Day 7, 8, and 9: In Pontével

 

Arrival in Pontével

We made it to Pontével a little after lunch on Saturday, completing almost 3000 kilometers of driving, and introduced ourselves to Annalies. She is a Dutch citizen and friend of the proprietors, who has been living for 25 years in California, is back for a visit and has been looking after the place for three weeks. She showed us around the property, and explained the various water irrigation systems in place to keep the vines and other plants well watered. It involves maybe an hour of work in the early morning, and with the three of us it goes quickly.

The entrance

Many grapevines

In the garden

View from the terrace

We got ourselves installed in the guest house for the first couple of days, as Annalies planned to stay for an overlap of a couple of days, and only left this morning (Monday). It’s a great house, really well-appointed with a nice kitchen, and the evenings are lovely and cool for sleeping. So far it has been 28 or 29 degrees at the hottest part of the day, which is fine... later this week it will be hotter, getting close to 34 degrees midweek.

As soon as we could we visited Raoul and Lulu next door, our old neighbours from Watermael-Boitsfort!

Maggie and I haven’t seen them since four summers ago, and for Malcolm it had been even longer.  They invited us for a stupendous lunch yesterday and we spent most of the afternoon there catching up.

Today it’s a very quiet day.  We finished up the watering this morning, and I think I have a clear idea of the drip irrigation, so no stress. We have lots of food in the fridge and a good supply of cold drinks.

One last thing: I have often lamented the lack of a good ice cream sandwich in Belgium. I have a fond memory of being a small child staying with my family at Grand-Uncle Desmond’s cottage at Golden Lake, and walking with my Aunts and Uncle over to the little store and eating one. For me that is a sense memory that means “summer”… look what I found in the Lidl grocery store here?

tears of joy

Day 6 - In Porto with Mary and Gregor

 

Malcolm in A Coruña with luthier pals Pablo and José

I feel like Han Solo stashing spice under the floor of the Millenium Falcon, except this time it’s walnut, sapele and cyprus for future guitars

In Porto with a Belleville neighbour from childhood, Mary Wilson

The view of the beach from Mary and Gregor’s apartment

a dapper gentleman on the streets of Porto

The world’s ritziest McDonalds - they even have a falconer at the entrance… why?  I have no idea

Excited about blue tiles in the Art Nouveau train station

having a port tasting at Taylor’s on the other side of the river

port in huge barrels in various stages of ageing

Malcolm at the Luis I bridge, built by Seyrig, a former associate of Eiffel

We left Isabel and Alex fairly early on Thursday to make our way to A Coruña, a beautiful city on the northwest tip of the Iberian peninsula, where Malcolm had been spending a couple of weeks building with his former teacher Pablo and his friend José, a violin maker.  He had a great time and they are already talking about another collaboration sometime in the future, building Irish bouzoukis, which are a kind of octave mandolin. The ancestor instrument to the Irish bouzouki is very popular in traditional West Asian, European and Balkan music.

Malcolm also had quite a bit of wood for building that he bought on this trip, so it will be cheapest if we just drive home with it.  He’s staying on with us in Portugal until sometime around the 18th July or so, and then will fly back to Belgium to resume working on his current commission and other repairs and setups.

We made it to Porto in the mid-afternoon, and met up with Mary Wilson, her husband Gregor and their daughter. Mary was a great host and showed us a walking tour of many cool sights in downtown Porto. It’s a really beautiful city, and I would like to spend more time there in the future. She and Gregor were fantastic hosts and really cool people.

That evening we had a fabuous dinner at a converted fish market, where the diners can go and look at all of the freshly caught fish and seafood, and they will cook it for you… it ended up being a big party of 17 friends of Mary and Gregor, including lots of cool artistic types, mostly Americans, nearly all of whom have moved to Porto in the last few years. They are all taking language lessons and are in the process of applying for citizenship. It was a lot of fun and we had some great conversations with our fellow guests, including a conductor, a soundtrack composer, a number of singers, songwriters, a jazz pianist, a cabinetmaker… really a great time.

The next morning we were up, had a quick breakfast and got back in the car to drive the last three hours to Pontèvel…

Day 5 - San Sebastian to Pormenande with Isabel and Alex

Beautiful Hydrangeas at the campsite near San Sebastian

Eucalyptus forest on the way to the beach

walking Yoshi with Isabel and Alex

heading down to the beach at high tide in Pormenande

Pormenande Beach (one of them)

the water was pretty cold, but extremely clear and clean

Alex doing some experimental bouldering

It’s been an extremely busy time since we last checked in on Wednesday the 9th near San Sebastien… here is a little video of our tapas experience there at a place called Borda Berri…

I was almost overwhelmed by the noise… I cannot understand how Yoshi handled it, but he did, and Maggie managed as well. It was worth it for the food, my goodness it was amazing, kebab of pork, pig’s ear, a fish dish (not sure what but who cares it was great), a risotto to die for; so delicious. The servers behind the bar have Wagnerian voices and I’m still a little deaf from the shouting.

