Monte Carlo or Bust of Napoleon?

Travelling around the Mediterranean on board the luxurious Queen Victoria isn't a bad way to spend two weeks of your life.
However, for Robin, it was no holiday.
Four concerts, all entirely different programmes, require an awful lot of preparation.
The concerts were split. Two within the first few days, and the final two towards the end of the trip.
Consequently, Robin had time to visit some incredible places, in between practicing and rehearsals.

Firstly, here is a more unusual image of the Queen Victoria, and a picture Robin is rather proud of:



Then, a more conventional view of the QV, nestled in the background whilst docked in Ajaccio, Corsica:



Throughout Ajaccio you can find many statues of Napoleon Bonaparte as he was born here in 1769:



One can't help imagining that Napoleon would have walked down this very street at some point:



After a day in Civitavecchia, which consisted mainly of rehearsals, they arrived in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Robin has visited Monte Carlo many times and has very fond memories of this particular trip, 'Monte Carlo and Madeline Bell'.
Only in Monte Carlo would the corner shop sell Ferrari's...and why has the motorbike in the foreground got 2 front wheels?




I must say I rather like the posters for the Monte Carlo Orchestre Philharmonique:





And this beautiful stairway, which is apparently much larger than it appears in this photograph:



Plus a typical church below the famous mountains of Monte Carlo:



After all this French speaking it seemed appropriate that Robin was reading this book:





But now Robin is home.
The concerts all went very well and the director is keen for him to return.
He may have to wait a while.
Next stop, well, you'll have to wait and see...

An Unexpected Concert and the Palau de la Musica Catalana

Robin had an eventful first few days on the Queen Victoria.
Three concerts in three days, one of which came as rather a surprise.
After settling in, his first performance went very well, with a particularly good response from the audience to the three pieces by Dilermando Reis, and 'Zapateado', by Sabicas.

On the second day Robin couldn't understand why people kept saying they were looking forward to his concert - later. (He was lying on a sun lounger reading Sherlock Holmes at the time...)
As far as he was aware this was a day of rest and rehearsal.
Eventually, he returned to his room only to receive a frantic 'phone call.
There had been some sort of schedule mix up and he was asked to play an extra performance that very day - in an hours time.
Actually, I'm quite pleased I wasn't in the vicinity when he took the call...

Luckily Robin has four complete programmes at his fingertips at the moment, so he rushed off to warm up and prepare for this unexpected concert.
Despite the short notice the performance went very well, as did the one the following day.

Since then Robin has had plenty of time to recover.
He arrived in Barcelona and made straight for the 'Palau de la Musica Catalana'.
The reason for his interest, was not only the stunning building, but also because this was the venue for the premiere of Rodrigo's 'Concierto de Aranjuez', back in 1940.

He thoroughly enjoyed his day soaking up the history and only detoured to a guitar shop he has visited once before. (Mainly because it was nearby and Robin can't resist any guitar shop, but also because he has been there once before and discovered they stock copies of his book, 'The Guitar Gymnasium'.)

Since then he has been to Monte-Carlo, well actually a port not far away as the weather was too bad to dock in Monte-Carlo itself, and then to Civitavecchia.
Today he should have been in Alghero, Sardinia, but once again the weather has thwarted plans and the QV is unable to dock.
This is rather a shame as Alghero looks very nice and is also one of the few places Robin hasn't been to before.
Never mind. Maybe next time.

The Clairvoyant Rabbit and the Turkish Shoeshine Scandal.

Please excuse my absence for the last few days, and apologies to those of you that sent emails asking where I was. It's very nice to be appreciated!
To bring you up to date, Robin is still on the Queen Victoria, and had a very successful first concert.
It was well attended after the passengers had been exposed to a TV interview being played on repeat for the entire day.
They will be ale to watch a second interview tomorrow, as later today Robin will be back in the studio for further questioning.

Today he is in Civitavecchia, Italy, but it was whilst in Istanbul that he uncovered the Turkish shoeshine scandal.
The story actually begins back in August.
At that time, Robin was in Istanbul, and had our eldest son with him.
They set off to take a look around.
One of the first people they came across thrust a baby rabbit into the hands of son number one, and allowed him to admire it:



Like most young children he was very taken with the small furry creature and dutifully cuddled it.
The owner then produced a larger rabbit, (not out of a hat) which proceeded to select a piece of paper form a table which apparently would tell them their fortunes.
Unfortunately it was in such poor English that we are none the wiser.
But then the owner wanted to be paid.
As Robin and son only intended going for a walk they hadn't actually taken any money with them.
So after much arm waving and gesticulating they managed to hand back the rabbit and beat a hasty retreat.

Only to come across a young Turkish shoeshine boy.
As he walked by he dropped one of his brushes, and Robin dutifully picked it up and handed it back to him.
The grateful boy then thanked him profusely and cleaned his shoes - before asking for some money.
Once again the Hill men had to explain their lack of cash and made off as quickly as they could.
The fact that they had only been in Turkey for 10 minutes and already owed two people money, was the cause of quite some mirth on their return home.

However, Robin has since returned to Istanbul a number of times, and on this trip guess who he met?
As he walked through a park, there was the very same shoeshine boy, dropping the very same brush, right in front of him.

"You really are an old butterfingers with those brushes," Robin exclaimed as he went on his way...

As the old Turkish proverb says:

'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'

Just a little story for you.

Fernando Sor in the Welsh Mountains

Whilst Robin spent the day in Civitavecchia, Italy, I have been working at home.
It was as I sat at my desk that I had a 'phone call from my Mum and David as they drove through the Welsh mountains.
What prompted the call?
Well, the scenery was gorgeous, the weather beautiful, and they wanted to share with me the mood of the moment.

To enhance the experience they were listening to a Hill/Wiltschinsky CD, 'Les Deux Amis', recorded back in 1988 for Teldec Classics.
As we spoke I identified the piece as 'Fernando Sor: Les Deux Amis, op.41'. This famous work, subtitled "Fantaisie pour deux Guitares", was dedicated to Sor's friend, Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849).
The two guitar parts are actually marked "Sor" and "Aguado" rather than the usual "Guitar 1" and "Guitar 2", which offers a little insight into the personalities of these two maestros.

Rather than listen to the whole thing down a crackling 'phone line, we ended our conversation, and I found my own copy of 'Les Deux Amis', and enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon listening as I worked.

It was very nice to have the sound of the guitar, or in this case two, back in the house again. But was no substitute for the real thing when you happen to live with one of the musicians...
However, it will be another six days before Robin is home, so for now I shall continue with the CD.

Arrival in Rome and Alternative MySpace Profile Picture...

We have had a particularly busy weekend preparing for Robin's trip and keeping up with new friends on MySpace.
Fans of Twitter will already know that we were up at 4.30 this morning, although I must confess I returned to bed, after waving the taxi off...

Robin has arrived in Rome, after a very brief stop in Munich, in which he had 1/2 hour to reach his connecting flight.
He made it, and is now making his way to Civitavecchia, where he will be joining 'Crystal Serenity'.
More of that as the week unfolds.

The new MySpace page is going well and I'm delighted with the response so far.
When setting up the page we talked at length about the profile picture we should use.
Should it be Robin alone, or, should I be shown, as I am obviously involved?

We decided to take a few pictures to see what we thought.
Those of you who have already visited the page, will have seen that we decided on a picture of the two of us.
However, there was another close contender.



We were really just having a bit of a joke.
Robin was doing a very good Eric Morecambe impression, and I was wrestling the guitar from him. (Something I have to do most evenings otherwise he just keeps on playing...)

So if anyone has any strong opinion about the picture we should use then do feel free to let me know!