Music and Flowers

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Music and Flowers



Last night we had the pleasure of hearing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in live performance just a few blocks from our house in Detroit. They are doing a Tchaikovsky Festival, with our own great music director Leonard Slatkin conducting. We heard it in Medellín through the magic of the internet; they are now broadcasting their performances electronically for the whole world. You yourself could connect, at http://www.dso.org/live.aspx .



I take e-mail and blogging all for granted now, but the live performance of our own home boys somehow seemed extraordinary. Actually, it is all extraordinary. We are the first people in the history of civilization to experience this.



Medellín is a wonderful place in many ways, but there is no orchestra or theater that we have been able to find. In all our travels, the best place for that was Guadalajara. We went to many concerts, saw two excellent plays performed in the courtyards of colonial buildings, and saw a dance performance of Carmina Burana that was unforgettable. Not to mention a magnificently produced performance of Lope de Vega's "Castigo Sin Venganza" at the state supported theater. This is all in the winter season before Semana Santa; after Easter it all shuts down abruptly.



Medellín has a beautiful series of municipal parks and gardens. We visited a very wonderfully designed park downtown, called the Barefoot Park, El Parque Descalsado. Here you are invited to take off your shoes and walk a bit over sandy and grassy trails to various points of entertainment. Lots of people, and even more children were doing it, photos 10 - 13.



There is also a large botanic garden, with an orchidarium and a butterfly house. The orchids were quite beautiful; some quite exotic, some looking a little familiar, photos 15 - 19. Orchids are so easy to grow here that our favorite little Brasserie keeps a beer bottle on every table with a branch of fresh orchids stuck into it.

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Comments

[Steve Engel]

And the food, it was good, Old Gringo? And the sea, was it as you remembered it? And the all-terrain vehicle, did you drive it fast enough on the beach to tip it up on its side?

[Gay and Don]

ORCHIDS
Hello Carol and Martin Oh what beautiful orchids. New Zealand has quite a range of native orchids, but they are all very small. The larger varieties will also grow extremely well here. We spent 3 weeks in Australia in January. Flew to Perth (liked it very much), then took the Indian Pacific train across the Nullarbor Plain to Adelaide. Watched our NZ amateur golf team (Girls - two of whom are members of our golf club), then drove to the "outback" at Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is an opal mining town - very different from anything we have seen before. Did some "noodling" and found a couple of almost presentable opal-looking rocks! Took a day trip with the rural delivery mailman - about 600 km in 12 hours - and visited some outback towns and stations to deliver the mail. A great day if you are ever in the area. Then to the Flinders Ranges for a couple of days, and a leisurely mooch back to Adelaide to catch a flight back to NZ. Did two things I have always wanted to do - the train and Coober Pedy. Great to read all your blogs, thanks so much. We hope you are not buried too deep in snow - we could actually send you some sunshine if you want it!!!! Have had a splendid summer, which is still not over. Regards Gay and Don