September!

 It's September! Where did August go?

I have been a very bad blog member since July but I am mending my ways and renewing my blogging starting today. (You may have heard that from me previously....)   Looks like I am using the 'new" blogger.... well, I'll see if I like it. I wonder if there is any way to get back to the "old" blogger? Let me know if you've done it.

Our local male voice choir, the Men of Note, had to cancel all their concerts since March and haven't had an opportunity to rehearse due to the coronavirus lockdown, but recently they have been able to meet in a member's back yard and practice some of their numbers. Singing indoors is banned at the moment, but the choir have been able to perform on Saturday mornings in July at the local Farmers Market. Everyone spaced at the required safe distance, and wearing masks or face shields, of course. And well away from the public too.

I made sure I was there last Saturday to hear them.... but they weren't there. ONE PERSON has complained that it was unsafe to sing in a public place, despite the masks and the 2 meter spacing and the sanitizer, and the choir has been shut down.

It amazes me that ONE PERSON can have such an impact on something that brought joy to so many. I hope that the choir will be singing next week after some negotiations. We'll see.

St Catharine's Church - Prague

The final concert given by the Men of Note on their 2015 concert tour was at the Church of St Catharine of Alexandria (Kostel svaté Kateřiny Alexandrijské) which is located on the premises of the University General Teaching Hospital in Prague.

Saint Catharine of Alexandria is also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel. Tradition says she was martyred at the age of 18 in the early 4th Century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. The emperor condemned her to death tied to a spiked wheel, but the wheel shattered at her touch, and eventually she was beheaded for her Christian beliefs. The firework Catherine Wheel was named after her.

Charles IV established this church in 1355 as part of the convent of the Order of the Shoed Augustinian Nuns in thanksgiving for a battle won on St. Catharine's Day. Although the church's current Baroque appearance dates back to it's rebuilding in 1737-1741, certain original Gothic elements can still be seen, such as the tall octagonal tower, often called  the "Prague Minaret".

The unique Baroque hall structure has a transverse nave, and a rich fresco ceiling.
Ornate statues of Bishops look down on the congregation.

The Men of Note concert tour included free concerts performed in Venice in Italy, Bled in Slovenia, Bad Tatzmannsdorf in Austria, and this last concert in Prague. I went to all the concerts. Even though the music content was often repeated at each concert, the different venues made each performance special and unique. The acoustics in this spectacular old church were marvellous. The men's voices melded together and reverberated throughout the building giving me chills, beautiful!

The gentleman standing in the centre of the front row (6th from left, 6th from right) is 94 years old and still singing! Bravo!

 The harmonica featured in the concerts, and also in singalongs on the tour bus!

More pictures to come.... eventually!

Bad Tatzmannsdorf - Austria

Bad Tatzmannsdorf is a small spa town of approximately 1500 people in the Oberwart district of Austria, and is one of Austria's leading health and wellness resorts.

The area was ruled by a Hungarian noble family as early as 1378, and has been settled by Germans, Turks and Croats through the centuries. It became a favourite health resort for "cures" for the Austrian aristocracy from the 1700s onwards.

We stopped for an afternoon for the Men of Note concert that was scheduled at the Kurzentrum Concert Hall in Bad Tatzmannsdorf.

One of the Men of Note members was born in Germany and is fluent in German, so was able to introduce the choir and the musical numbers to the mainly German speaking audience. Good idea, as the current repertoire is sung in English or Latin.

The Kurzentrum at Bad Tatzmannsdorf hosts a variety of cultural and recreational events including lectures, readings, recitals and concerts, as well as providing running and walking trails and spa and wellness activities for guests.

The gardens were filled with fragrant lavender, and we noticed some very large hovering insects who were enjoying the flowers' nectar. They looked like what I imagine a baby humming bird would be, but they were hoverflies or hoverbees. 
Edited: I have been told that this is a hummingbird hawk moth. A fascinating creature.

After the concert we stopped at the nearby Weinstadl restaurant for an Austrian buffet dinner. Lots of meat and potatoes!

And of course when in Austria, one has to sample the local brew. Puntigamer is a traditional beer from Styrias provincial capital Graz, and famous in Austria for its football sponsorship. Puntigamer supports Austria's First League football club "Sturm Graz". 

More pictures to come.
If you have visited Bad Tatzmannsdorf, leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Bled, Slovenia

The Republic of Slovenia. Do you know where it is? Just north of Italy, south of Austria, a little to the west of Croatia, and occupying tiny stretch of Adriatic coastline. Slovenia split from the former Yugoslavia and became an independent country in 1991. A member of NATO since 2004 and joined the Eurozone in 2007.

