Group Outings and Adventures

I've been mostly working on my dissertation, getting out only for runs and grocery trips. However, I have eaten out and led group trips, so here we go.

A week ago Friday, we took students for a group dinner to Brasserie Julien, which is an establishment now over 100 years old. It is more exciting for its atmosphere than for its food. The food was quite pleasant, though not as pleasant as the price might have suggested. The room, though, was beautiful. It has all this art nouveau detailing all around the room, and you just feel like you're in Paris. But Paris where there's an old school cabaret and chanteure. Lovely.

After dinner we took the metro a few more stops to Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset. This is the second highest point in Paris (the first being the Eiffel Tower, of course), though the angle of the view leaves much to be desired. It's actually better to go to the dome of the church to see a lovely view of Paris. Nonetheless, sunset on Montmartre is an event. It's packed with people, and relatively few tourists. People blast music, sell beer by the six-pack, dance, sing, and yell. It's quite something.

On Saturday we took the group to Versailles. It was quite an adventure. We hadn't ordered our tickets 24 hours in advance, which meant David had to go out to Versailles an hour ahead of us to begin waiting in line. The rest of us headed out there later, were missing a few tickets, jumped on the wrong train, didn't realize it until we were down the wrong fork, had to change trains twice more, and finally arrived in Versailles an hour later than we had planned. Which I would have felt bad about if David hadn't JUST arrived at the front of the ticket line by the time we arrived. He waited in line over 2 hours. It's so not worth that. Buy your tickets in advance, people.

I didn't go into the grounds, and instead worked a bit at a cafe and found a place for our group to eat. We went, once again, to Pizza Capri, which is yummy and cheap. Pretty standard.

On Tuesday I decided I wanted Moroccan food and took anyone who wanted to go with me to Riad Nejma. It is on the plaza of the Centre Pompidou, but it's surprisingly not very toursity. It has an open, indoor courtyard built to replicate riads in Morocco, and it felt very familiar. They served their couscous dishes family style, which meant we were all able to try everyone else's dishes. One group ordered something with root vegetables, tons of meat, and spiced with ras-al-hanout or something. Another group ordered the couscous Fassi, which I highly recommend. It was cinnamon, raisins, chickpeas, chicken, onions....oh it was so delicious. Outstanding. Nothing was quite as spicy and delicious as we ate in Morocco, but everything was very flavorful and..morocaine. Yummy.

Le Musee de Moyen-Ages

Yesterday I intended to take students to Chartres, a medieval town near Paris, on a day trip. The weather looked nasty, though, and we got a late start, so I talked them out of it and stayed in Paris. The weather, of course, never turned bad, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Instead, I went to the Middle Ages Museum, or the Hotel Cluny. The hotel was built in the middle ages as an abbey of sorts, over the ancient ruins of Roman baths. It houses a really large collection of art, sculpture, metalworks, and tapestries from the Middle Ages. The centerpiece of the collection is the famous set of six tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn. The series of tapestries depicts the five senses, and then the lady refusing to give into the temptations these senses create. They really are quite cool. At the end of the tour were these choir stools in the photo. They certainly look horribly uncomfortable, as a choir member myself. I'm glad we've progressed to posture chairs.

After an afternoon of grocery shopping, baguette hunting, napping, and some academic work, I went out to my favorite gelati shoppe, Amorino. Mmm. Then I came back once more, only to go out for jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes, my favorite jazz club in Paris. I've talked about it before. It really is fabulous, and I read a review somewhere that described it as becoming known for the cutting edge of jazz. Last night we heard some quartet. I wish I could tell you who it was, because they were fantastic, but the website isn't helpful.

Today I woke up and attended the Gregorian chant mass at Notre Dame. I'm so glad I did, though it was hard to wake up. Even though it's difficult to understand the French mass, the symbolism is all understandable to me. The chant is just gorgeous, and I had a chance to practice a wild different way of doing shape notes. And of course Notre Dame doesn't hire just any slacker on the organ, so that was really incredible as well.

In the afternoon, we headed to Versailles, just like last year on the first weekend. On Sundays the fountains are on, and they just explode with the extravagance of the place. This year I walked around the town with David to find us a place to eat, so I missed out on the palace, but the grounds were as beautiful as ever.

And I'm pooped.

Castles and Cathedrals

Our final tour stop was Milan(o). I'd been to Milan twice before, and though the shopping was great and the Duomo impressive, it was hardly mind-boggling. I think I'd survive if I didn't return, yet it seems to keep pulling me back.

Our tour guide for Milano was much better than that of Venice, not repeating herself nor making racist comments. We first took a little tour of the Castle, where the family who once ruled the city-state of Milan (before Italy was united) lived. One half of the castle was ornate and had many windows, which is where the family lived most of the time, but when the castle was attacked, the family would move into the other half, where there were no windows so they were more likely to safe.

