Our final day begins with a 3 hour visit to the Louvre. To see all the works of art contained in the Louvre, you need several months, so our mere 3 hours provided only an overview of some of the highlights. We saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa and of course the pyramid as well as some of the structure of the original castle fortress of the building. Our guide also pointed out spots where the action of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code took place. Apparently this is now a part of most guided tours of the Louvre. We have lunch in the many cafes and restaurants within the museum complex before leaving our last sightseeing stop for the American Church in Paris where we will ring together as this group for the final time.
Fred Gramann meets us at the door when we arrive. The coach is parked at a bus stop on a very busy street and we have to unload most of the bells on the street side of the coach. We quickly form a line as close to the bus as possible and pass cases from one to another to get them to the curbside.
After set up, we have a 90 minute rehearsal and then an hour break to change and get ready for our 5:00 concert. Fred is a very gracious host and has set up refreshments for us - juice, water and cookies - and several line up to have Fred autograph copies of his music that we perform on our concert.
Before we know it, it's concert time. A large, international audience has filled the church on two levels. Easily the biggest audience of our tour. What a wonderful audience it is - long periods of applause follow each piece and while we play I can see people sitting forward in their seats - so attentive and appreciative. This is our best performance of the tour and the audience is a big part of it. For me, at least, and I suspect for others in the group, we fed off the 
energy in the crowd and it put more energy in our performance. A great way to end our run of concerts!
energy in the crowd and it put more energy in our performance. A great way to end our run of concerts!But - so quickly it ends. As soon as the concert is over we have to get everything back on the coach and back to the hotel where we share our last dinner together before packing for the trip home.
We all agree that this has been a wonderful trip due in large part to the people with us. Everyone has worked hard and had fun. We all got along well - there were no personality problems. Our hosts were accommodating, helpful and gracious. Our tour manager, Joyce, was fantastic. Always pleasant, informative with a great sense of humor and working diligently to make sure all arrangements are in order. Our coach driver, Graeme, has maneuvered us through some very tight places and has 
tirelessly loaded and unloaded the coach after every concert and rehearsal. Keith and Wendy Rowland made sure we had equipment and instruments and arranged many of our concerts. The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and the Scottish region helped make sure we had strong audiences in the UK. David, as always, has been a superb conductor leading us to some wonderfully musical performances, inspiring us with his dedication to excellence.
tirelessly loaded and unloaded the coach after every concert and rehearsal. Keith and Wendy Rowland made sure we had equipment and instruments and arranged many of our concerts. The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and the Scottish region helped make sure we had strong audiences in the UK. David, as always, has been a superb conductor leading us to some wonderfully musical performances, inspiring us with his dedication to excellence. All of us have made some new friends and had some wonderful experiences. We linger a while at our last dinner saying our good byes and sharing some memories of these two weeks together. We have hours of travel ahead of us tomorrow on our journeys home.
Signing off for now. I will have some final posts later in the week with some closing thoughts about our trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment