Marillion Snow-where Else Christmas Tour

8 December 2007
Live Music Hall, Cologne, Germany



This year I was quite desperate to watch Marillion Christmas show. First I aimed to watch the show in Zoetermeer, but it was sold out in no time. Some other dates in Holland were impossible for me because they were on working days. Then I looked at a possibility on the date in Cologne, which was Saturday. I proposed the plan to Sri in different wrapping: Christmas market visit to Cologne. She agreed with the plan as long as we could ask some other friends to join us so she would not be alone while I have fun with the show.
In the end two of our best friends decided to go. We arranged the hotel, rented the car, and ready to go. Oh, surely I had my ticket as well.

We spent the Saturday afternoon in the Cologne city center after checked in at our hotel. The area near the Dom cathedral was full with people enjoying the yearly Christmas market. We enjoyed the atmosphere, had our bratwurst and browsed the small booths to see the Christmas decorations that they sold.

After that we walked along the shopping area of Cologne until we reached Neumarkt area where we found another Christmas market. It was a bit less crowded than at the Dom. After a plate of sauerkraut (sour cabbage), I took the U-Bahn (German underground) to Live Music Hall in Ehrenfeld area.

The hall was about half full when I arrived. It looked like an old storage building that turned to a music hall. Just a square hall, flat floor, with two drink bars on both sides. I even could not spot the wardrobe directly, which was at a hidden corner after the small entrance.

The tour souvenir corner was not really impressive this time compared with Christmas show two years ago. I just bought a long sleeve shirt and the new released Somewhere in London DVD. After that I tried to sneak my way until near enough with the stage, slightly to the right so I could easily enjoy Steve Rothery in action.

Albeit the announcement that there was no opening act and the band would start the show one hour after the hall was open, we waited quite a while until the dark moody intro of Bridge was played. It was worth waiting though, as the band played the first four songs from Brave, the darkest album of Marillion. Steve Hogarth stayed sit behind his keyboard and his voice was full with emotions.

After the songs from Brave, Steve Rothery changed guitar and they played the bluesy The Fruit of the Wild Rose from Anoraknophobia. After the song H spoke to the audience. He said the previous song was not very often being performed. Then he drank from an alligator-shaped jar and told us that they would perform two shows that night.

After the short conversation, H introduced the Out of this World, a calm song from Afraid of Sunlight. After a tight performance from the band, they gave us a new song from the next album, titled Real Tears for Sale. H asked the audience about the song after that. When someone asked who's writing it, he answered "Kylie Minogue..." with further comment "she's deeper than you think...". But the song was pretty good, quite a promising new album.

Maintaining the atmosphere of the 'first show' to be calm and relax, they performed the best track from their latest album, Somewhere Else. The first set was closed with the brilliant winter song Seasons End, with H inserted short excerpt from O Come, O Come Emmanuel at the beginning of the song.

I enjoyed the first set very much, especially I liked the nuance of the songs to be very calm and dark. The lighting supported that very good with the color gradation filled in the whole stage. Unfortunately the stage was a bit too simple with no background images or slides.

After the break, we knew that the second set would be different when they started with the rocking Hooks in You continued with Most Toys. The mood was a bit calmer when they sang The Other Half from the new album, then it was back with another up-tempo song, Cannibal Surf Babe. Steve Rothery used his double neck for this song.

They then performed songs from Holidays in Eden album. This Town was rocking as usual, followed by The Rakes Progress and 100 Nights. The set was closed with This Strange Engine.

The encore was started with powerful bass lines from Pete Trewavas, the famous intro of Quartz from Anoraknophobia. Then they performed Neverland from Marbles. This beautiful song is always perfect for closing the show.

Ups..did I say anything about closing? After Neverland, the stage was darkened. Then the stage crew set a nice white christmas tree and some christmas lights on the stage. Not long after that, there were two Santa's on the stage! One was extremely fat until he could not stand properly behind his keyboards..poor Mark Kelly.

They threw away some kazoos to the audience and asked us to help in the next song. It was pretty useless, the kazoos were wet because they were kept inside the alligator jar together with H's beers. Pete got a dry one and he showed us the tune.
Then all of us sang Let It Snow, and we got fake snow all around the stage. Well, that's make the party perfect.

In general it was a pretty good show. The band played perfect as usual, Steve Rothery was really brilliant with his guitar. The sound quality was not very good, most likely because of the acoustic of the hall. On the other hand the audience was great, lots of sing along and interaction with the band. The songs selection was good, with some rarely performed songs. Good job guys!