From there we headed to Pormenande to Isabel’s parents’ house. Isabel and Alex are our colleagues from St. John’s; they currently are running the boarding house; Alex has filled in teaching math and science, and Isabel has classes in music and art. She was an intern with me for the first semester during the 2023-2024 school year, and ended up staying on, which is great for our school community. She brought Alex along for his internship this past year and he’s also joining the St. John’s family for the coming school year. They just became engaged so this was a chance to see them and celebrate that together.

We had a nice lunch together at Isabel’s parents’ beautiful house in Pormanende, met some of Alex’s friends who were also visiting, and then did the walks and swimming pictured above. In the evening we explored the town, and then went to a prize-winning restaurant that served the Northern Spanish version of a veal cordon bleu that was as long as my arm. Really delicious.

It’s really nice to have some time with them outside of a school setting, in their “home town”. And after four nights of camping, it was also great to sleep in an actual bed again!  But we had a solid appointment in Pontével so had to keep moving…

 … next episode: the Edgehill Road Mafia in Porto

Day 4: In Espagna

Not a lot of photos as we were in the car most of the time. We just rolled into San Sebastian about an hour ago, and as of 18:30 we are set up in our (quite small but adequate) campsite at Zingira Kanpina near the town of Orio, homophonous with the famous cookie. The campsite doesn’t take tenting reservations so we tried to get here early to be sure to have a place…

We left Île de Re at around 8:30, and were in Bordeaux a little after 12:00.  We stopped at an interesting little café called “L’Originale” in the city centre, with seating for maybe a dozen people, and had a delicious plat du jour of a pork filet mignon with potatoes and some zucchini au gratin. We didn’t stick around to explore much, but Bordeaux looks like a place that would be cool to visit again for a good long weekend at least.

It was looking to be a four-hour drive if we stuck to the non-toll roads, so we bit the bullet and paid the 22 EUR to get here in two-and-a-half instead. 

Tonight we are getting cleaned up and will head into San Sebastian itself for dinner… perhaps I’ll have some photos of that for tomorrow’s post?

Tomorrow we head to Playa Pormenande to meet up with Isabel and Alex, and then it’s a stop to get Malcolm in A Coruña, and then on to Porto to visit with my former Belleville neighbour Mary Wilson and her family, and then on to Pontèvel…

Day 3: Mille Bornes

 

Sometime today we reached our thousand kilometer mark, without too much fuss. The day started with a relatively early wakeup, and as the campsite was not busy, we cooked a quiet breakfast (Aeropress coffee, fruit, and bacon crêpes) and threw the frisbee for Yoshi quite a bit.

It was a nice clear day, and Maggie stayed at the campsite and sat quietly with her embroidery. I drove the 20 minutes into Bayeux and beat the crowds to see the Tapestry. Maggie had already seen it with the boys and her parents many years ago, so I was eager to see it myself, and no dogs are allowed inside so it was a solo mission.

All I have to say is, “Wow.” I remember learning enough embroidery stitches in grade seven to make a holly ornament for my mom, and I’ve sat next to Maggie doing her embroidery for countless hours over the thirty years since we met. But what a feeling to look at this work of embroidery that is a thousand years old, that reads like a film storyboard or a comic strip that is 70 metres long: it’s unbelievably powerful. Definitely a must-see, and if you can go right after the museum opens as I did, you’ll have no crowding.  I was able to walk right up to the desk (and got a 5 EUR academic ticket price too, as I had my school ID) and walk in. By the time I walked out a half an hour later the entire lobby looked like a Ryanair departures desk at Easter Holiday.

I returned to the campsite by around 11, where Maggie had started breaking down the tent. We had nice long showers and changed, then finished packing up and hit the road for the IÎe de Re.

We changed drivers several times, and had to stop for gas at around 13:00. By chance we chose to go off the highway for lunch and chose the village Villedieu-les-Poêles, referred to as the "city of copper" since the 13th century. Mauviel copper cookware has their headquarters here, and that brand has been associated with the village since the 19th century,

We had a nice walk around the village, which has a picturesque river running through it, and poked around the stalls (it was market day) before settling on a nice Bistro called CANON-Bistro Sourdin which had a great rating on Google Maps (4.9 stars, 100 ratings).  It didn’t disappoint; I had the filet of merlan and crème de coquillages and Maggie opted for the pork shoulder.  Very yummy, food and drink for two for 40 EUR.

Then we had a good long drive to make it down to La Rochelle, and then across the bridge to the Île de Re, which added up to almost 500 kilometers today…

The campsite we are at is very nice, quiet, with lots of trees, maybe 20 minutes from the bridge to the mainland. Mostly families with young children it’s very peaceful. Also what is nice is the pizzeria near the entrance where we could order a pizza and a Duvel! Thank goodness I brought the right glass along.

After dinner we finished setting up the site and then went for a walk to the beach through the dunes to reward Yoshi for his patience during the long car ride.

Tomorrow we hope to make it to San Sebastian in Spain… a demain…

Day 2: Roen, Caen, Dieppe and Bayeux

We’re settled in for the evening in a beautiful little campground near Bayeux that I would heartily recommend.  It’s in a very quiet sunny and breezy place surrounded by farmlands, with a public walking/running trail nearby. The proprietor is a very pleasant guy who runs a transport business, but started this campground a few years ago. The price is reasonable (30 EU for the night for two people, a dog, a tent, access to the showers and toilets and washing up facilities). 15 minutes from Bayeux makes it a bargain: Camping Aire Naturelle d’Agy - Bayeux.

I must say that we are one of only two of about seven residents who are tenting; the rest are in VW camper vans with trail bikes on the back, so there must be good cycling nearby.

Here are some photos of today:

Maggie visiting the Newfoundland monument to the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel (Yoshi and I had to wait outside)

 

The Cathedral of Rouen

POV: you are Matisse

One of the countless half-timbered buildings that we see everywhere here in Normandy

The history prof giving us a lesson on the round towers on the chemise wall that protected the keep at the Donjon of Caen

Another point of view

My goodness, these should not be allowed, they are too good

At the Juno Beach Visitor’s Centre

Tomorrow we have a longer drive; I’m going to try to see the Bayeux tapestry early while Maggie looks after Yoshi, and then head down to La Rochelle, where we’ve reserved a campsite at the Dunes on the Île de Ré… That’s a good 500 km from here so we’ll see how that unfolds…

And they’re off!

It’s around 19:00 in the evening of our first day of the trip to Portugal and we’re relaxing at the Municipal Camping site of Poix-de-Picardy, not far from Amiens.  We have several stops planned in France for the next few nights before we arrive in Playa de Pormenande Spain, where we will visit with our colleagues Isabel and Alex for a night or two, before continuing to Portugal.  We plan to pick up Malcolm who is building with his friends Pablo and José in A Coruña, and continue for a night in Porto at the home of my childhood neighbour Mary Wilson, before arriving in Pontével on the 12th.

This is just a quick post.  June was packed with activities… the Matthäuspassion in Brussels on the 7th was a huge success, and my boy sopranos were a high point much to the delight of their parents.  The following weekend I had to drive to near Delft in the Netherlands for the rehearsal and performance of the Mozart Requiem, which went very well, and it was also the first time that my new Amsterdam agent was able to attend a concert that he had arranged for me.  The next week ended with a really very good classical recital / concert with my choir, several pianists, a cellist, and also a very beautiful Beethoven quartet with private students Simeon, Diego, Helmi, and Ulfhildur playing the roles from the opera Fidelio.

I went up to Antwerp Cathedral for a mass performance of my own on the Sunday, and then immediately we had the Rock Extravaganza on Monday evening.  It was really quite a success with about 90 minutes of music, with the majority of songs coming from grades nine and ten but also with some younger students, and a teacher band performance as well. The bar was well-used, and we sold a lot of hot dogs and ice cream for the fundraising committee.

The last week of school was less personally demanding as I had no performances, but was filled with other activities both focussed on the end of the year and doing lots of planning and preparation of scores, recordings, audition materials for Les Miserables, which we will perform at the end of November this coming autumn. I’ve brought my scores along and hope to have time during the three weeks that we are in Pontével to get everything ready for later in August. I also managed to squeeze in a Canada Day performance for the ambassador to the EU in Brussels, which was a lovely celebration.

More reports from the road to come… Happy Belated Canada Day!

June is Bustin' Out All Over (1945)

 

1945 seems like a long while ago... but based on the crazy behaviour of our students, not THAT long ago...

Lots happening here in June.  We closed our production of Guys and Dolls with great success, and the kids had a great time.  We're looking forward to autumn of next year when we produce Les Miserables which promises to be rather exciting, especially given our talent pool of enthusiastic students.

