Back home

Back from France. I'll add some more pictures as they come to hand, and look forward to the next trip!

Returning from Dax

We had breakfast at home today, the went to Orthez for coffee; checked out a local clothing outlet where some very good clothes can be bought quite inexpensively for France. Then we had lunch in a very chic cafeteria at E. Lecerc - a large hypermarchet. All such cafeterias could learn something from this one - the food and atmosphere were so good.

While in Orthez Andrea had helped me change my train ticket after we thought it might be a good idea to visit Dax or Pau, and board the TGV from there. Dax won the day. It was also nice to get back into Paris earlier because the Métro stops running at 12.30am and the later TGV into Montparnasse wouldn't have left me much time to get back to Porte de Vincennes.

It was lovely to see Andrea and Kevin again - they are such good friends and great hosts, always so generous in sharing their local knowledge and experiences of a "maison secondaire" in France.

A word or two about the TGV, if I may. 30 minutes before arriving back in Paris, I made a note to never again get the seats in the middle of the car - your knees thouch those of the person facing you and there's no room to stretch at all. Also, as fabulous as the TGV are, perhaps SNCF needs to look at a couple of details: on outward and inward bound trains, no water remained in les toilettes for the washing of hands, and I noticed on the train back to Paris today, that the person before me had discovered there wasn't even any for flushing! Perhaps it is all a sign of overcrowding, which was further evident all the way from Dax when a man carrying walking poles and a pack who also got on at Dax sat directly behind me. He'd not availed himself of the great French tradition of cologne - nor water it seemed - for several days: the stench for 5 hours was such an unwelcome contrast in an otherwise fragrant country. So, SNCF - look please to les toilettes, and perhaps a bit more space for comfort when the TGV cars get a refit!

Bayonne, Pays Basque

The peace around Maison Cabanne, Andrea and Kevin's place just out of Orthez, is disturbed only by the sound of rural enterprise: a cow bellowing on the way to milking in the morning, a shot ringing out from the rifle of a deer hunter, or a tractor driving past towing a load of corn. As I type now, I can hear a few birds, a gentle shower on the tiled roof, and the distant tinkling of a cow bell. It is a wonderful place and the house is on the market - it can be viewed online at www.centry21france.fr - Century 21, Orthez.

While we were having breakfast at home today, we were paid a visit by Mr. Lafleur, and Artisan Peintre who was trying to use up a small quality of left-over chemicals used for cleaning the moss of roof tiles. We left him to finish the job, and we drove down the peage to Bayonne in the Basque country.

This charming city on the river Nive is also home to a branch of Christian Louis' Parfums et Senteurs du Pays Basque. His fragrances are made from ingredients as diverse as leather, tobacco, tangerine and black pepper. The result is very special.

I tasted for the first time today the much-prized cêpes mushrooms which have a short season this time of year - very flavoursome, and worked well in the omlette I had at lunch.

Looking around the narrow streets at some promising place for lunch, we spotted this little red scooter riden by a young man and his girlfriend a pillion passenger - we watched to see if this particularly European sight would take on a more definite French flavour as they pulled up in front of the boulangerie. He emerged from the shop having snapped the baguette in two, but we enjoyed the show as they headed the wrong direction across a one-way bridge over the Nive, waving the baguette at the oncoming protesting motorists!

After lunch we wandered around looking at beautiful shops, many of them selling products unique to this region. Our umbrellas got a workout, the heavy shower of rain even bouncing on the swiftly-flowing river. The main city area with many narrow streets is serviced by a free bus service and the little electric buses (Les Navettes) make hardly any noise.

The Bayonne Cathedral (Notre-Dame) which stands atop a hill looking over the Adour and Nive rivers was the heart of the old city. The ancient structures gone, the buidling of the present cathedral started in the 13th century and is essentially a gothic buidling. Today it houses an organ built in 1865 which looks like it would be perfect for the music or Bach and Buxtehude which David has been playing. The cloisters are impressive, although most of the tombs and statues have some damage and are gradually being restored.


The French poet Péguy described this cathedral as a place of pilgrimage in these lines:

O Queen; here is, after a long journey,
And before taking the same road back again,
The only refuge open in the hollow of your hand,
And the secret garden where one's soul can bloom.