Complete set list:
Bridge
Living With the Big Lie
Runaway
Wave / Mad / The Opium Den
Fruit Of The Wild Rose
Out of This World
Real Tears For Sale
Somewhere Else
Seasons End
---
Hooks In You
Most Toys
The Other Half
Cannibal Surf Babe
This Town
The Rakes Progress
100 Nights
This Strange Engine
---
Quartz
Neverland
---
Let It Snow

Nice Towns of Flanders, Part 2

Antwerpen, Gent, Brugge, Oostende
12-14 October 2007

The first part of the trip is available here.

Brugge

The hotel where we stayed in Brugge was located quite far from the city center, but it was a nice place to stay. After the breakfast on Saturday morning, we drove to the center of Brugge and parked our car in Zilverpand parking garage, really close to the city center.

From the parking place we walked along the Steenstraat to the market square. The square was wide, with nice buildings around it. It was already quite busy that morning. There were several horse carts passing by the stone street and many tourists walking around.
We entered a small toy shop at the end of Steenstraat. It was a very nice shop with funny and cute toys, I particularly liked the carousel miniature.

We expected to find tourist info center in the area, but we were wrong. After asked someone, we were told that the tourist info center is located at the opposite of the Steenstraat. So we walked back along Steenstraat till we reached 't Zand square, where we found the tourist info center. It occupied a corner of the new Concert Hall building. From there we bought a walking routes book including the city map. (While writing this I just found out that the routes and the map can be printed from Brugge's official website.)

From the tourist info center we walked back along the Steenstraat and dropped by at Zara House, an interior shop of Zara. After that we entered a small cafe next to it to have coffee and snack, also to learn the walking routes of Brugge.

After the coffee break we began our walking tour. From the Steenstraat we turned right before St. Salvator Cathedral, passed small street to the Mariastraat, we saw the massive Onze Lieve Vrouwe church with its 122 metres brick tower, the tallest building in the city.

Tower of Onze Lieve Vrouwe church

We entered the church, which contained several arts collection. The highlight was a solemn white marble sculpture, 'Madonna and Child' by Michelangelo.

Madonna and Child

We walked further along the Mariastraat, crossed a river where we saw a busy boat tour operator and then we passed many small touristic shops along the street. We turned right to the small Walstreet, passed some more small shops and restaurants till we reached Wijngaardplein, a square with several restaurants, mostly served mussel on the menu. The square was quite busy as it was also a place where the horse carts stopped to allow the passengers to walk around the area.

Queue for the boat tour

Crossing a river from the Wijngaardplein, we entered the Beguinage area, which now is being used as monastery by the Benedictine sisters. It was a nice peaceful area, with old white houses and a garden full of big poplar trees.

The Beguinage

Outside the Beguinage we found a small lake called Minnewater, which mean 'Lake of love'. We walked a path along one side of the lake, crossed it on a bridge and walked back to the Wijngaardplein through a park that also named Minnewater park.

The Minnewater

It was lunch time when we reached the Wijngaardplein. Being attracted by the restaurants there, we decided to have lunch in a restaurant that served mussel and shrimp croquette.
We ordered the croquette for starter and mussel and omelette for main course. The croquette was not really special, it's basically minced shrimp replacing the usual minced meat inside the crispy breadcrumbs. The mussel also a bit tasteless. Luckily I had no complain about my omelette.

With a nicely filled stomach, we walked back to the Mariastraat and turned right after the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church, heading to the old part of the city. We passed the Dijver where some museums were located.
Along the riverbank at Rozenhoedkaai, we got a beautiful view of the old buildings and the river. I think this is one of the reasons that the city is called the Venice of the North.

View from Rozenhoedkaai

From the riverbank we walked passing the fish market, crossed the bridge and passed small street called Blinde Ezelstraat (meaning 'blind donkey street').
Out from this small street we arrived at the Burg, a big square where several historical buildings of the city were located. There were the Old Recorders' House, a renaissance building, and next to it the City Hall in gothic style. At the corner was the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

Brugge City Hall

We entered the Basilica of the Holy Blood, it was within the time of the veneration of the Holy Blood relic. The basilica has lower and upper chapels. We climbed the stairs to the upper chapel where the relic was located. The decorations of the upper chapel were quite beautiful, with nice stained glass windows and painted walls. The relic was displayed on a high seat by a lady and we queued briefly for the veneration.
After veneration, we went downstair and shortly entered the lower chapel. It was less attractive than the upper one.

