Music Tour- Day Sixteen

On our first morning in France, we went to Paris. We were dropped off near an obelisk near the Seine and were given a couple of hours of free time. The Louvre was nearby, but Jenny said that the queue can take several hours and Claire said that the last time she went to France her parents, who were art enthusiasts, went to the Louvre for three days in a row, so consequently she wasn’t all too interested in the Louvre any more. We went to the Musée de l’Orangerie instead, which was a smaller art museum nearby. There was a good view of the Seine nearby, so we went to have a look in small groups so as not to lose our place in the queue. Nearby, a tour group from another school walked past wearing fluoro yellow jackets. We were grateful that we didn’t have to wear them!

I’m not an art enthusiast at all, so all this museum left me was the question of why there are so many naked people in art. I did find some paintings which interested me, though.

After the museum, we went for a walk to the cathedral where we would be playing next. On the way, Stevie J and Tori insisted on having a photo taken in front of a water fountain which they apparently visited as children. Once we had reached the cathedral, we were allowed to split up into small groups to explore the surrounding area and perhaps go shopping. This was a fairly expensive district so all we ended up doing was window shopping and meeting up with other groups which had arrived. Eventually, it was time to go back to the cathedral. On the way, I crossed when the pedestrian lights were green, which was a bad mistake on my part considering that I was in France and pedestrian lights don’t take turning traffic into account (turning traffic doesn’t have turning arrows to my knowledge, drivers turn when it’s safe to). First, I almost got run over by a white van rounding a corner and then I almost got run over by a motorcycle going in the opposite direction (in some roads in France, bikes and buses have special lanes and have to keep left instead of right). When I told Blake later, he said, “Okay, so first you almost get run over by a paedophile, and then you almost get run over by a bikie?”

At the cathedral, which was l’Église de la Madeleine (the Church of the Madeleine), Jess B met up with her family before we had a rehearsal. Only small instrumental groups were performing as well as Chorale. The acoustics in the church were great, especially in Joshua Fight de Battle ob Jerico.

Following the concert, we were driven down the Champs-Élysées to l’Arc de Triomphe. At first, I was a little scared that we would have to cross the roundabout, known historically as the Place de l’Étoile, but according to Wikipedia is now called the Place Charles de Gaulle. This roundabout is notorious as being one of the most difficult for motorists because not only are there three or so lanes in the roundabout, there are also twelve lanes leading in and out of it. If you don’t know what you are doing, you are in trouble. I didn’t have to worry for long, however, because we were soon led to an underpass that led directly to the central island where l’Arc de Triomphe stands.

Every evening, at 6.30pm Paris time, a ceremony known as the La Flamme ceremony takes place. Wind Orchestra performed our three ceremonial pieces (Largo, Blessed are They and Well Met, My Own True Love) as well as the French national anthem. After the ceremony, which I didn’t understand any more than I understood the one at the Menin Gate, one of the soldiers complimented us on our performance of La Marsellaise (the French national anthem).

After the ceremony, we were given some free time to wander down the Champs-Élysées in fairly large groups. We went to a few stores and I tried on something at one of the stores, but after experiencing just how annoying it was to go clothes shopping while wearing formal uniform, I gave up and just window shopped (though I did buy some earrings). Towards the end of our free time, we bumped into Murphy Minor who told us about the Sephora that she just visited, and all of the other girls in my group were excited about that so they insisted on visiting even though we didn’t have any time, much to the chagrin of the boys and I. It didn’t help matters that the Sephora store on the Champs-Élysées is massive either.

By the time we made it back to the restaurant we were to meet at, I thought we were the last group back. (I don’t think we were, as later on when I went to get non-carbonated water I think I saw some other people from our tour group queuing up.) The food was pretty good, but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to taste my dessert. I thought that I should go to the toilet before finishing my meal so that I didn’t get held up later, but the queue was far too long and moved far too slowly. To make matters worse, there was no toilet paper left by the time the last few people went so Murphy Minor had to give some tissues to people (unused, of course!). I had had tissues in my pocket, but unfortunately they were all used up due to my cold. I also had a full toilet roll in my bag (I find toilet rolls are better than packet tissues as packet tissues never seem to be absorbent enough for my nose, and besides Mr Hey had scared some of us, including me, by saying that there isn’t any toilet paper in public toilets in Hungary) but as we were told to bring only what was necessary to a crowded street such as the Champs-Élysées, I had left my bag on the bus and brought only my camera and the cleaning cloth for my glasses.

