Day 35: Pau, France

I liked today, because I got to sleep in.  I didn't wake up until after 9h 15.   It was great to get some rest, and I am feeling a lot better.  I kinda just lied in bed for a while after I woke up, and eventually, I got up and did a quick warm up.  I spent about 30 minutes playing, and things felt good so I stopped.  I then went to Leclerc to get some stuff for rehearsal, and some food for our food break during rehearsal. I bought some mechanical pencils, some erasers, a 6-pack of Orangina, 2 carrots, 2 apples, tomatoes, a baguette, some goat's cheese, and a pair of shoes, for about 20 Euros.  It was cool.  I walked back home and stayed there for a few minutes before heading to rehearsal.  I missed my bus, by about 2 minutes, which was a drag, but it wasn't a huge deal, because there was another one 10 minutes later.  However, that bus was 18 minutes late, so I ended up leaving the bus stop almost 30 minutes later than I wanted.  I finally made it to town, and made it to the music school without getting lost (I did get lost a little bit, but I found myself pretty quickly), and with 10 minutes to spare. 


The music school is a beautiful building.  It is attached to an old church, and has some really nice rehearsal space inside.  I like the combination of the new and old architectures. 

Conservatoire de Musique et Danse Pau Pyrénées

The rehearsal went really well today.  It was sight reading for most of the group, but it still sounded pretty good.  The players and conductor come from the Orchestre Symphonique du Sud Ouest.  I am going to tell people that is who I am playing with/played with, because it sounds much more serious and legitimate.  The director, Bernard Salles, is a very cool guy.  He is probably in his late 30s, but is a very talented conductor, and knows the music really, really well.  I don't really understand a word he says.  He talks really fast.  I didn't play as well as I would have liked to, but I also did not embarrass myself.  I am definitely glad I put in the time I did before rehearsal.  I was the only brass player there today, so I was especially exposed.  I have some very cool parts, and the music in general is a lot of fun.  I am excited about playing with the group.

Here is more info on both things.

Orchestrre Symphonique du Sud Ouest

le Conservatoire de Musique et Danse Pau Pyrénées

After rehearsal, it was nice out, so I walked home.  The walk takes about 30 minutes, or so.  Probably more like 35.  I have never been out in Pau durning the day on a Saturday.  It was pretty vibrant.  Lots of people out shopping or eating or just fairing des choses. 

This picture is one of the main shopping streets in Pau. (Not the expensive one.) I think Pau, is just not big enough to support much of a night life, so after about 20h, most things kinda shut down.

 Once I got home, I practiced a couple spots in the operette that weren't so good. FYI: For those of you that don't routinely take music history courses, 'operette' is just another term for an 'opera-comique'.  This basically means that is is not uptight(Italy), and it is in French(not Italien).  Then I went out for crepes with Laura, Courtney, Erin and Jenny.  THAT RESTAURANT IS SO GOOD! I have only ever had one type of crepe there.  It is cheese and mushrooms, and I'm not interested in trying anything else.  I do change up my desert crepes.  Tonight was a lemon crepe.  It was so good.  I decided that since I was going to be doing a lot of walking tonight, it would be a good idea to wear my brand new 8.40 Euro shoes.  They turned out to be really comfortable, and it is really nice to have some nice shoes.  And I needed them anyway for the opera performances. 

This is a cool art instillation below one of the main streets on the way to crepes.