… So this morning I woke up with a hangover and a hammering sound in my head (rain drops). Somehow I managed to get up, look up my running gear and hit the road. It is Juneathon after all. Luckily I was well prepared: I googled some walking/running paths in Munster prior to our trip and as my head was still aching, I simply followed the paths. First the Promenade, a famous 4.5 km round path around the city centre:

It was all green and car free and the leaves kept me dry while running.

And then the second loop, a 6 km long path around the Aasee lake:

I connected both the routes to one 10.2 km door-to-door run, returning to the hotel wet and happy, just in time for breakfast. And then we packed, checked out and hit the road again, equipped with 2 kg of fresh strawberries from the nearby strawberry farm. A good weekend!

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