Basilica of the Holy Blood

From the Burg we walked to the main market square that we visited before in the morning. The square was marked by the gothic style Provincial Court building and the magnificent Belfry with its tower. In front of the Provincial Court, there was a statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, local heroes during battle against French in the beginning of 14th century.

Provincial Court at the market square

From the square we walked through Wollestraat back to Rozenhoedkaai, where we stopped for a while in a cafe for coffee.
We almost finished with the walking route. After the coffee break we walked along Oude Burg and ended up at Simon Stevin square, named after mathematician born in Brugge and famous for several innovations in The Netherlands and chose to publish his writings in Dutch, making it the only European language that has the word for mathematics (wiskunde) was not derived from Greek or Latin.

From the Simon Stevin square we visited St. Salvator cathedral, which was not as impressive as the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church. It was around 5 in the afternoon when we were out from St. Salvator cathedral and we finished completely the walking route.

After that we attended the mass in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church. Before the mass we had a short time to visit old St. John's hospital in front of the church. The hospital was another old preserved building in Brugge and now it is being used as museum.

The almshouses

After the mass we walked to see old almshouses on Driekroezenstraat and walked along Groeninge following the horse cart route until we arrived near the Rozenhoedkaai. Already in the center, we orientated ourselves to the menu cards outside some restaurants. We wandered around the Burg and the market square until finally we settled on with a small restaurant in Huidenvettersplein.
I had a local waterzooi, a creamy stewed fish and vegetables dish. It was quite good, the fish was fresh and the cream was just enough.

Belfry tower in the night

After dinner we strolled slowly through the market, glanced at the majestic Belfry once again, and then back to our car.

Oostende

On Sunday, after breakfast and checked out the hotel, we drove to Oostende, a seaside town about 20 km to the west of Brugge. After parking the car, we walked along the promenade parallel with the coast. We found the tourist information center near the big casino building.


After getting the city map and little information about touristic spots, we walked on the promenade to the marina. The promenade was very ideal for walking and enjoying the sea view. It was very wide with several benches to rest and relax.
About halfway we saw the seamen's memorial, a monument to commemorate died fishermen.

Seamen's memorial, Oostende

Walking a bit further, we reached the marina. It was full with fish market and small booths selling different kind of seafoods and escargot. We tried a cup of escargot, which was quite nice.

From the marina we walked along the shopping area, which was open on that Sunday. Lucky for Sri because she managed to get a shoe there.

For lunch we stopped by at small pizzeria. The place was 100% Italian and the food turned out to be very nice. After the nice lunch we walked back to the car and drove home.

Nice Towns of Flanders, Part 1

Antwerpen, Gent, Brugge, Oostende
12-14 October 2007

After our summer break in Paris last August, we planned another weekend break to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We chose to drive to Brugge in West Flanders province in Belgium. With a reasonable distance from Eindhoven, we also planned to stop at Antwerpen and Gent, two big cities in the Flanders region that lay on the route to Brugge.

Antwerpen

On Friday, our anniversary day, we started our trip after breakfast from Eindhoven. We drove heading southwest on the highway to Antwerpen. It was pretty quiet on the road and after about one hour we already reached Antwerpen. We were guided by our TomTom navigation system and, using it for the first time, we had no idea that it could give direction to a parking garage in the city.
After being guided until very near to the center of the city, finally we found a parking garage near Groenplaats.

From the parking place we walked to the old city of Antwerpen, passed the big cathedral to Grote Markt, the main city square. We visited the tourist information center to take a city map. After that we decided to have lunch, in where we also could study the map.
We chose a quick lunch at a simple wok. I had a baguette with fried fish, quite tasty and fresh.

After lunch we walked to the bank of Schelde river. From the promenade we could enjoy the view of the river, but unfortunately it was cloudy so the view was a bit somber.
Walk a bit along the river, we visited het Steen, which means 'the Stone', a castle built around year 1200. The building currently is used as Maritime Museum and displayed some old ships next to it.

het Steen, Antwerpen

From the riverside we walked back to the old town area. We passed the Vleeshuis (Butcher's Hall), a unique building with alternating white stones and red bricks (locally known as bacon layers) for the wall construction.

Vleeshuis, Antwerpen

Walking a bit further, we arrived again at the Grote Markt. The main square was a nice spot of the city, with the City Hall building at one side, a fountain in the middle of the square with the statue of the Antwerpen's mythical hero Brabo, the beautiful Guildhouses, and some cafes at the opposite side of the City Hall.