When we left, it was a rush to get back onto the buses. We were told to cross at the junction where the pedestrian lights were green, but I knew that it didn’t make too much of a difference because it’s France, so I made sure to look before crossing anyway. (I became a decent jaywalker in France because of the terrible pedestrian lights.) There were a couple of other people ahead of me because they’re more confident in their jaywalking abilities than I am, but I am a pretty good runner too, so I caught up to them. Eventually, after these annoyances, it was another hour or so drive back to our hotel in Senlis. The annoyances and long drive were pretty minor compared to the rest of the day, so overall I had a pretty good day with the bonuses of performing beneath the Arc de Triomphe and in the Church of the Madeleine.

Music Tour- Day Fifteen

On our final day in Belgium, we packed up and moved our suitcases downstairs in preparation to leave. It was raining, so instead of walking down to the buses as was our original plan, we had to wait for the buses to come to us and park illegally in the small road so that we didn’t have to carry so much in the rain. As we hurried on to the buses, I dropped my neck pillow in the gutter. I picked it up and resolved to wash it at the earliest opportunity.

It was a long trip from Belgium to France, during which we stopped several times. Our first stop was at two graveyards. Buses 1 and 2 went to one and buses 3 and 4 went to the other. A former student of our school was buried at each graveyard. One of the girls from Bus 3 was a distant relative of one of the former students buried at the graveyard that we visited. We had a small ceremony where the student gave a speech and we sang the school song and the national anthem. It wasn’t all too fancy, but it was certainly a very moving experience. If I hadn’t had to conserve my tissues due to the fact that I had a cold at this point, I would have shed a few tears.

Our next stop was a graveyard seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, a distant relative of Angus’ was buried at this graveyard, so we stopped for a short while to give Angus and his dad time to look at the graveyard register to find the grave and pay their respects.

Stop number 3 was at a fairly large town. If I remember correctly what Stevie J said, this town was called Lille. We had an hour or so to have a breather, eat, find a toilet and do a little bit of shopping. The toilet was a pay toilet and required 40 cents. The smallest change I had was a 1 Euro coin, so I shoved that in the change machine. I counted the number of 10 cent coins that came out to ensure that I didn’t get ripped off.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...

7, 8...

9...

10...

11!!

After we all made a trip to the toilet (our tour group made for a long toilet queue!) we had a look around the shops. We went into a game shop and saw Pokémon Black and White in French (Pokémon Noire et Blanche). We also had a look at some jewellery stalls, but none of us were really in the mood for shopping that day so we went back to the entrance where Stevie J was. Stevie J said, “You can tell that French people really like clothes, judging by the fact that 90% of the shopping centre is clothes shops!” (That’s probably the same for all countries though.) We ended up playing Cheat around the shop directory on the bottom floor until the security guard asked us to move off to the side. He asked us in French, so it was pretty good that we had Camille with us to translate.

Soon, we were back in the buses for the long trip through several toll booths to Senlis, where our hotel was. As we were waiting to receive our room keys, a few people who had already received their keys were making a big fuss about how there were double beds in the boys’ double rooms. Oddly enough, nobody was making a fuss about the double beds in the girls’ double rooms.

The hotel was more or less divided into two halves, with reception and half of the rooms in one building and the other half of the rooms in the other. I was in the same room (in the second building) as Jess C and Boyuan, and although we only had three in our room, we had a double bed and a bunk bed. It was fairly cramped in our room, but there was still just enough space to manoeuvre our suitcases, my clarinet and Boyuan’s violin.

Once we were settled, it was dinner time. After dinner, we went for a walk down to the fair. When we got there, it seemed as if the fair was closed, so we walked on past the cathedral in Senlis. It seemed huge to us, but then Mr Coy told us that the one we would visit in Amiens in two days would be three times larger.

As we walked back, we discovered that the fair was, in fact, open. A couple of people bought some lollies and things from the counter. Someone had a go at the skilltester (you know, those machines where you have to pick up a toy with the claw that can’t pick stuff up to save its life). Amy had a lot of goes on the Pokémon skilltester but to no avail, though apparently she has actually won stuff from skilltesters in the past. Eventually the climax of the night came: some people wanted to try the “ejection” ride, so the people working at the fair started it up for them. Two people could go at a time. When Jordyn and Courteney went up, one of them screamed. To this day, I have no idea who it was. Apparently it was Jordyn. If it was, that was one high-pitched scream, though I probably shouldn’t be too surprised: apparently Jordyn’s voice went up two octaves after the wedgie he got from the Big Swing on Health Camp.

Eventually the teachers decided that it was getting late and we had to head back to the hotel. On the way back, some people crossed the road at a junction because no cars indicated to turn into that junction. A truck then drove past, honking loudly, and the people on the road screamed and quickly ran off the road. The truck didn’t turn. I expected that the drivers of that truck laughed their heads off to wherever they were going. 

