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The Last Day in Paris - wanting to return someday soon!

What an enjoyable moment it is to receive, as the travel agent, notice that your customers were fully satisfied with the travel arrangements made for their trip. I’m delighted to introduce Eric Birk & Bernadette Hoke, who are both established concert artists (organ & piano) living in New York City. It gives me great pleasure to post the Travel Journal - Part Three, of their first trip to Paris France.

Our last day in Paris……

had spectacular weather!  We began early at the Louvre, entering directly from the Metro station into the modern mall they have built beneath the museum.  We lucked out that the Louvre seems to have recently changed its schedule to be open on Mondays (closed Tuesdays), as our guidebooks conflicted.  In any case, since this was our first visit we mainly hit all the highlights:

1.  the winged Nike of Samothrace
2.  the Venus de Milo
3.  the Mona Lisa
4.  “La Grande Odalisque“ by Ignres
5.  their one Vermeer on display (”The Lacemaker” not far from where I got this wonderful photo out the window:)

We  then  made  a final stop at Galleries Lafayette (rotunda pictured below), which brings us to the end of our trip, and a commercial prop to wish you a Joyeux Noël!The next day clouds were back & it was time to get home, but we can’t wait to return to the city of lights– someday soon, we hope!Wishing you a bright and Merry Christmas, Eric & Bernadette.

 Part Two - Celebration in The City of Lights, Paris France.

What an enjoyable moment it is to receive, as the travel agent, notice that your customers were fully satisfied with the travel arrangements made for their trip. I’m delighted to introduce Eric Birk & Bernadette Hoke, who are both established concert artists (organ & piano) living in New York City. It gives me great pleasure to post the Travel Journal - Part Two, of their first trip to Paris France.

Novembre 2007

Continued from  (part 1)

Sunday–  Mass at St. Sulpice!  10:15 Prelude was Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in C (BWV 545), the Offertoire was L. Marchand’s “Basse de trompette,” during communion was Communion sur le répons “ubi caritas,” , and the Postlude was Toccata by J. Lechat.  After the postlude was the “Audition” (not that the organist needs to audition– this means music for listening!), when two movements (2nd & 3rd) of the Widor 5th Symphony were played, followed by improvisation.  

Afterwards, we got to climb the circular stairs to the “sud tour” (south tower) and greet Daniel Roth. He showed us how the organ’s combinations work and (rightfully) bragged about how, thanks to Widor and Dupré, the original actions and mechanisms survive as they were in 1862!  The organ sounded wonderful (except for the seasonally expected intonation irregularities) and he improvised for a full 10 minutes after the postlude and the conclusion of the “audition” following the 10:30 mass (which serves as a prelude for the low mass at noon). We had to wait a awhile but it was worth it to participate on the public side of the tradition begun by Dupré of greeting listeners in the organ gallery after mass.  [But we honestly can’t imagine entertaining at the console every Sunday after services with as much grace and joie de vivre as Mr. Roth!]

After mass, we had to find dejeuner (lunch), and eventually wound up at a café just a block from the Seine in Saint Germain-des-Pres, where Bernadette had an omelette and Eric got onion soup with bread and cheese in it, followed by a chocolate crepe.  

Then we went to a museum, the Musée d’Orsay, where many works by impressionist painters & sculptors are displayed.  It is in a former train station, and it was free!

You can see that the building is as beautiful to behold as its contents!

Then it was off to find St. Clothilde, where Franck, Tournimiere and Langlais all played.  You would think there was some sort of anti-publicity conspiracy: no one we asked had ever heard of the church. (Hotel concierge, newstand clerk, etc.) Imagine!– the church where Franck played!  We finally found it with an address gathered from our hotel concierge via internet, and when we arrived, there was a rather intense neighborhood pick-up soccer game in progress on the front plaza.  On entering, we saw a brilliant basilica church with no mention of any music program or who the current organist is.  (One plaque mentions Franck.)

From there, we walked to find the Church of the Madeleine and seek out dinner possibilities and witnessed some lovely autumn vistas around the Seine: 

-Right Bank on the left (the Louvre) & Notre Dame & Left Bank on the right-

Monday: The Louvre 

End of Day Two - written & photographed by Eric Birk.

We hope you’ll also enjoy the hyper-links provided, particularly the ones offering great moments with Daniel Roth at the magnificent Cavaille-Coll Organ. 

Part Three will be added Tuesday,  February 26.

Reminder: Monthly Vacation Contest Drawing will be held on the fourth Friday.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Is Paris France  still the most Popular Travel Destination? 

What an enjoyable moment it is to receive, as the travel agent, notice that your customers were fully satisfied with the travel arrangements made for their trip. I’m delighted to introduce Eric Birk & Bernadette Hoke, who are both established concert artists (organ & piano) living in New York City. It gives me great pleasure to post the Travel Journal - Part One, of their first trip to Paris France.

Well, we finally got there…

After spending however many years playing French Music (organ and/or piano), and admiring French Art, Cooking, et al… we made it to Paris to celebrate Bernadette’s 50th Birthday. Starting on Friday, Nov. 2 with a meal to end all meals at L’Elysées du Vernet - Hotel Vernet that had us in gastronomic ecstasy with every bite, we had four days of beautiful autumn weather and fit in as much of the main sites of interest that we could. Friday– Shopping at Galeries Lafayette, where it’s Christmas early–just like at home, and general walking around the 8th arrondisement window-shopping and seeing “the Champs”– what must be the world’s widest street, the Champs Elysees (Elysian Fields in English). Very near our hotel was the Arc de Triomphe at the Charles deGaulle Ètoile.
[It was cloudy that day, so this picture is from Monday.]

Saturday — We hit the cobblestones still a bit jet-lagged and only a little hungry for petit-dejeuner (their first meal which barely translates to “breakfast” both linguistically and nutritionally) followed by treks to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower and scouting out services to attend on Sunday in St. German-du-Pres (St. Sulpice). Notre Dame was magical (that’s where Bernadette sat down under the yellow leaves to take lunch in the upper right photo at the top of this message), and we have photos to prove it!– what else would explain why we couldn’t get one clear photo of the windows?

We wanted to make sure we got to church on Sunday at the right time, so we went by St. Sulpice (where Widor, Dupré, Grunewald, and now Daniel Roth and Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin (Cauchefer-Choplin biography) have been the only titular organists since 1862!) and found that they are in the middle of major restoration. But it is still so awe-inspiring in person. Unlike many churches in Paris, this was not built in the gothic style, but was built with neo-classic arches and towers and does not have the dark windows, fitting for the church of the “holy sepulchre” (the empty tomb of Christ)! The light is like a misty presence from all of the windows. Just as we arrived the sun came out for the first time while we were in Paris! So we got the picture at the upper left of this message and this window. This window has three Delacroix murals (on either side and the ceiling) around it.

End of Day One - written by Eric Birk.

Part Two will be added  tomorrow, February 22.

We hope you’ll also enjoy the hyper-links provided, particularly the ones offering great moments with Daniel Roth and Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin  at the magnificent Cavaille-Coll Organ.