One on One Dates

My blogging days have been few and far between lately, but...at least my journal writing is at its prime! In about 20 minutes, we are going to Bath, Jane Austen's house, and Stonehenge. The weather: rainy of course! So I'll just write about my wonderful symphony experience, and my Paris adventures will be more extensively documented soon.

Last Saturday night, a few of us went to an outdoor concert at Trafalgar Square put on by the London Symphony Orchestra. What's the difference between the LSO and the London Philharmonic? Not exactly sure, but when I searched top ten orchestras in the world (thinking that the Phil was one of them), turns out it was actually the LSO that was rated NUMBER FOUR in the world. Needless to say, I now want to see them as many times as possible before I leave.

Trafalgar Square was sweet. There's a countdown to the Olympics right in the middle, and the National Gallery is right behind it. We went into the Gallery yesterday and I absolutely loved it. That museum has been one of my favorites so far. It was free, not crowded, and designed so well. We saw Van Gogh, Monet, Da Vinci, and more. 

My favorite, Monet's The Water-Lily Pond. The original is beautiful!

Anyway, the outdoor concert was amazing, despite my limited view, and we heard pieces of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. They mentioned another concert on Tuesday (yesterday) that would feature more Stravinsky, along with the entire Rite of Spring work as a whole.

Yesterday, I bought my ticket. I feel bad dragging people along to all of these orchestra concerts with me, as I know it's not always the most exciting thing for those not partial to the classical music world. So, I went by myself. After I had made the purchase, it turned out that others would have been willing to go, but I was excited to spend some much needed one on one time with me. I successfully made it to the Barbican Theatre, took my seat (which was an absolutely lovely view), and was enthralled the entire time. That orchestra's sound is flawless. I've noticed the huge difference between good orchestra's, great orchestra's, and incredible orchestras...

My soul was filled. My goal this summer is to fall in love with music again. Being away from all those in the HFAC who love it as much as I do has been a good thing for me, as well as being in an environment where the public really appreciate it. It will be so hard to leave this place that offers world-class performances with such easy access.

I had quite the lovely evening with myself. I think this might be going somewhere..