Music Tour- Day Fourteen

On the morning of my birthday, at breakfast, Jenny wished me a happy birthday and presented me with a gift of Belgian chocolates! These six chocolates were cat-shaped, and there were two white chocolate cats, two milk chocolate, and two dark chocolate. Later, as we prepared to leave the hostel to visit the “In Flanders Field Museum” that morning, while Stevie J was teaching someone how to tie a tie, Murphy Minor gave me two more presents: a chocolate dog and a pink and white large spiral lollipop, which she warned me not to eat all at once. It was great being showered down with gifts!

At the museum, Mr Hey mentioned me and two other people who had their birthday on the same day. We then got to enter the war museum and I took my time looking around and reading a lot of the information (though don’t ask me to recall any of it!). I think most of my friends had left by the time I left but I wasn’t the last one to leave.

We then had a little bit of time to spare at the hostel. Some of my friends were already walking around Ypres at this point while others were looking at manga stuff on the Internet. It didn’t occur to me to leave the hostel on my own (because I’m lame like that), but I did have some washing to catch up with (because I’m doubly lame like that). I think I also used that time to send a few emails as well on the annoying AZERTY keyboard the hostel had while listening to the Narwhal Song that some other people from my tour group had playing on the computer that they were using. In the end it was probably a good thing I didn’t see where the others were or that would have ruined the surprise for me when they came back: they presented me with a lovely ladybird cake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to eat it at that point as we were about to go to Fromelles in France, and I wanted to save it for later because it almost looked too good to eat!

Oddly enough, although I hadn’t felt motion sickness at all earlier on tour, I felt slightly ill on the bus on my birthday, of all days. When we stopped at the first war memorial, I gladly took a breath of fresh air. This graveyard was rather small compared to the other ones that we had visited, but it was still fairly substantial. I wonder what Archduke Franz-Ferdinand would say to all of this? (I’m pretty sure most if not all of the graveyards we visited predominantly consisted of graves from World War One, and I think the death toll for World War Two was supposed to be higher.)

When I had finished looking around, I joined some of the others who were standing around near the bus. Someone went to the toilet on the bus, and not long after they did, we heard a whirring sound and then the splash of water hitting the road! Of course, that just led us to pretty bad conclusions. Sarah said, “Okay, guys... nobody do a number 2 in there!” Eric later tried to reassure us that that water was simply tap water waste or something.

We visited another two war memorials after that. The first was very small and didn’t have any graves (to my knowledge)- just a sculpture showing a man carrying a wounded comrade to safety. The second was larger. Eden borrowed my camera at that point so he could take 11 pictures of the door of the war memorial. Apparently the door was “cool.”

Our next destination was another town, Radinghem en Wappes, or to be more specific, a cathedral in Radinghem en Wappes. We had a rehearsal here for the concert that night. Wind Orchestra wasn’t playing, so I just warmed up with Chorale, and ate bits of my (now partially squashed) cake when I had a break. We then got to have a quick rehearsal on stage, after which Mr Hey called the three birthday girls to the front, and Chorale sang “Happy Birthday” to us- in four-part vocal style, which sounded really nice and was by far the best I’ve ever had this song sung to me.

Dinner soon followed and was prepared by the local people. It was only sandwiches (ham sandwiches and cheese sandwiches) but that was probably to be expected as there were so many of us to be served. The cakes that were served for dessert tasted pretty good though.

Following dinner, we got changed and had to walk to the cathedral in concert uniform. If I remember correctly, it was a pretty cold night, and I was quite grateful for my black wrap. In this concert, we got to sit on small chairs to the sides if we weren’t performing which allowed us to see what the other groups had to perform. Senior Wind Quintet was of particular interest to me because they played one of the songs that Junior Wind Quintet was learning before it ceased to run.

We returned to the hostel pretty late after this concert. On the bus, everyone in Angus’ room yelled at him to do his travel diary on the bus so that they didn’t have to shove him in the bathroom again. When we got back to the hostel, it was 11.30pm the first time I checked my watch. We were served waffles for desert, following which we didn’t have a specified lights out, it was just “go to bed as soon as you’re ready.” I don’t remember exactly what time I did end up going to bed, but it was almost definitely after midnight.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is following me everywhere!

So, I start reading Frankenstein, and what do I see on the bottom of page 21?

"I am going to unexplored regions to 'the land of mist and snow'; but I shall kill no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety, or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the 'Ancient Mariner'. You will smile at my allusion; but I will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for the dangerous mysteries of ocean, to the production of the most imaginative of modern poets."

My comments:

1. Some "allusion" this is! Did the narrator want to be any more explicit in which poem he was referencing?
2. The word "modern" in the last sentence is just further proof that 200 years ago didn't seem like 200 years ago back then, it seemed modern. According to the appendix of Frankenstein, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written in 1798. Frankenstein was written in 1818.