Friday Duncan and Maggie and I got packed up and drove the roughly 120 km to Monschau, just inside the border with Germany, to spend a couple of nights there with the Hammer family and enjoy the charming Christmas market.
We hadn't all been to Monschau as a family since the first couple of weeks that we were in Belgium, back in 2007...
Monschau on the bridge to the church in 2007
As you can see we were still pretty tired in the photo above. I am pretty sure that I visited the town prior to that, maybe with my parents back in 2004, or maybe with Bruce in 2005? As well I have been back at least once since, when cousins Anne and Patrick visited in 2012.
Kiana has been trying to figure out a good time for us all to go to Monschau together since at least 2016, and unfortunately I keep having concerts in mid-December. This year I still had a conflict because of the Minimes concert, but asked the director if I could please be excused from the Saturday general rehearsal, and just show up on the afternoon of the concert, and sing the raccord and perfomance instead. They agreed, and fortunately for me I had only one relatively straightforward aria to learn (in BWV 40) and then the two duets were from the Christmas Oratorio Part IV, which I knew quite well.
So in the end we managed to get there not too late on Friday evening, and install ourselves in the guest house, which had five bedrooms. Then we drove the 3km into Monschau and had a nice walkabout in the town, tasting some Gluehwein, eating potato pancakes and checking out the market stalls.
So in the end we managed to get there not too late on Friday evening, and install ourselves in the guest house, which had five bedrooms. Then we drove the 3km into Monschau and had a nice walkabout in the town, tasting some Gluehwein, eating potato pancakes and checking out the market stalls.
in 2019
Unfortunately we had waited too long to order our bratwurst and were surprised when the market shut up shop promptly at 21:00. We were stuck with a busload of tired and hungry kids and some disgruntled adults. Fortunately the Gasthaus had an excellent restaurant, and so we Schnitzeled our way through dinner, and turned in fairly early.
On Saturday morning Kiana did a bakery / grocery run, and left for Eupen, the closest Belgian train station, maybe 20 minutes away, to pick up Malcolm and his girlfriend Camille. Then we decided to take advantage of the clear warmish weather. Bryan, Kiana, Yoshi, Osa, and I went for a run into the town of Monschau, and around the surrounding hills. My watch died mid-run so I don't have an elevation reading, but it was very hilly, so I am sure that I got a good workout for the roughly two hours that we spent on the trails. Meanwhile the rest of the crew played Jenga, read books, watched bad German television, and relaxed.
The weather turned much worse as the runners arrived back at the Gasthaus so we got cleaned up and cracked a big bottle of Sint Bernardus beer to rehydrate, and had a game of Blank Slate, which I must recommend if you have a big family. (Here's the link to the game on Amazon).
Then we made our way back to the town center, and despite the drizzly cold weather we managed to get our Bratwurst and the kids bought lots of junky candy. In the evening we went back again to the Gasthaus: the younger ones decided that they had had enough to eat at the market so they stayed in the apartment, but the grownups went down to the restaurant for more Schnitzel. I noticed that there was a bowling alley at the back of the restaurant, so of course we decided to go check it out.
German "Kegel" bowling
It turns out that this game is called Kegels (also known as "Skittles" in Australia). It's closely related to modern ten-pin bowling, but is played on a rather unusual alley, which isn't rectangular, but has a long narrow initial floor, that then opens up to a wider alley. There are nine pins, and the bowling balls are smaller, in between the full-sized ten-pin bowling balls with the holes, and the five-pin bowling balls that were familiar to me as a kid. So you are really limited in how much spin you can place on a ball, and as the pins are well-spaced out, if you use too much force you won't score very well. It was a lot of fun, and we all had a great time and made some new German friends.
The next morning we were all fed and watered, packed, and out of there by 11:00, and home in Wavre by 13:00. Malcolm had an early rehearsal and so we dropped him off at the Liege Guillemains train station to catch a train to Brussels. Meanwhile, I had to warm up and review my music, and get dressed for the concert with the Minimes.