Guildhouses at Grote Markt, Antwerpen

From the Grote Markt we continued our short city tour to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady). From outside, the cathedral offered nice view of its high tower. The inside part was worth visiting for 2 Euro entrance fee.
The highlights of the art collections in this cathedral were Baroque style paintings of Peter Paul Rubens. At both wings we could find The Raising of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross, the large triptych (three panels) paintings illustrating the crossing of Christ. Above the high altar we saw The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a suitable piece for the cathedral. At one of the side room of the cathedral, there was another painting by Rubens, The Resurrection of Christ.

The Cathedral viewed from Grote Markt, Antwerpen

After the cathedral, we decided that we had enough of touristic spots and switched our attention to the shopping district of Antwerpen. We walked along Meir, the main shopping street of the city until we almost reached the train station. On our way back we stopped a while to enjoy the Belgium waffle, then we back to the car and drove out from Antwerpen to the next city, Gent.

Gent

Gent was not very far from Antwerpen and we reached the city around 4 in the afternoon. Once we entered the city, again we could not manage to quickly find a parking place. This time was worse than in Antwerpen, we drove away from the city center. In the end we followed a parking sign and found a parking garage at Sint-Pietersplein. It was pretty far from the center, about 10 to 15 minutes walking.

While we were walking downhill (yes, it was a bit hilly) from Sint-Pietersplein to the city center, we noticed many students of Gent University that was located nearby. Those students made the atmosphere more dynamic and lively, shaping our first impression of the city.

Closer to the center, we could see old buildings that define the city's landmarks. Feeling a bit clueless, we tried to find the tourist information center, from where we got a city map with walking route to visit the famous spots of the city.

St. Bavo Cathedral, Gent

Only having the evening to spend, we duly follow the walking route from the map and we managed to visit, or at least pass, all the buildings indicated on the map.
We started from Sint-Baafs (St. Bavo) Cathedral near the tourist information center. The cathedral hosted the Mystic Lamb, a panel painting by Van Eyck brothers. Unfortunately we were late and the entrance to the chapel hosting the painting was already closed.
Opposite the cathedral there was the Cloth Hall and the impressive Belfry tower, and on the right hand side of the cathedral we saw the city theatre building.

Belfry tower, Gent

From the cathedral we walked through small streets, passed the music academy, from where we could hear a nice piano sound, then went further around the corner to the City Hall building and a hotel building opposite to it that was stated as the oldest hotel in Western Europe!

City Hall, Gent

A bit further we visited the Friday Market, a big square surrounded with old buildings and on the center of it we saw statue of Jacob van Artevelde, Gent's politician from the 14th century, pointing his hand toward England.

Friday Market, Gent

Leaving the Friday Market, we crossed the Leie river and arrived at the corner of Patershol area, the old part of the city that nowadays hosted the famous restaurants of Gent.

Old buildings near Patershol, Gent

Along the river, we walked down Kraanlei heading away from the Patershol. Near the next bridge we saw the Butcher's Hall across the river.

Cafes along Leie river, Gent

Walked further we saw the huge Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts), a fortress built in 1180. Opposite to it there was Fishmarket building, which was closed and would be renovated.

Gravensteen, Gent

Crossing the Lieve river and walked through Jan Breydelstraat, we stopped at Appelbrugparkje, a tiny park that provided a nice view of the Butcher's Hall.

View from Appelbrugparkje, Gent

But the best part of the city was the old buildings from the 11th century along the Graslei and Korenlei, at the both sides of the Leie river. The area was the ancient trading harbour of Gent and the beautiful buildings there reflected the wealth and success of the trading era.

Graslei from two sides

At the end of Korenlei we walked up to the St. Michael's bridge, from where we could get great view of the area.
Crossing the river and walking back to the direction of city center, we had a nice view of St. Nicolas church with its tower, with the Belfry and St. Bavo towers at the background.

St. Nicolas church, Gent

Near the Belfry we stopped by at the Grote Triomphante, a big bell that used to be part of the carillon hung on the Belfry. Closer to the Belfry we saw a fountain statue that named The Fountain of the Kneelers, image of five persons staring at the water.