From there, we moved to La Scala, the premier opera theatre in the world. I'm not sure what identifying characteristic makes it so, but I recognize that when you sing opera, here is where you want to do it. It was so beautifully ornate on the inside. It was destroyed in WWII (I think), but it was one of the first buildings to be rebuilt, as a symbol of the city. A few of the choir members went to see the ballet there that night, though I didn't make it out.

Through the beautiful galleria (shopping center with a ridiculously beautiful ceiling), we ended up in the plaza in front of the Duomo. St. Peter's Basilica is the largest cathedral in Christiandom, followed by one in Seville, Spain, and then the Duomo in Milan. It was incredibly beautiful, particularly on the outside. It is also the home of an incredible sculpture of St. Bartholomew...email me if you want to know why I thought it was so cool.

That night I stayed in, but Milano won the UEFA cup in soccer, which means I definitely didn't sleep until the streets calmed down around 3 am. The honking, screaming, firecrackers, etc. were riotous. I am clearly not brave enough to attempt to act like an Italian when there is football involved.

To flourish

Fiorenze. The city of Florence was named from the verb meaning to flourish. And flourish one does.

The city is beautiful, if not filled to the brim with tourist curiosities, like Rome. We began our tour, after a beautiful drive through Tuscany to get there, at the Duomo. The cathedral of Florence is built of marble. Though marble is common inside many buildings in Italy and greater Europe, it is rare on the outside, since it weathers so poorly. The builders of the Duomo were not to be deterred, though, and the building is covered in gorgeous designs in white, red, and green marble. Inside is also an architectural marvel - a dome created of gothic arches, never to be repeated to this day in human history.

Our walking tour, behind a slow-moving but well-informed Italian guide, took us past all of the glories of Florence - the original home of Michelangelo's David, a demonstration of the world's first graffiti (a derivation of the Italian word for scratching), the reported home of Mona Lisa, and many, many churches. Post tour, Dipika and Emily and I wandered back to most of the places the guide had breezed past, such as Dante's home and some gorgeous churches. We went past the Uffizi. Without Darick to enjoy them with me, I chose not to indulge in most art museums on the trip. While I realize I passed up some of the most world-reknowned art there is, such as the Sistine Chapel and the Uffizi, I'll be back. I married an artist, after all. However, we did visit the real David in the Galleria della Accademia, and it was incredibly impressive. The true masters are known as such for a very important reason. No pictures allowed in the museum, so I took mine with the replica in its original location.

We then crossed the river (Arno? maybe that's in Rome...) via the Ponte Vecchio. The bridge is lined with shops, which were once occupied by livestock vendors. Merchants, however, decided it was too smelly and ran all of them out. Now the bridge is lined with fine jewelers....thirty or so all lined up next to each other. It's quite a sight. On the other side, one finds the Medici palace, where the family lived who once ruled Florence and commissioned great works of the Renaissance.

On our way back to meet the group, we stopped at a restaurant off the beaten path recommended by the trusty guide book. I can't emphasize enough how much my guide book rocks, and I'd highly recommend traveling with one and relying on it for guidance. This restaurant was all Florence, with Florentine ingredients and recipes. It was hands down the best meal in Italy, and perhaps one of the best of my life. The recipes were rich with sausage and truffles and ham and the ingredients were just exploding with flavor. And cheap! So so good. If you are headed to Florence, ask me for the name of this place when I can look it up at home. You won't regret it.

We stayed at a hotel in Montecatini, about 45 minutes drive from Florence. There was nothing to do there. I won't bore you with details.

Next morning we went as a group to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a point (now really a parking lot) on a hill near the city where you can see the whole city. Apparently it's one of the best sunset views in the universe, but we didn't catch it at sunset. It is still remarkable though. After that, a group lunch that couldn't compare with the dinner of the night before, plus there were clandestine chicken livers making the meal a bit spoiled. However, we then shopped, which is really what one does in Florence. Ice cream and shopping for leather and paper goods. I purchased both, plus olive oil. Then the choir packed up and headed to the Tuscan countryside to sing at a 700 year-old church as part of a chianti festival. This time, well rehearsed, we sang much better, and the audience seemed so excited to have us there! They even threw us a reception afterward, and though none of us could talk to them (except one of our students) we were all appreciative of each other. It was a great time. Here are olive trees next to the church, in a Tuscan grove. Sigh.

Empires and Ice Cream

Choir tour began after a (thankfully) non-stop flight to Rome. We de-planed, passed customs, checked into our hotel (actually a religious institute run by nuns) and then went on a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Roman forum. It really is remarkable to see the things that you've seen your whole life in books and in mediocre Academy-award-winning films. The Colosseum was, well, colossus. It has weathered time well, and is awe-inspiring.