Bled is a charming spa town of just over 6000 people in Northwest Slovenia. Bled Castle has stood at the top of this rocky cliff 100 meters above Lake Bled since the 11th century. The crane is a much later addition.

The choir gave a concert in St. Martin's Church (Župnijska cerkev svetega Martina). The Neo-Gothic church was completed in 1905, and contains a number of frescoes painted in 1930, one portraying Lenin as Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper. They weren't too keen on Lenin.

We did some shopping at the local grocery store. Better get that bad apple out of there!

This friendly gentleman was demonstrating his lookalike bookmarks that he was selling in his souvenir shop. He was the proud dad of two daughters, one was a ballet dancer, and the other was the Slovenian mountain biking champion.

A wall of canisters of tea.... every flavour you could imagine. I bought some fragrant herbal tea to take home as gifts.

Above: A topographic map of the area around Bled displayed on the main street.... these mountains are the Julian Alps, a popular winter sports destination. A showery day, but the rain didn't spoil our enjoyment of a lovely town.

More pictures to come.
If you have visited Bled in Slovenia, please leave a comment and tell me about it.

Venice 3

St. Mark's Square, Piazza San Marco, is the social, political and religious centre of Venice, and also home to shops in the Merceria displaying all sorts of touristy items, mostly overpriced. And of course, the inevitable teeshirt and hat booths enticing you to spend some euros on souvenirs to take home.

Piazza San Marco looking towards St Mark's Basilica and it's bell tower. The west facade of the church is comprised of great arches, and marble decorations, and Romanesque carvings around the central doors. The square is ideal for the fat pigeons who congregate there hoping for hand outs from the tourists.

St. Mark's Campanile is the free standing bell tower of the Basilica. The original 9th to 12th century bell tower was built on Roman foundations. Through the centuries the tower was damaged by lightning strikes and fire and was often under repair. In 1902 the tower collapsed (the caretaker's cat was the only victim, how sad) and was rebuilt on the same Roman foundations in 1912, 1000 years after the original construction.

The front of Saint Mark's Basilica is covered with decorative carvings. The first St. Mark's church was completed in AD 832, burned in 976, and rebuilt in 978. The current church was consecrated around AD 1093, but has seen many changes since then. Gradually the outer brickwork became covered with marble and carvings.

 Details of the doors of the basilica. Each door shows a different animal face. Dogs? Cats? Devils?

The Men of Note's first performance on the concert tour was at evening Mass in St. Mark's Basilica. What an honour to raise their voices in such a beautiful church. Some of their repertoire sung in Latin: Veni Creator Spiritus, Morte Christi, and Ave Maris Stella.
Unfortunately it wasn't possible to video the performance, even though we had prior permission.
No foto! Nessun video! Non possibile!

Most of Venice is built at sea level so after a very stormy and rainy day, the rainwater has nowhere to go, and water was bubbling up out of the drains to flood St Mark's Square. St Mark's Campanile reflects in the puddles. 

more pictures to come

If you have visited Venice, leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Venice 1

I'm back from a couple of weeks on a European Concert Tour with the "Men of Note", our town's male voice choir. The first stop was Venice, only for two days, but we saw so much of the beautiful city. What a wonderful place! There's nothing like it anywhere. Everyone should see Venice at some time in their lives.... it should be mandatory.
Our first day was HOT, 29C, which was brutal especially after a long and tiring overnight flight from Canada. Our second day was rainy, stormy, and a lot cooler, thank goodness.

There are 433 bridges over the Venice canals, connecting around 126 islands, all with steps up and steps down.... we didn't cross all of them but by the end of the day my aching legs felt like we did!

View from the vaporetto taking us from the Tronchetto coach park into Venice. We shared the vaporetto with a student group from Poland, and exchanged songs, our men's chorus singing in English, and then the students answering with songs in Polish. Lots of cheering and applause.  Music is an international language. 
A magical memory.

Our knowledgeable guide on the walking tour. A walking encyclopedia as far as Venezia history is concerned.

Crowded outside the Doge's Palace? No not really.... just wait until July and August.

The Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace with the Prisons. 
Tradition says convicts had a final look at the beautiful city before being led to their cells, or to a date with the executioner. Sigh.....

More pictures to come. 
If you have visited Venice, please leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Men of Note

There's nothing more dramatic and stirring than the harmonies of a male voice choir. Our local Men of Note are no disappointment, in fact they rank right up there with the best, in my opinion. Last night's concert was sold out. We managed to buy tickets at the door, only because we were "in the know" with some of the singers. Guest artist Quintessence Bell Ensemble blew me away with their version of "Still, Still, Still" combining voice and English handbells. And soloist Susan Brown held the audience spellbound with her performance of "O Holy Night". Her voice is pure, clean, virtuous, it flows like silk. And those high notes....

A wonderful concert.