Gundula’s Great Eurasian Roam: Setting Sail & Seeking Strings (2nd–11th August) ⛴️🎻
- Gundula Stojanova Gruen
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
After the thrill of being on the ferry (I LOVE ferries! 😍) and the initial nervous butterflies of driving on the right—which quickly turned out to be completely natural and easy—I aimed straight for the south as fast as possible 💨, quite a feat for someone who usually gets restless after an hour on the motorway! 😅
To keep the journey inspiring, I spend my time with singing practice 🎶, study languages from audio guides, and learn lyrics for new songs from my own practice recordings 🎵. When those practices have worn out too, I love to discover great places on my stopovers along the way 🌲☀️.
For the first big stop, I ended up in Leuven/Belgium 🇧🇪. The place greeted me with some Tango (shame I had no shoes on me to join dancing!) 💃🎶. Here are some small visual gifts from Leuven: 📸✨
For overnight I was still in Belgium - I never saw parking spaces specifically for campervans, where official over-night staying is allowed
My first week unfolded with visiting family and friends. It was great to reunite with my friend Alois after eleven long years 🤝 (though we completely forgot to capture the moment with a selfie! ).
A major highlight was revisiting Geigenbauer Goldfuß, a wonderful multi-generational institution of master violin makers 🎻🛠️. When I was studying violin at the Leopold Mozart Konservatorium in Augsburg all those years ago, my professor, Bernhard Tluck, first recommended them to me 🎼. What began as yearly maintenance soon blossomed into a cherished friendship 💛. Papa Goldfuß, now retired, always used to take extraordinary instruments like Amati and Guarneri from the safe and let me play on them—an absolute treat! ✨🎻
It was wonderful to see his son, Thomas, again, who gave my violin a proper makeover, getting it ready for upcoming concerts and recordings 🎶🪞🎻.
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