Our tour guide knew much more information than we, jet-lagged and weary choristers, could really handle, but it was great all the same. Once you get inside, you can see the rooms that were underneath the wooden floor in ancient times, where the gladiators powdered their noses and the animals took their final snooze. You can also see the marble stairs where royalty watched the events from shaded areas and the archeologists still digging for lost artifacts. To attempt to get a mental handle on how old the place is can be baffling.

We then continued to tour the Roman forum and the various temples and archways around the area. The forum is where the soldiers hung out, gambling and going to market and whatnot. The house of Vestigal Virgins provides a good story, though not much to see, and the nearby palace was restored by Michelangelo himself. Though I didn't see where Julius bit the dust, we did see the place where his funeral pyre burned.

That night, after a bit of a necessary rest, we had a group dinner. We had one provided group meal in each city, which was a nice reprieve from the money that I didn't have but was spending anyway. The Italians eat what I would consider an outrageous amount of food at any given meal, and we did the same at these group meals. So bread, two pasta dishes, a meat dish, and a dessert. While the first meal was fairly uneventful, the dessert was remarkable--mille folgie--or a thousand leaves. It's many layers of pastry filled with a delicious custard. I melted.

On our way back to the institute, we traversed through the Vatican City, right through Saint Peter's Square. At night, the fountains and the buildings are lit on all sides, which is quite remarkable to behold. Since I am old, and a wuss, I did not go out after dinner that night, but the walk home through the Vatican City was a perfect way to end the evening.

The next day began with the Piazza Navona, a cute little piazza surrounded by cafes and filled with fountains. From there we walked to one of the great architectural finds of the world, the Pantheon. Its dome is poured concrete, and it's still unknown as to how it was constructed. And at the center is a hole for light, which tells the time on the walls of the internal structure. Here lies great emperors, and Raphael.

We then continued on a walking tour of the beautiful sights of Rome. We visited the Trevi Fountain, of La Dolce Vita and Frank Sinatra fame. It's the fountain of "Three Coins in the Fountain." According to local legend, if you throw one coin into the fountain, you'll return to Rome within the year. If two, you'll find love in Rome, and if three, wedding bells will soon ring. Since I didn't need the latter two, I only tossed one. We also went past the former home of Lord Byron, and took a hike up the Spanish steps, most famous, for me anyway, from Roman Holiday. A jaunt into Piazza Populi, then we headed out for pizza and some gelato. It was a busy day. In the late afternoon came our first performance of the tour. We sang, as a choir, as part of a mass at Saint Peter's Basilica. While I expected it to be, say, "neat," I was amazed at how wonderful the experience was. Being in the cathedral itself was remarkable, knowing I walked on ground over the body of Saint Peter, and passing the marvelous Pieta, now behind bulletproof glass to protect it from axe-wielding maniacs. We sang our own pieces as the regular parts of the mass, during the preparation of the gifts, communion, etc. The whole experience was very solemnifying for me--perhaps not for others in my group, but at least for me. While the mass was said in Italian, I could tell at which point we were and go along in English. It was incredible. Except the pigeon traipsing his way across the altar. The altar boys almost lost it.

Dinner that night on a side street near Vatican city with some fellow graduate students. In each city I attempted to eat at least one dish that was not only Italian, but was specific to the region in both recipe and ingredients. In Rome, that was pasta ala carbonara, and it was delicious in this particular place. Again, I ate too much. However, I still managed some gelato for a passagiata (post-dinner walk) through Vatican city. The place we ate that night remains my favorite gelateria of Italy--it was so incredibly creamy and wonderful. The flavors were gloriously vibrant. It was like a masterpiece of Italian ice cream.

On our last day in Rome, Dipika (my roommate for the tour) and I did a little more back-street exploring. We climbed to the top of the Castel Sant' Angelo, where the pope once saw a vision of an angel sheathing his sword, bringing an end to the plague in Italy. From the top, you can see the whole of Rome, which is fantastic to see. From there, we walked to the Campo dei Fiori--the flower market--to wander the stalls. I purchased spices, ready made for delicious pasta. We had pizza for lunch in the Jewish ghetto, which was once run down but is now a great place for liveliness and food. In this area, which pushes up against the ancient city, there is a church, called something I can't remember but is similar to Our Lady of the Fish Market. This is where the Jews were once forced to go to mass, but they defiantly put wax in their ears. It's a beautiful medieval church, and in the front is an old drain cover known as the Bocca della Verita, or Mouth of Truth. According to legend, and Gary Cooper, the mouth bites off the hands of liars. I passed the test.

That night we left the city of Rome for a concert in the surrounding hills, in a town called Fiorentino (I think). The roads in the city were so small that we had to park the bus outside it and walk to the center to the church. It was perfect. My camera battery had died, so I have no photos of this place, but it was remarkable. It was a smallish crowd, and we sang terribly on almost every piece. It was a nice experience, nonetheless. Back to Rome that night for a pizza dinner once again, and the next morning we headed off to Florence.