Day 56: Pau, France

Today, I had an opera rehearsal from 9h to 12h and 14h to 17h.  The morning rehearsal was pretty rough for everybody, myself included.  I think because it was the first full ensemble meeting in a week, and we were in the theater for the first time, and they were building the set on stage and all kinda of other stuff.  Some of it was pretty bad. 

Building the backdrop for Act II.

 
At lunch, I went and visited one of the two cathedrals in the town center.  Église Saint-Martin, built in 1860, is the older of the two.  It is a beautiful example of neo-gothic architecture.  I spent about 30 min walking around the church.  I was the only person inside for a while.  It was pretty cool.

Standing just inside the main entrance.

The apse and ambulatory are quite ornate.  The transepts are decorated in a similar fashion. (Ain't you impressed with my knowledge of architectural terms)

Looking up at the spire.

Flying buttress at the ambulatory.

Looking towards the Cathedral from the North.  In front is a WWII memorial to those that were killed serving for the Latin American allies, Indochina, Tunisa, and a few other smaller French colonized nations.

After I was done at the church, I went across the street and got lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, Ai-Vy.  I got Pho, which I have never had before.  It was very good.  After, I had some delicious lemon sorbet.  It has bits of fresh lemon rind and pulp in it.  It was really, really good.

Pho.

The afternoon rehearsal went marginally better, but not by much.  Except for me; my playing was a lot better in the afternoon, so that was nice.  Hopefully everybody gets to, ahem, my level.  JK.  I really hope they get way past that. 

After rehearsal, I went home and relaxed for a few minutes and then I practiced for several hours.  It was a very good practice session.  I think I am making progress.