Italy

Zurich behind us I found myself in Genoa, although not really in it. The hotel chosen for us was a good half hour travelling from the centre. The management and arrangements were passed on to another group for these two concerts in Italy. Genoa is quite a rough place but quite pretty and full of life. After well over an hour searching the town centre on palm sunday we found a place to eat a pizza.

The next afternoon was a little more successful, with me and the pianist visiting the aquarium, the largest in Europe. The concert that evening was in the most impressive theatre. The stage and area above stretched upwards by about 14 storeys and downwards about 5 below our feet. And a really big hall.

The next evening we played in Bologna, which is a pleasant place but most were too tired to explore, my memory of the hall and the concert are quite sketchy, I think that it may have something to do with the 5 O Clock start the next morning to reach Bologna Airport for a flight shortly after 8 to Kazakhstan

Our Parents art in Zurich

After another mammoth bus journey I found myself, for the first time, in Switzerland. We have reahed the stage in a tour where people often have to ask "hang on... what country are we in" and I start getting strange looks for talking German in an Italian shop ect.

I was distinctinctly looking forward to arriving in Zurich as it was planned that kid sister would be visiting. The meeting happened without incident until kid sister said to me "I am really sorry" and I saw our parents grinning at me from across the hotel foyer. This was a pleasant surprise indeed, but not the first time the parents have snuck up on me on a tour. In 2005 they appeared in Berlin at the end of a 10 hour train journey and gave me the a little shock.

Our Parents buying me dinner:

Kid Sis and Brand New Classical Buff:

Kid sis was accompanied by a friend from college and it would turn out to be her first classical concert, I hope a rather good introduction to the genre? We went for a nice italian meal near their hotel in the old town before I had to run and change for the show. They then (eventually) worked out how the tram worked and joined me briefly in my hotel for a drink before saying goodbye. A unexpected and fleeting visit, but one that gave me much joy, I thank all four of you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed your time, even though I was probably phased out from too much travelling.


After one night in a brand new (2 weeks old) and really pleasant hotel we left for Italy again, and less than 24 hours after crossing the border we said goodbye to Switzerland.

Travels in Foreign Lands

This is the view from a Mc Donalds somewhere in Austria on the way to Bolzano
"Would you like some amazing view with your cheeseburger, sir?"

First of all, apologies for the lateness of this post, also check earlier posts for photos.

Having left Garmisch-Partenkirchen our first port of call was a familiar place, Bolzano in the Italian Alps, A city which has been changing hands between Germany and Italy for hundreds of years. Therefore they haven't really decided which culture and language to use. It is nevertheless a pretty, energetic and friendly place.

View along the river in Bolzano:

This section of a tour is always hectic, often travelling and performing on the same day, which means that there are some citys on this tour which there is not much to say about. In Bolzano we did have a little time to convene with some old friends in our rival orchestra; the Gustov Mahler Youth Orchestra who were resident in Bolzano before setting off on their own tour.

Another highlight was being taken, with the flutes and other Irish people for dinner with Sir James. Expensive Italian food, fine wine and lots of anecdotal stories were on the menu.

One concert and ten hour bus journey and we found ourselves in Wiesbaden, Germany. Here we had our first 5 Star hotel of the tour as well as the nicest hall of the tour. I finally managed to get a hair cut, but achieved very little else. For the entire travelling part of the tour, the only effective survival method for all but the craziest (lithuanian) people is the afternoon nap, so I had one of them instead of exploring this pretty, but quite industrial city.