A new vantage point

It's been too long, my friends.

But with good reason! The past week here in Europe has been a major transition. Last I wrote, we were nearing the end of our course in Verneuil-sur-Avre with Jean-Paul Sevilla, and now, one week later, we're spending our last hours in France!

I sit here writing with the sound of Vincent Galland - a close friend with whom we're staying in Grenoble - tuning his harpsichord in the living room downstairs, and the view of the Alps just outside the window. I tell you: it doesn't get much better than this. So how did we end up here?

Well, last Wednesday, our trip to Deauville and Honfleur passed magnificently. We had the best weather possible. When we arrived in Deauville, a famous beach town on the northern coast, where innumerable French tourists go to see all the American movie stars when they come - can you imagine! - the tide had just come in, the beach wasn't crowded, and we had a quick swim in the very pretty, though salty, water. Afterwards, a bit of sunbathing, a bit of Frisbee on the beach, and lunch at a restaurant right on the beach! Michel and I had a scrumptious crab salad and a dish of fresh shrimp, topped off with a Strawberry Melba for dessert (Peach Melba is the one you might know, but this was just as good!). Then we hopped in the car again and drove to Honfleur, the birthplace of Satie, and a small town just 15km away.

What a jolie place!

We went to a museum, an homage to the iconic Erik Satie, and to set off the house from the others right away, it was embellished with many versions of the winged pear: Satie's personal symbol of ascension after death, and relates his once witty rebuttal to Debussy's comment that he lacked "form" in his compositions: he came back the next time to see Debussy with a set of Three Pieces in the Form of Pear ...!

I have a feeling that had I lived in the time of Satie, we would have been good friends.

As it is, I was terribly impressed with the museum and its tongue-in-cheek charm. Especially endearing was the final room which was completely white, with a white Steinway piano that played itself. You entered into the room, fittingly neither as a performer or listener, merely an observer of the scene that ensues and the joy the permeates through the room with Satie's music. Lovely.

We took some time then to enjoy Honfleur, a city which has captured Michel and I so much that we will probably return there on our way back from London at the end of August. The city is beautiful, simple, full of people and conversation and small niches that lack the pretension that sometimes strikes you in bigger cities... en tout cas, we enjoyed our day immensely.

The rest of the week in Verneuil was spent practicing like mad, but also finally spending time with all the other students! Somehow we'd managed to evade each other for two and a half weeks; probably just busy with our own things, but the over the last couple of days, we had a great time of it: eating together and going out.

Our final masterclass and concert on Saturday were something of a misnomer, as all of us had progressed during the three weeks with Jean-Paul, but certainly, we felt (more so at the end of the course than at the beginning) that we have incredible amounts to learn yet. The concert went well: we had a large and appreciative public, and that's all that we could really ask for. A delicious couscous party followed afterwards at Jean-Paul's. We parted ways finally at around midnight, except for Thomas, who came back home with Michel and I and taught us some really great new card games and joined us for a little bit of celebratory alcohol - just a bit!

Even though Michel and I got to bed around 5 in the morning, we made good on our promise to see Jan, Janice and Asuka off at the train station at 8:30, after which we promptly fell right back into bed and woke up again promptly in the afternoon, just in time for lunch.

Our last full day in Verneuil was surreal: all of our friends had left, the stores were closed, the pianos in the school unused. Our baggage was finally packed at the very last moment (on Monday morning in fact!), and we said our farewell to Jean-Paul and our dearest hosts, Pierre and Francoise. To Quidditch, their cat, we extended an invitation to come on the rest of the trip with us, but we never really got a definitive answer from him...

Too bad, because he missed a wonderful place, this city called Grenoble, and that's what I'll write about in the next post, coming very soon. For now, adieu!

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