Fountain of the Kneelers, Gent

Arrived back at the St. Bavo square, we finished our Gent walking tour. It was around dinner time, so our next activity was to find a place for dinner.
We walked to Patershol area with a hope that we could find decent restaurant there. Without any reference, we walked around and browsed the menu card in front of some restaurants. We were not satisfied with any of them, so we moved to the area nearby the Korenlei. We found several good candidates but they were full. Then we moved again crossing the river to the square near the St. Nicolas church. The restaurants there were also full, and finally we found a place that was not packed, in Pizza Hut! Well, at least we had no problem with the familiar menu card.

Graslei at night

After the economic dinner, we walked back to the car, climbed the hill to Sint-Pietersplein. The driving to Brugge was uneventful and we arrived at the hotel safely.

The Four Seasons by Vivaldi

Frits Philips Muziekcentrum, Eindhoven, 5 October 2007


It has been a while since the last time we enjoyed classical music concert, especially in the Frits Philips Muziekcentrum Eindhoven. Then about two weeks ago Sri found an interesting performance, the complete Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi by English Chamber Orchestra and violinist Sarah Chang.
We got the tickets last week, bought a mid-price seat, the third row from the stage. We went with two friends of us.

So, yesterday we met in the music hall some times after 8 in the evening and hurrily checked in because the concert started at 8.15. Our seats were really very close to the stage so we could see clearly everything on it. Unfortunately the seats were the same height as the stage, meaning the sound will pass above our heads.

The concert started sharp on time (sigh..I wish rock concert follow this example). The first piece was the famous Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3 by Bach. It was a simple performance, which was performed only by 11 persons: 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 1 bass, and 1 harpsichord.

This famous piece from Bach was very nice to listen to, with some circling sound from the violins, violas, and cellos. As expected, the sound of the harpsichord was 'vaporized' in the air from where we sat.

After the brilliant performance and warm applause from the audience, the orchestra went inside and the stage was rearranged for bigger capacity. The second piece was something new for me, Serenade in Es Op. 6 by Josef Suk, apprentice of Dvorak.
The composition turned out to be very nice and melodious, although according to Sri the last two movements were a bit like movie soundtrack.

After that we had a break for about 15 minutes. Something noticable during the break was that the audience was not only dominated by old people like normally we noticed in the classical music concerts. There were some young people, very casually dressed for classical music concert. I assumed it was because The Four Seasons is really popular, or maybe they went to see Sarah Chang :).

After the break we back inside the hall, when I realized that it would be my first time watching the Four Seasons live.

The orchestra was in the same formation as when they played the second piece. Then the main violinist walked to the center of the stage. Dressed in elegant long gown and with her Asian look (she has Korean blood from her father), Sarah Chang held a beautiful charisma on the stage.

After quickly tuned the violin, she gave a sign to the others and begun the first part of the Four Seasons, La Primavera (Spring). This cheerful piece was really enjoyable, with impressive and confident playing by Sarah Chang and perfect harmony from the orchestra.

The following three parts of the concerto were also great. Normally I did not really able to enjoy Summer and Winter but live performance provided different view of it. It was great to capture the moments when the main violin played head-to-head with the cello or the viola. Moreover, watching Sarah's fingers flying on her violin was also awesome.

It felt the complete concerto was so short when they played the final notes of Winter and Sarah Chang finished it. She and the orchestra received a standing ovation for quite a while before finally they left the stage.

After the concert we had drinks at one of the terrace in the main square of the city, enjoying mild autumn evening. When it was getting colder, we went home. It was a good show and very nice evening!

Performers:

English Chamber Orchestra
Sarah Chang, main violinist in the Four Seasons

Complete performance:

Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3 in G major - JS Bach
Adagio - Allegro

Serenade in Es Opus 6 - Josef Suk
Andante con moto
Allegro ma non troppo e grazioso
Adagio
Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto

----

The Four Seasons (Opus 8 Nr. 1-4) - Antonio Vivaldi

Spring (Concerto Nr. 1 in E major, Op. 8)
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Summer (Concerto Nr. 2 in G minor, Op. 8)
Allegro non molto
Adagio
Presto

Autumn (Concerto Nr. 3 in F major, Op. 8)
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro

Winter (Concerto Nr. 4 in F minor, Op. 8)
Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro

Paris Re-visited

4-7 August 2007

As a short break this summer, we decided to re-visit Paris on the first weekend of August. We chose the first weekend because the museums are free on the first Sunday of the month. We had used similar strategy two years ago and it was great so we would like to repeat the experience.
We bought Thalys tickets, departed from Rotterdam on Saturday afternoon and returned from Paris on early Tuesday morning. We booked a room at Ibis La Fayette, located about 10 minutes walking from Gare du Nord train station.