This could also aply to this whole visit to the sud-ouest!

Orthez

In Balancen with Andrea and Kevin - the TGV got in at 10.34pm and they do believe in running on time! It is about 500km from Paris here.

We visited a usual haunt for coffee, and Tuesday is Market Day in Orthez.

It seems the whole town is out on the street chatting - the buying of anything is secondary! I bought much-needed socks.

There's a great hall of fresh produce - chestnuts, long green beans, strawberries, cêpes and other varieties of mushroom, and the tomatoes looked particularly rosy. Of course there were the specialties for France - the wide range of cheese, the horse-meat stall, and Andrea made a selection for dinner from the display of confit de cannard and foire gras - she tells me the fat on the confit doesn't increase cholesterol.

Then we went to lunch at Morlaas. The attractions included 4 courses for €10, an exhibition of local art at the Mayor's office, and this remarkable church in the town square.

Tonight we'll dine at home of course - that confit de cannard will be delicious!

Cimitière du Père-Lachaise

A warm day on which a T-shirt keeps one warm enough. The atumn leaves are beginning to fall creating a lovely atmosphere at the cemetry Père-Lachaise where it seems most tourists go to visit the graves of Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison of The Doors fame. I saw the former two.

Oscar Wilde's tomb has been recently rebuilt and a plaque on it requests that people not deface it. However they still do, though I wonder if the lipstick left from kisses all over it can be seen as defacing - it almost seems like a ritual now, and me there without my lippie!

On the back of the tombstone, there is in English a brief historical sketch stating where he was born in Ireland, that he wrote many beautiful works, and that he died in Paris, having been fortified by the sacrements of the church.

Whereas I had Oscar all to myself for some time, I could snatch only a brief moment alone with Edith. Unlike Oscar's, her tomb is one row removed from the cobble-stoned boulevard, and therefore much less space for people to stand around paying their respects.

Off to Orthez tonight.

Au revoir David et Alec

A breakfast of bread and honey from the bees of the king. The bees have busied themselves collecting nectar from Lavander flowers and the taste is as delicious as any honey I'va had - it may even rival Southland clover honey!

Feeling a bit stiff and sore today so didn't venture out early, but I did get to see the area around the Panthéon and St. Etiènne-du-mont, not far from the hotel where David and Alec are staying.

The Panthéon was orginally erected as a church when Luois XV recovered from a serious illness. Now it is secular and honours the contribution of all the gentle men of France. It contains the tombs of some eminent French people including Voltaire, Rousseau Victor Hugo and Marie Curie.

Sasha joined us for dinner at a chic restaurant, lavishly decorated; we had confit de cannard avec froi gras and I had an entree consisting of leeks and curry.

Bétuhune et L'Opéra Bastille

Today David, Alec and I took a TGV ride of just over 1 hour to Béthune up to the north of Paris where David thought the organ at St. Vaast may be up to speed for a Bach CD.

We enjoyed the town's 14th century square where we had an excellent coffee (trés importante!) before walking on to St. Vaast where we met two of its organists who were tuning for a recital tomorrow; David was scheduled to test the organ at 2pm so we went back to the square for lunch.

Its clock tower had delicate-sounding bells that rang on the hour, a tune bearing a striking resemblace to that of 'The Scottish Soldier'! The entire centre of the square is fenced off for restoration work, and were it not for the gate which allows access to the tourist office in the bottom of the clocktower, the high fences would prevent you seeing inside at all.


David played some Buxtehude and some early Bach on the organ; it sounded very well, though didn't have the 'guts' (to quote David) of the Abertin organ in Paris. I worked out where to place microphones in the event that we record here some time.

That journey complete, Alec went off to meet friends for dinner while David and I went to Opéra Bastille to see the Paul Hindemith work, Cardillac, a psychodrama which premiered in 1926 based on the whodunit 'Das Fraulein von Scuderi' by E.T.A. Hoffmann.

