Music in Paris and Beyond

The most high end music that we heard in Paris was the Paris Chamber Orchestra and Notre Dame choir.  We got tickets in advance and the performance of Faure's Requiem was quite beautiful.  The accoustics were ethereal, but even with the words in front of me (and familiarity with the Latin text), I couldn't follow what they were singing.  The only down side was that we were seated in the cheap section which meant behind the massive pillars dividing the main nave from the sides.  We could barely see one violinist, the conductor and 3 choir members.

Got to see the cathedral with lights at night.  The deep blue of the sky is fabulous (This was about 10 pm.  We were amazed at how late it stayed light).

We also were treated to the classic sounds of Paris on the metro the first day with an accordion player.  He did a nice job of welcoming us.  The locals of course did not pay any attention, but our group was mesmerized. He had a portable speaker with him and put on accompaniment and then played.  I decided it was definitely worth a tip.

On the steps of Sacre Coeur it always feels a bit like a carnival.  There was a guitar player/vocalist there that was drawing quite a crowd when we passed by.

In Amsterdam we came across someone playing a digeree doo (sp?)  She did a pretty amazing job with it.  She gathered applause from those around when she finished.

A talented young traveler with his skateboard at his feet, tapping out a pretty jazzy tune in the Amsterdam train station...