It was really a nice experience to sing this concert. Unusually for me, I had a large number of guests: Dolly director Thom Graham and his wife Nathalie were there, as were two of the Dolly cast, Elina and Sophie; Malcolm attended with four of his luthier friends, and two of the professors from the school; as well my old friend Jason Wood was in the audience! I hadn't seen Jason for nearly thirty years, not since I finished school in Belleville in 1989...
Jason was visiting his oldest daughter while she was studying in Vienna, and making a stop in Brussels before he moved on to Scotland, interestingly enough, to visit with Rob and Viki Freeland. Jason, Rob, and I all worked at Bandito Video back in the 1980s in Belleville, so it was a bit surreal to see him sitting in the church here in Brussels. Of course he had told me ahead of time that he was passing through Brussels, but I have had a rather busy few months, and so it still came as a nice surprise.
But there was another unusual guest in the audience: I looked into the crowd during the orchestral coda after singing my aria in BWV 40 with the Minimes, and noticed that one of the greatest baritones of all time was sitting in the tenth row: it was the incredible José van Dam.
I shouldn't have been that surprised: the conductor Jacques had already told me about a great compliment that van Dam had paid me a couple of years previously after another Minimes concert, saying to Jacques that he thought I was an exceptional baritone. And van Dam is the honorary co-director of Jacques' orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Brussels, with whom I have done a few concerts. But still, I was a bit star-struck.
Afterwards we all met up in the Cafe Leffe in the Sablon, and there I had a chance to actually sit down and talk with van Dam. He lives most of the time with his Croatian wife in Split, just across the reach from the island of Brac, where we have often vacationed. But he is back one week a month to teach at the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth, a very prestigious organisation. I was thrilled to have some conversation with such a great artists and a nice man, a singer who has had such a huge career, and whose recordings have proved invaluable to me as I have learned some french repertoire, particularly the Ravel Don Quichotte songs, the Berlioz Les nuits d'ete and l'Enfance du Christ.
I asked his advice on French lyric repertoire: he was most gracious, and had some suggestions. He was receptive to hearing me try out some repertoire, and I hope to talk with and sing for him again soon...
On Monday I went out to Lawrence's place and we removed a ton of rubble that was produced from the reconstruction of his wood-burning fireplace insert. It took three trips to the dump with the Hammers' trailer, but in the end we cleared it all out, and also had time to enjoy a delicious pasta carbonara lunch that he whipped up for me and the fireplace installer. And I was there for the final testing out of the fireplace... it works! That is good news as he has lots of burnable wood that was trimmed from many oak trees on the property.
Tuesday I had a 10km run in the morning, as it was 14 degrees and clear, and then took the bus into Brussels to meet Jason: we had a couple of hours to socialise and walk around the town a bit before he left for Scotland. It's always interesting to catch up with old friends and see where the intervening years have taken them. He's led a career that has wound through chemical engineering, then history, then IT (information technology) and finally into studying law in Arizona.
Yesterday we had a pretty late night with a large number of guests in for dinner, which is a bit unusual: we have had dinners with company since moving to Wavre, but usually with only a few people, and most often we do that in the summer. But this time we invited the Dolly creative team: Thom (director) and Nathalie, and their daughter Megan; Ruth (producer) Taka, and their two kids; Marie-Pierre (choreographer) and Jhey, plus Maggie and Duncan and I, so it was a rather full house. We decided on raclette and so made it a very social evening, with lots of fun jokes and stories.
The next morning Duncan left fairly early to set up for his karate club's Christmas party, and Malcolm won't be here until later tomorrow, so Maggie and I were on our own. We slept in rather late to celebrate her first day of holidays. I went for a 10km run with the dog in the still-warm weather, and then this evening we took a walk in Wavre together to check out the Christmas market.
Surprisingly there was a running race going on right in the town! I was really surprised; had I known that I would probably have taken part in the race, rather than running my usual trail route earlier in the day. But then again, I don't really like running on roads. Still, it was exciting to watch the start: runners have a choice of either 3km, 6km, or 9km, and it seems to be a Wavre tradition in mid-December. It's probably a good idea to get the jump on burning off some of the fat that will inevitably accumulate this time of year.
