Tuesday evening, June 2, 2015
Bon Soir!
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Harpsichordist tuning instrument
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Musicians finishing up!
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Lead violin; just amazing!
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I just wanted to say, that we have had a truly remarkable
day!
We left for the concert about 6
p.m. and were lucky enough to catch a 21 bus which dropped us off right in
front of the
Prefecture of Police/Sainte-Chapelle
– quite a combination, don’t you think?
The line had just started forming, and very quickly, in we went.
Back through security (of course) and then
upstairs to the entrance hall of the Upper Chapel.
We had purchased the most expensive seats, and
were able to be seated in the second row, which was great.
(Would have gotten the first row, but those
were “reserved” … whatever!)
The group
came out right on time at 7, and started with Pachelbel’s
Canon, and they were magnificent!
There were three violins, one viola, a cello and a harpsichordist.
In fact, the harpsichordist was actually
tuning the harpsichord as we were seated; great fun!
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Palace of Justice in the evening!
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More Palace of Justice
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Then came Vivaldi’s
Four
Seasons, played in their entirety.
The lead violinist was also the group’s leader, and his name is David
Braccini.
Truly, an amazing
musician.
I don’t think he has bones in
his hands, I think they’re rubber, because they certainly seemed to move faster
than I’ve ever seen hands more before!
And the really terrific thing was that he was smiling and joking with
the other musicians, and they were all having a great time playing the music –
and we had a great time too!
In fact,
somewhere mid-Autumn, he actually moved off of the small stage and down the
main aisle between the spectators!
I’ve
never seen anyone do that, but they all kept playing perfectly in time, and it
was just incredible.
They received not
only one but two standing ovations.
(I
just Googled him, and there are actually some YouTube clips, if you’re
interested.)
Suffice to say that the
crowd loved the performance, and a good many CD’s were sold and signed.
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| Evening sun on front of Notre Dame |
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| Back of Notre Dame with flying buttresses |
We took our time filing out of Sainte-Chapelle, as the afternoon had turned into a beautiful
evening, and it was clear and warm and sunny.
The early evening sun coming through those newly cleaned stained glass
windows – fabulous! In fact, it was so
lovely out that Robert suggested we take a look at Notre Dame – and again, the sun on the stone was spectacular. We walked around Notre Dame and then crossed over to Isle St. Louis, just looking at shop windows and admiring the
views. Lots of people on the bateaux mouches on the river, and lots
of people just enjoying the evening. We
did stop for gelato (for me) at an Italian place – it was GREAT! Ended up
walking to the end of St. Louis and admiring the river view. From there, we took a bus back to Chatelet and walked across the Seine
bridges to L’Ecluse, a really nice
wine bar that we have known for quite a few years.
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Evening view of the Seine
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Me with designer gelato!
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Lots of tour boats on the river tonight!
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| Cheese board at L'Ecluse; YUM! |
Robert had a glass of Pomerol,
and I had a wonderful Chateau de Talbot
white Bordeaux, and we split a cheese
plate – again, the Roquefort was
wonderful! Made for a nice evening
snack, as we were still mostly full from lunch!
Back in the flat now, and heading to bed as soon as I finish this. Tomorrow will be Musee d’Orsay in the morning, and the Louvre in the evening (it’s their late night) after which time I
want to get to the Tour Eiffel to
watch the lights sparkle…it’ll just have to be pretty late, though, as they
don’t turn the lights on until it gets dark … whenever that may be!
So take care, and more tomorrow!
m
xxx
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