Speaking of talent we just heard that one of our grade 10 singers/actor/dancers who played Cinderella in our Into the Woods has been accepted (exceptionally) into the Royal Junior Academy of Music in London!  Normally they don't take students outside of the UK, but she made an impression and will be commuting every weekend from Belgium to London to take her Saturday classes.  They have also recognised that she is a "legit" soprano so they are steering her also towards classical repertoire, which I'm very happy about.  There are many cases when you have a private singing student whom you have advised has the chops and the instrument to do classical music, but it's quite another thing for their family to hear the same advice from an independent professional, so I am very pleased for her and hope that both she and her parents will listen to this good advice...  Watch this space.

This past week I've been busy with the Family Day performances with the choir as well as the grade 9 and 10 rock bands... 

Should I stay or should I go?  Grade 9

Twist and Shout Grade 10

Consider these a rehearsal for the 20th of June.  Now I'm busy preparing the grade 6/7 boy sopranos to perform the ripieno choir parts for the Bach St. Matthew that I'll be singing on the 7th June, right after our larger school choir opens the grade 12 Graduation ceremony.  I'm probably going to have to bundle them all into the school van immediately after their performance of Bruckner's Locus iste and the anonymous Gaudeamus Iguitur to make it to the generale on time, but I'm pretty sure that the timing will work...

For Bach, we had the first rehearsal yesterday and the boys are really excited about this coming weekend's performance, and they did rather well considering that it was their first moment with a bunch of strangers and an unfamiliar conductor.  Again I am struck by how many wonderful opportunities to teach good singing practice there are in Bach's ripieno part: rules about phrasing, dynamics in rising intervals, the old idea of breathing where the text allows for a question... boring stuff for the non-singers but familiar to me, and also to composers who wrote later music (like Guys and Dolls) and soon, I hope, to them.  Our kids are really doing very well at internalising these ideas, and presenting them calmly and confidently.

Then it's shifting gears for me the following weekend to sing the Bass solo in the Mozart Requiem in Den Hoorn, arranged by my Netherlands agency, and then shifting back home to the final end of year concerts of the classical recital with choral, solo, and ensemble classical works, including the Beethoven Fidelio quartet for my private students, as well as the Rock Extravaganza, then a mass in Antwerp for me, and probably the Hockey version of O Canada at the embassy again... 

I feel like this year, my fifth at the school, has really been a productive one.  I feel a lot more comfortable than ever before, knowing that the T's have been crossed and the I's have been dotted academically, and now we can just make beautiful music together until the end of the year... Fingers crossed!

Guys and Dolls

 

It's been a very busy four months since we started auditioning students for Guys and Dolls, and all of that work is coming to fruition tomorrow night when our show opens.  It's entirely cast with Middle Schoolers (Grades 6, 7, and 8) and nearly every one of the 16 or so roles is double-cast, so we have two different casts on alternate nights until we close on Saturday afternoon.

If you haven't seen it already here are some trailers on Instagram.  You don't need to be an Instagram subscriber to watch them....

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

If you are an Instagram subscriber please like and follow the our Sports and Performing Arts Instagram account for updates: 

Since last I posted I had a couple more concerts: an Easter Sunday Mass at the Antwerp Cathedral, and then a Passion concert of all Bach music in Bruges.

 

The last couple of concerts for me before the season closes include the St. Matthew Passion in Brussels on June 7th, followed by the Mozart Requiem in Den Hoorn NL on June 14th.

I have to conduct a performance of the St. John's Choir this Sunday, the day after Guys and Dolls closes, and also set up and perform with my grade nine and ten music classes in their respective rock bands.  Sunday is the St. John's Family Day so it's always good to show the community that, in addition to our musical theatre shows, we also perform other kinds of music.

June 20th is our Classical Recital with an extended choral programme, as well as solo performances from instrumental musicians and private singing students.  I have four of my students performing the Beethoven "Mir ist so wunderbar" quartet from the opera Fidelio, and there are other solos still being prepared.

Finally we have a big blowout on the last monday night of classes, the 23rd of June: our Rock Extravaganza!

You can tell that we're definitely in Belgium and not in Canada, because my big music classroom is turned into a nightclub.  I build a stage, we put up lighting, cafe tables with candles, and set up a cash bar!  It's going to be a great time, and the kids get to rock out.  My grade ten class in particular is excited, because this is the last year that I teach them music; we don't currently offer music as a grade 11/12 class.

I've been teaching at St. John's now for five years, and I've had most of them as students since that first year when they were in grade six.  It's going to be pretty emotional!  This is I think our third or fourth Rock Extravaganza since we resumed doing them, and we also expect to have some grade 11 and 12 self-organised bands, as well as some alumni returning to play, which gives a great sense of musical community and continuity.

Until next time...