Loose ends

Today we took some more pictures around the Domkirke while David practised some more. He says this instrument is particularly demanding and thinks he may have enough strength this afternoon to record one more fugue, basically everything else it there.

Tonight we're going to enjoy some Danish hospitality in the home of one of the Domkirke's 3 staff organists, Mr. Neilsen and his wife. He has been riding his bicycle in from his home each night when we finish recording in order to secure the building. Roskilde is particularly suited to bike riding and has lots of bicycle tracks. In Denmark, it is unwise for pedestrians to walk on the bike tracks.

Roskilde Domkirke

Right behind the organ at Roskilde Domkirke is the entrance to the cathedral museum. It traces the cathedral's history right back to the foundation in the Catholic peiod about 985. The Protestant period begins with the reformation in 1536.

On this site there have been at least three churches - Harald Bluetooth built the first in about 985 as a mausoleum for himself, and it is thought a second church was begun about 1040 by Queen Estrid and completed by Svend Normand who was bishop from 1074-88.

The story of the fire in 1968 is quite dramatic with a fire brigade from Copenhagen reaching the fire in 25 minutes.

Directly opposite the organ is a Royal box and this is a shot of some detail showing carvings from the time of Christian the 4th (1588-1648).

The Vikings

While walking into the library this morning I noticed some men outside taking turns with a pair of protective glasses to look at the sun - the eclipse Col Maybury has gone to Turkey to see (in totality) is obviously partially visible here. The park across from the library has in it several ponds, some of them still looking like they are in the grip of winter.

On the way to visit the Viking ship museum, I walked past another Mediaeval church - Skt. Ibs Kirke, the Church of St. James, but it no longer used as a church. It is protected, and the grounds and surrounding graves are kept impeccably.

The Viking ship museum is situated right at the waterfront at the head of Roskilde Fjord. The largest exhibition comprises 5 ships which were discovered in Roskilde fjord in the 1950s. They were painstakingly brought to the surface during the 1960s, and after years of work - not the least of which was replacing the water with a compound which would preserve the timber once it was out of water - the ships have provided much information about how the Vikings lived including their wars, their fishing, and trade.

I also visited a Gasworks gallery - now a modern art gallery, and I saw some glass-blowing there - very attractive pieces were being created, and it was warm!

The Roskilde Jars by Peter Brandes are just outside the railway station. At first the look like they are covered in graffiti, but they are inscribed with the names of all who took part in their production, including the names of all members of Stryhn's Leverpostej, the company that presented the jars to commemorate Roskilde's 1000-year jubilee in 1998.

Rødgrød med fløde

Rødgrød med fløde is a Danish desert made with red berries and cream - it is also a tongue twister which I've gone some way to mastering, much to the hilarity of David and Alec who dare me to ask waiters and waitresses if it is on their menu. Last night I asked our waitress, and she didn't bat an eyelid when she said they didn't have it on the menu. Still, it continues to amuse, and the Danes apparently don't expect foreigners to be able to pronounce it correctly. Jeanette was the waitress at Raadhuskælderen beneath Roskilde's old city hall. She even did a great performance of the expression for my video!

Earlier today, Alec was lucky enough to find some workmen who let us into Gl. Vor Frue Kirke, Church of our Lady, Fruegade. Normally it is open only from June to August. During the Middle Ages it belonged to the Cistercian Convent, and at the end of the 11th century a mausoleum was added to honour Margaret of Højelse.

The clock and the dragon

Today David is practising again, so I have the chance to explore Roskilde some more. Earlier we had a look at the mechanism for the bell tower at Roskilde Domkirke, and saw how the 3 pipes are blown to make the sound of the dragon being slain on the hour each hour. This is turned off at night (and when we are recording). David feels it might be nice to put it on the CD however. It seems Buxtehude would have known about it. The clock mechanism allows the woman to strike her bell once, twice or three times each quarter hour and on the hour, after the dragon shrieks, she strikes her bell four times, and the man then strikes his bell once for each hour. The whole thing is mechanised - the woman's head turns back and forth and the knight strikes the dragon. Our guide noticed that the clock was running a few seconds fast, so he stopped the pendulum for about 40 seconds to bring the time into line with his wrist watch. The clock dates from 1640.

