The Flying Adventures of DOUG

Today has been frustrating.

This morning I did very little after my big day yesterday. I finished Harry Potter (again) and started my new book, which isn't as good as I had hoped. I used the free computers at the hostel, which are good except that they have no sounds and no access to the CD drive, so I couldn't send photos or listen to my new CDs.

At about 4:30 I came into town to find somewhere where I could send photos and listen to music. It's now quarter to seven, and I have just sat down at this computer. The first internet place I went to had no headphones, the second (my usual) was closed for Saturday. The third had headphones but the internet connection was down. The fourth had no computers... I continued to search for two hours. I stopped to look at my map, started walking again and totally caned my shin on a little bollard that was so low and close to me that I hadn't seen it. My eyes watering, I tried to walk on normally, humming The Lord's My Shepherd. After a couple more disappointments, I found the place I'm at now. It has headphones, and I listened to my beautiful CD for about 10 minutes while checking email until the computer crashed just as I started updating this blog. Apparently the computers here can't handle playing music, so the guy doesn't want me to play my CDs, after all that. This is also the most expensive place I've found; I only came here for the headphones. Finally, ironically, the keyboard is an English one and I keep on making frustrating mistakes and forgetting where keys are after spending the last three weeks getting used to (and complaining about) French keyboards.

Yesterday
was a pretty cool day. I got round two galleries, the botanic gardens, heaps of backstreets, bought a new book and two CDs from the best little music shop in the world. It was good to have so much time to myself, just like wandering around town at home, taking as much time as I wanted and hurrying off when I got tired of wherever I happened to be.

Le Salon de Musique
is very cool. It's kind of like Radar Records in Christchurch, but with a wider selection, better organisation and less cramped (sorry Meels!). It's so amazing: you can find almost anything there, even stuff that is less common or impossible to find in New Zealand. I asked for Shostakovich, and got his 5th symphony played by the Leningrad Orchestra. I've BEEN THERE!!! You want Liszt's piano concertos? You have about seven options of recordings, ranging from 10 to 20+ euros. Satie? About nine options, including what must almost be his complete piano works in a set.

However, my prize finds were the Franck Martin Messe (of which there are about two recordings in the world) and this AMAZING cd of music from Milan in the early 17th century. It's by a French chamber choir called... actually, I'm not sure, but I think the cd is called Nova Metamorfosi. Unless that's the name of the group... anyway; it's simply amazing. I can't wait to play it to people (Rich and Meels, please forgive me in advance for boring you to death with endless playings).

Les Abattoirs and le Musée des Augustins
are the galleries I went to yesterday.
Le Musée is full of fragments of ancient church sculptures, fragments of Roman buildings, classical sculpture from various eras and a massive collection of circa Renaissance paintings. The big highlight was seeing another real Rubens (who I studied briefly last year).
Les Abattoirs used to be the city freezingworks (hence the name) but has been converted into a modern art gallery. It was pretty amazing.

Yesterday ended up being a long day.

I applied for a job at a pub called the Melting Pot, but was turned down because they were looking for long-term workers. I didn't mind; I was kind of nervous about working in a pub anyway as I usually avoid them, but I was also kind of keen for the experience... c'est pas grave.

Things are so up and down at the moment. Good one morning, terrible in the afternoon, great in the evening... it's disconcerting, but I am confident it will all settle.

I'm going to listen to my cd anyway. Too bad if the computer crashes. Oh, and I'm sending some more photos tonight, so they should be up soonish thanks to the incredible efficiency and willingness of Nathan von hesslehof, without whom no visual aids to my flying adventure would be available. Thanks Nath! Man, last time I sent him photos I had such a mare; got them all mixed up and had captions on the wrong photo, etc. but somehow Nathan managed to sort them all out and get them on here in the right order with the right captions. What a star!