If I say "Munich"—most Americans will think, "cuckoo clocks, bratwurst and beer." But for me Munich meant "Dürer, Weisswurst and Baroque architecture." More importantly—for the purposes of my trip last week—Munich is the gateway to Bayreuth, a small, prosperous...

Drenched with sweat, still filled with the rapturous chromaticisms of Tristan und Isolde, I joined two companions for what became a ritual glass of Veuve Clicquot at an outdoor concession in the opera house gardens. Valhalla Bistro. Every tavern, drug store and street...

The three days of opera each cast their own enveloping auras. After Tristan und Isolde—a punishing 5 1/2 hour physical ordeal of heat and wooden seats—I sat almost speechless over Fernet Branca with a few other opera-goers and felt the music swirl inside me. I had...

Even though it sounds like the title of a French film, that headline refers to one of the most satisfying pastry encounters of my food life. I had just waded through a time-trip of northern Renaissance masters—Dürers, Memlings, Cranachs, van der Weydens, as well as...

Here's where I went — the opera house (Festspielhaus) in Bayreuth, Germany designed and built by Richard Wagner exclusively for the performance of his legendary operas. And here's why I went: the annual Bayreuth Festspiel performances of Wagner's operas, a six-week...