In the end we picked the ideal vantage point to watch the race, as you can see in the photo above...
Tomorrow Malcolm should arrive and then we will go get our Christmas tree; we've been holding off until Maggie's classes and my concerts were finished but now it's time to move forward with getting the house ready for the holidays.
It was really a nice experience to sing this concert. Unusually for me, I had a large number of guests: Dolly director Thom Graham and his wife Nathalie were there, as were two of the Dolly cast, Elina and Sophie; Malcolm attended with four of his luthier friends, and two of the professors from the school; as well my old friend Jason Wood was in the audience! I hadn't seen Jason for nearly thirty years, not since I finished school in Belleville in 1989...
Jason was visiting his oldest daughter while she was studying in Vienna, and making a stop in Brussels before he moved on to Scotland, interestingly enough, to visit with Rob and Viki Freeland. Jason, Rob, and I all worked at Bandito Video back in the 1980s in Belleville, so it was a bit surreal to see him sitting in the church here in Brussels. Of course he had told me ahead of time that he was passing through Brussels, but I have had a rather busy few months, and so it still came as a nice surprise.
But there was another unusual guest in the audience: I looked into the crowd during the orchestral coda after singing my aria in BWV 40 with the Minimes, and noticed that one of the greatest baritones of all time was sitting in the tenth row: it was the incredible José van Dam.
I shouldn't have been that surprised: the conductor Jacques had already told me about a great compliment that van Dam had paid me a couple of years previously after another Minimes concert, saying to Jacques that he thought I was an exceptional baritone. And van Dam is the honorary co-director of Jacques' orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Brussels, with whom I have done a few concerts. But still, I was a bit star-struck.
Afterwards we all met up in the Cafe Leffe in the Sablon, and there I had a chance to actually sit down and talk with van Dam. He lives most of the time with his Croatian wife in Split, just across the reach from the island of Brac, where we have often vacationed. But he is back one week a month to teach at the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth, a very prestigious organisation. I was thrilled to have some conversation with such a great artists and a nice man, a singer who has had such a huge career, and whose recordings have proved invaluable to me as I have learned some french repertoire, particularly the Ravel Don Quichotte songs, the Berlioz Les nuits d'ete and l'Enfance du Christ.
I asked his advice on French lyric repertoire: he was most gracious, and had some suggestions. He was receptive to hearing me try out some repertoire, and I hope to talk with and sing for him again soon...
with Jason in the Grand'Place
Yesterday we had a pretty late night with a large number of guests in for dinner, which is a bit unusual: we have had dinners with company since moving to Wavre, but usually with only a few people, and most often we do that in the summer. But this time we invited the Dolly creative team: Thom (director) and Nathalie, and their daughter Megan; Ruth (producer) Taka, and their two kids; Marie-Pierre (choreographer) and Jhey, plus Maggie and Duncan and I, so it was a rather full house. We decided on raclette and so made it a very social evening, with lots of fun jokes and stories.
The next morning Duncan left fairly early to set up for his karate club's Christmas party, and Malcolm won't be here until later tomorrow, so Maggie and I were on our own. We slept in rather late to celebrate her first day of holidays. I went for a 10km run with the dog in the still-warm weather, and then this evening we took a walk in Wavre together to check out the Christmas market.
Surprisingly there was a running race going on right in the town! I was really surprised; had I known that I would probably have taken part in the race, rather than running my usual trail route earlier in the day. But then again, I don't really like running on roads. Still, it was exciting to watch the start: runners have a choice of either 3km, 6km, or 9km, and it seems to be a Wavre tradition in mid-December. It's probably a good idea to get the jump on burning off some of the fat that will inevitably accumulate this time of year.
In the end we picked the ideal vantage point to watch the race, as you can see in the photo above...
Tomorrow Malcolm should arrive and then we will go get our Christmas tree; we've been holding off until Maggie's classes and my concerts were finished but now it's time to move forward with getting the house ready for the holidays.
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