It was in German with French surtitles and I got the gist most of the time. Basically it was about a goldsmith who couldn't bear to part with his creations and went around murdering those who had bought them. Of course once you understand the language, there's the further hurdle of understanding the symbolism - we thought it might be about the society's conflict with the artistic process.

Kent Nagano was the musical director of the work which played for 90 minutes without intervals and was stunning - no problem hearing anything in there. The orchestra with lots of wind and percussion also featured a piano, and just 18 strings, 4 of them double basses. I'm looking forward to seeing Rigoletto here next year.

I really am enjoying being in France. I have to pinch myself when I wake up in the morning - I'm beginning to bruise!

The recording is finished!

We finished at 11pm Friday, and I think it will sound great.
Stopped in at Les Fous again to return some borrowed equipment. We've enjoyed coming here to eat every day- they create such a warm atmosphere and the food is fabulous.

Off tomorrow on the TGV to look at another organ so have to get to bed before 1am.

Standby for more excitement from Paris later . . .

I love Paris!

The day started, and stayed, mostly foggy. This view from Eugène's 10th floor apartment gives some idea. This morning I returned the masks and coveralls to the hardware store - great not to have to use them for climbing around in the centuries-old pigeon merde! The great thing was doing it all in French. Well, it was a thrill for me! In the local Printemps, encounters with sales staff keen to assit were similarly rewarding linguistically!

Alec's friend Sasha joined us for lunch today - he arrived from London by train this morning. His first language is Ukranian, his English is fluent and now he is learning French. Nice opportunity to get aquainted before David and Alec arrived after rehearsal. Lunch was as magnificent as ever - we've reserved the round table again for 2.30pm tomorrow - and today I had carrot and ginger soup, followed by salmon.

David went off to rest while we explored more of the 4e arrondissement; Sasha was keen to find Mariage Frêres, a tea house he'd once enjoyed. Eugène's morning coffee cups at home are the same Mariage Frêres cups we used at the salon.


Parking is intimate here in Paris!
You would wonder how this car could get in or out. No problem for a Paris driver. I even saw swatch car parked rear to the kerb in a line of parallell-parked cars because the space wasn't wide enough to park the other way.


Yes that was Daniel Auteuil in the boucherie across the street from the church. I've seen him in so many enjoyable films and to see him shopping in Paris was a real treat. After the butcher, he went to the fromagerie; I'm sure you're glad to know that. To gather more information about his movements would be tantamount to stalking!

After our recordings, David likes to relax at a local café bar and tonight we went back to our usual where there was live music playing - to about 10 people if you include us! The place is so small that if you swelled the numbers to 40 there'd be standing room only. We sat outside while Charlie Zoomerique's lead singer cruised through the Carpenter's song 'This Masquerade'. Kisses all round as the lead guitarist joing them and things got funky with Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. It was very good, but I wonder how they make a living - musicians and bar owner. The band consisted of female lead singer, sometimes joined by the drummer Charlie; a lead-guitarist who knew his stuff, the 6-string bass player could really get around her instrument, and David was certain the keyboard player must have been classically trained, his virtuosity so evident.

L'Opéra etcetera

Lunch was my first appointment today! We frequent a place that makes us feel like part of the family and serves wonderful food, Les Fous de l'Île. It is at 33 rue des deux ponts just off the pont marie. Over lunch we take stock of where we're up to. Tonight we'll record the pièce de resistance for the Buxtehude album. Just wonderful music which displays everything from the most delicate sounds to the full power of this organ.

After lunch, David did some more practice, now without stops because the church is open to the public for meditation and it wouldn't do to have such moments of tranquility shattered by a 32 foot stop and its shorter siblings speaking at the top of their voices!

Stopping only to see if the latest L'Occitane stock had arrived, Alec and I took the Métro from Cité up to Les Galleries Lafayette, spending most time in the food hall where we bought some comestabules on which to munch in the evening. I think this food hall could rival the one at Harrod's for sheer varity, but Harrod's takes the gâteau for oppulence.