Roskilde

In Roskilde to record at the Cathedral, a fabulous space with one of the best organs in Europe - a royal box is directly opposite the organ.


All of Denmark's former Kings and most of its Queens are buried here. It has 3 full-time organists, one of whom took a group of choir boys on a tour of New Zealand. When he gave the cost of the jump as his excuse for not bungy jumping at Queenstown, the boys had a whip round, handed him the money and insisted he jump. He obliged, survived, and now his stakes with the boys are sky high!

Denmark is efficient, modern, and expensive. I'm at the public library in Roskilde - the internet access is free. It is considerably colder than anywhere else I've been on this trip, but the cathedral in which we are recording is heated from under the floor. There's still some snow on the ground and 0 degrees yesterday gave it no hope of melting. This morning when I stepped out it was 7 degrees so it feels quite warm.

We have a lay day today while David practices - Roskilde Cathedral is magnificent - the organ sounds fabulous, and Buxtehude's music very colourful. I've been taking some photos in the Cathedral, and David plans to use some of them on the CD booklet.


I walked down to the waterfront - Roskilde is at the head of a fijord. There's still ice on the water, though the thaw is well and truly underway. It is thought King Ro named the city (now some 50,000 people live here) and 'kilde' is the Danish word for spring. There are many still to be found at various locations around the city.

Liverpool

Got to Liverpool OK and it was nice to catch up with Roger and Maggie.

I rode a horse called Molly along the common at Wirral looking across towards Liverpool and further across the water towards North Wales. Lots of people brave the cold to walk their dogs, one of which came scapering twards Molly giving me a nervous moment, but a pretty good ride all round.

Seeing that I'd given Radio Merseyside as my contact details, the customs official asked if I was working there - I said I'd be sitting in with Roger Lyon, to which she replied, 'Oh good, I'll have to listen!'

Back to Paris

St. Pierre du Corps is the TGV station to the east of Tours and we had planned to go there later in the day in order for me to get the train back to Paris. We decided to go there early in the day so I could get a ticket, and then we'd be able to explore around that region before heading back to the Gare in time for the train. As it happened, getting there was complicated, so to spare them the hassle, I thought it best to leave the party once we got there just after 1pm, and come on to Paris earlier. Strike action had delayed most trains, and although 1 hour of the journey (to Massy) was by TGV, I had several flights of stairs an a good walk to transfer to the RER train which brough me to St. Michel-Notre Dame. So here i am in Paris again, and it is lovely to be here!

Mont Saint Michel to Les Marionettes

It had rained through the night and when we went back to Mont Saint Michel it had eased off enough not to need an umbrella as we explored the little village there. We walked all the way up to the Abbey and took a tour through some wonderful spaces ranging from a grand cathedral with high vaulted ceilings, a dining room where the monks used to sit in silence eating, and smaller spaces where they meditated or worked.

We drove from there to Les Marionettes just out of Mouleheirne and set up cooked our own roast! Delicious.

To Mont Saint Michel

This is a fabulous place - quite dramatic even spotting it for the first time through the mist. We braved the biting cold and looked in the first of the shops and restaurants before heading off to dinner at the Mecure to taste the famous salty lamb.

Chambord

Not far from Orléans at Chambord is a châteaux Grahame knew much about having taught his French students its history. It took centuries to complete, and around it there are vast forests in which the royals hunted.

To Orléans

Ross left for the States on Sunday, and around midday the rest of us picked up the hire car at Montparnasse. We scooted around the péripherique and headed for Orléans. Getting to our hotel there - the Hôtel Joan d'Arc in la rue Adolphe Crespin was easy since I'd stayed there before. Now under new management, some decorating upgrades have been made, and the service is as attentive and friendly. We walked to St. Marceau where I talked to a monk about whether or not there was a service on that night - also there wasn't.

We enjoyed sitting in the afternoon sun having a drink with the locals on the square, and plotting to visit Chambourg the next day.

Last glimpses of Paris

These are some shots Ross and I took at the Field of Mars. It is a great place to stroll and experiment with perspective!

It is also a great place to enjoy Portuguese rasperries!

Shopping

This page is a work in progress as I get the time (and the pictures) to tell the story.

