I spent today in Bayreuth, larger than Bad Kissingen, Sommerhausen and Winterhausen. When I exited the train station, I took off toward the city center and walked along cobblestone streets with flowers in the median, past a moving stream to Maximillianstrasse.
I ended up in the middle of a street party or carnival or just a fun celebration, not meant for tourists. There were food and beer booths, shopping booths, carnival rides for children, a dunking booth, water features for children, a foosball game for the adults (they are everywhere in Germany) and a stage with local performers.
It may have been a regular occurrence or it may have been especially focused on a charity of some sort. Everything was in German.
After walking through the carnival, grabbing a bratwurst sandwich for lunch, and walking back, I headed for the Franz Liszt Museum. He was a composer (among other things) that I remember from my days taking piano lessons. I never made it to the museum because I saw an interesting building to my left and upon further exploration found it to be a rococo (exuberantly decorated) opera house that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Margravine Wilhelmina had it built upon her daughter’s engagement to provide the appropriate ambiance for theater and music concerts as well as formal balls and banquets. The design was meant to rival the most beautiful opera houses in Europe and it is the only remaining large Baroque opera house still standing. I sat through what I’m sure was a good story about the house, but it was in German and I didn’t even understand one word.
Besides this lavish opera house in Bayreuth, Richard Wagner designed his own relatively simple one, the Festival Theater, made almost entirely of wood, on a plot of land called Green Hill that was donated by the town council. He built his for the aesthetics of the music not the decor. I followed my google map the 5 km past the train station through an old stately neighborhood to Green Hill. It turns out that no one can visit inside the opera house in summer because of rehearsals there. One must return in October. But, I was back in my element again…a beautiful park-like setting with old growth trees, bushes and flowers clearly well-maintained. I found one of many benches across from an old cherry tree and sat still. 
I wish I had brought my big heavy lens. I was in the perfect spot to learn the German birds–woodpeckers, jays, thrushes, warblers, a nuthatch and many others. After several hours in the cool breezy park, I returned to the train station and eventually back to Schweinfurt.
Just a note from Wikipedia about Wagner…An amazing composer, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. He revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”), by which he sought to synthesize the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He was, unfortunately, a philanderer throughout his life and seemingly always in debt. There is much discussion of his purported racism and connection to the Nazi party. He has written essays that do support anti-semitism and the removal of Jews from the music scene in Germany.
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