Tours of L'Opéra nearby were called off for the day, but we did look around the foyer and the botique of this sumptuous building, then took the Métro back to the island. As it happens we could have stayed on: there was a mass in progress when we got back just before 7pm, so we sat on the steps of l'église to eat while watching some sort of street party gather pace across the narrow street. A good job most of the later music was loud or we would have heard the voices from the street on the recording. Following the mass, there was a private service for 6 people which lasted an hour - so we could have continued the retail therapy until nearly 8pm, but I'm sure the meditation was better for me!

Afterwards we visited a little jazz bar on la rue des deux ponts. Very smooth jazz.

Paris tour

Spent the morning doing some domestic chores which take on another dimension in another language; the Meile Top Electronic and I are now friends!

I dropped in a film for processing at Photo Service near the St. Paul Métro, then walked up to l'Hôtel de Ville looking for somewhere to have the shoulder strap on my bag repaired, but to no avail.

Judging by the number of vehicles full of Gendamerie, there seemed to be a protest shaping up at the Town Hall Square, but I had to get across to l'Île Saint-Louis stopping to get some shots around Notre-Dame.

Lunch again on la rue des duex ponts with David and Alec - the staff there treat us like family and the food is delicious. Only two dogs in the restaurant today; one of them on a leash!

While David swam and rested, Alec and I explored more of the 4ème Arrondissement. After collecting my photographs, we visitied l'Hôtel de Sully, one of the grand houses of Paris, which is now a museum and the square nearby is home to many fine boutiques including Issey Miyake, then walked lots more before settling in a café bar to check out the photos and the passing parade of locals - very few tourists in this area.

I may be overdoing the walking - I'm hobbling a bit but I can lie on the floor of the cathedral to do my recording at the end of the day! This has another advantage - the wicker chairs are apt to squeak - the floor doesn't.

The recording is going well. This picture shows Alec at the console while David is taking a break. The music is fabulous and the sound sumptuous. Should be a good disque! We have two 2-hour sessions left to go. The church affords a very long decay in the sound and you can really wallow in it - as did the contralto I heard sing there on Sunday evening!

http://www.parisnet.net/parismap.htmlnet/parismap.html is a good site which summarises the attributes of each arrondissement in Paris.

The organ

The Bernard Aubertin organ we're recording in Paris. A fabulous instrument - both in sound an appearance. Watch out for David's recording on http://www.organo.com.au/

The eclipse

Today's priority is mounting a mic on something tall or getting up in the roof and dangling same on something that will be hit and miss to get stright. Spoke with Ron at Radio 74 and Lawrence in London, neither of whom had ever had the need to use tall mic stands, so I bought disposible coveralls in readiness for the suspension job.

Annular Eclipse of the Sun

Crossing the Pont Saint Marie onto l'Île St. Louis, I espied 3 people holding what looked like large X-ray charts to their eyes and looking at the sun; I realised that it was today when the solar eclipse takes place, so dived into my bag for the viewing glasses Col had sent me, and sure enough, the eclipse was at its height. I covered the lens of my Nikon with one of the glasses and took several photos, then rang Col to tell him what I'd seen.

Met David and Alec as they were leaving the church about 10am; they had never seen an eclipse before and as they were taking delight at the view, a local Gallery owner, Edith, came by and wondered what we were looking at. I gave her one of the two sets of glasses and she expressed great joy at seeing the elipse, she said it had made her day and that she'd never seen anything like that before. She thought the sun and moon were making love! That's the French for you.

Lunch was special; David then went off to swim/rest while Alec and I tracked down a tall rod to attach to a lighting stand lent us by our waiter from lunch. We got it all working by 5 - great relief - then wandered around the Notre-Dame area, sat in a restautrant and watched the world go by until heading back to the church for 7pm and recording and continued until 10pm.

Explorer le lieu

Il y a beaucoup de la merde des l'oisseaux dans la toit de l'église!! Zut alors!!!! The things a recording engineer has to contend with; I suppose it has been there since the 16th century, so why wouldn't there be large deposits! Looking for a very tall mic stand today to obviate the need of climbing all those stairs!

Graham's Travel Diary

Ceci est mon première blog! Merci Christopher!! Lunch smells good - I might have to continue this later . . .

Paris Lunch

Before lunch I rang my buddy Chrrrristopher who was delighted to receive my call and set up this blog for me!