Started out this morning to see what had happened last night at La Place de la Sorbonne, the site of protests against the new legislation to make it easier for employers to lay-off young workers, the theory being that the easy out-clause will encourage employers to take on more young people thereby reducing France's very high unemployment.

As you can see by the pictures, the students are not happy about it, and as a result of the recent protests, the government and the vice-chancellors are to sit down and work out a better solution. Mostly the evidence of what had happened the night before had been cleaned up, though the cracked windows and grafitti said it all.

Visited St Eustace near Forum Les Halles - nice to see it being so beautifully restored and I was interested in the Baroque organ.







Enjoyed having a coffee at Café Victor Hugo in Place des Vosges.









Otherwise it has been a quiet day shopping mostly. Nice to sit in a café by the Seine just near Notre-Dame and write a few postcards.



Enjoyed wandering around les Halles, St. Eustace which - like Notre Dame - is getting a lovely makeover, the Pompidou Centre and City Hall.

Tasted some fabulous tea - seems such a nice touch to visit a tea shop on be offered tea while you shop.


Back on L'Île Saint Louis in the afternoon we visited some more favourite haunts inluding L'Occitane - the leg balm is heaven for aching feet!

The Protests

Last night we ate at Les Bouquiniste, serving modern French cuisine on the left bank. The meal was not the most memorable part of the night as the student riots stepped up a gear. We'd been seeing Police in force all day, but when about 150 rioters, some of them weiling batons, ran past the restaurant, metal shutters came down over the windows within seconds. I'd been keeping an eye on an almost-full moon rising, thinking what a spectacular photo it would make poised above the West wall of Notre-Dame, and now, through the restaurant's only uncovered window I could see police vehicles, and curious onlookers.

The door was locked, and the diners carried on unperturbed. Were they used to this? Used to it enough I thought - those shutters were employed within seconds and would have cost a euro or two.



The centre of the protests was the main square of the Sorbonne, and we could see thousands of people and flashing police lights just a few blocks from us down the Boulevard St. Michel. The protest is against new labour laws, especially a new for of job contract which will allow employers to sack young people within two years without giving a reason.

Restaurants closed early; we were advised by security people to get indoors and our hotel doors were locked behind us.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to control the angry crowd, as cars were overturned and a bookshop set alight.

Shopping

Shopping in Paris is always a joy! Got in some sight-seeing as well.

Reims

Today we took a train from Gare de L'Est to Reims in the heart of the Champagne district, and walked from the station throught to wide sopping Mall to the Cathedral. The nearby tourist office gave us information about the cave tours of the local champagne houses, and we chose Piper Heidsiek which seems to have been the favourite of most American movie stars, and even some British Royals!

Dinner back on L'Île St. Louis.

Mont Martre

Today we braved the icicles and visited Mont Martre, Le Sacre Coeur and enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of la Place du Tertre. The cooler weather made for fewer artists, but they were no less enthusiastic to sell their wares.

L'Opéra Bastille

Georgie and Grahame enjoy the atmosphere at Les Namours near Le Palais Royale after a rigorous stroll around the Louvre.








It has been -7° overnight and will reach 6° today. I noticed that Paris has the movie with a strong Invercargill connection - this movie being about the non-assuming Invercargill man who broke - and still holds - the land speed record for a motorcycle. This billboard is near the Louvre on the rue de Rivoli.

Went to the Bastille Opéra to see Verdi's Rigoletto - we all enjoyed the performance, and the sound is spectacular in that very modern hall.

Champs Elysées

We took the métro to the Champs Elysées. Starting with the Arc de Triomphe in the bright morning sun, we enjoyed strolling this famous boulevard, stopping for coffee and various shops including the Peugeot centre, the Virgin Megastore and the Sephora perfume store. By the time we reached Tuilerie Gardens, it was time for lunch and the salmon was delicious!.

On to the Luxemborg Gardens, the grounds of the Louvre, then to the métro from Palais Royale back to St. Michel, then headed for L'église à St. Louis-en-l'Île for the 1700hrs concert featuring music from the time of Buxtehude - the Aubertin organ being featured along with four vocalists and and ensemble of period instruments.

The Seine is flowing fast and looking muddy as the Spring melt gushes to the sea, so some of the walks very near the waterline aare flooded.

We dined at another restaurant on l'Île, Les Fous being closed on Sunday and Monday.