We left Eindhoven pretty early on Saturday and reached Rotterdam around lunchtime. It was because we had planned to have dim sum at Tai Wu. The dim sum was great, a very nice prolog of the holiday.

The trip with Thalys was smooth apart from few confused persons who could not find their seats. They found the correct number...but unfortunately in the wrong carriage. After about 3 hours we arrived at Gare du Nord. The big station was busy as well as the outside area. We walked a bit until junction between Rue La Fayette and Blvd. de Magenta and already saw the Ibis hotel where we would stay. We checked-in our room and put the luggage in a neat small room.

It was around 5.30 when we walked back to Gare du Nord from the hotel. We bought carnet, ten tickets for Paris transportation lines, and took the Metro to Etoile at the end of Avenue des Champs-Elysees.
It was a crowded Saturday evening in the famous Champs-Elysees when we got there. The weather was mild and the sun shone warmly. We walked some parts of the avenue to visit Sephora, a very big beauty shop. The shop was busy, probably most of the visitors are tourists, and it was quite amazing to see so many perfumes and cosmetics there.

From Sephora we walked back to the end of the avenue to visit Arc de Triomphe. The impressive monument is located at the center of wide roundabout, called Place Charles de Gaulle, at the end of Champs-Elysees. The roundabout itself was very wide and it had twelve avenues lead to there.
We used the underground passage to reach the Arc. It was even grander from closer view. The walls had ornaments and inscription of the names of French military generals and battles from Napoleon era.
We bought access ticket to enter the Arc and climbed the spiral stairs to the top. The view from the top was really wonderful. At the west side we could see La Defense monument. There was the famous Eiffel tower at the south and the long Champs-Elysees at the east. Between them we could see Montparnasse tower and the golden dome of Invalides. To the north side we had a nice view of Montmartre hill with the Sacre Cour basilica at the highest point.


View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Satisfied with the view, and also because we spotted possible dinner place besides going to crowded Champs-Elysees, we went down and out from the Arc. We walked to Avenue de Wagram where we spotted McDonald's and Quick (French fast food) signs. Near the Quick we found a restaurant called Monte Carlo. It was a kind of self-service restaurant serving some salads and warm meals. We chose minced beef with french fries and boiled vegetables. Simple and fast.

After the quick dinner we walked back to the roundabout, circled it, and walked along Avenue Kleber to Trocadero. From the esplanade of Palais de Chaillot we had a nice view of the great Eiffel tower. We sat down at the stair facing the Eiffel and just relaxed, waiting for the light show from the tower. It started around 10 o'clock and quite a nice view at the beginning. Not for long though since it was just monotone. It might be nicer to have music accompanying the light, like the Symphony of Light in Hong Kong.

Eiffel tower from the Trocadero

When the light show was over we left the Trocadero, took the Metro back to Gare du Nord and walked to the hotel.

The flickering Eiffel tower

The Sunday morning was sunny and warm. We went out from the hotel around 9 and had a breakfast at a restaurant at the front of the train station. We had French baguettes, which in the end we realized it was a bit too heavy for breakfast.
As our museum visit day, we started with Musee du Quai Branly. The museum was located at Quai Branly, near the Eiffel tower. The museum building was big, in red colour, surrounded with nice park. It was already a queue to enter the museum when we reached there. The museum displayed ancient culture collections from Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania. We just browsed through the collections, no specific interest since it was too crowded and the majority of the descriptions are only in French. From the main building we visited the souvenir shop and bought few small stuffs there.

Musee du Quai Branly

From the Quai Branly we took the train, and then transferred to a bus because the rail track was closed, to the Latin Quarter. We walked from Boulevard Saint-Michel, passing St. Severin church, to a Vietnamese restaurant on Rue Dante. My wife visited this restaurant last year and it had become her favourite. There we also met our old Indonesian friend who studied in Fontainebleau, a suburb of Paris. We chose different three-courses meal so we could try several dishes. The food was nice and quite filling, a perfect lunch.

After lunch we walked along the left bank of Seine river and crossed it near the Louvre. We walked through the park of the Louvre, passed the famous glass pyramid, and through the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries until we reached Musee de l'Orangerie, which was located near the Place de la Concorde. The weather was really warm with full sunshine and blue sky.

Louvre

There was another queue to enter the museum but in short time we could enter it. Once inside, we directly went to the oval rooms to see the Nympheas (Water Lilies) of Claude Monet. The setting was brilliant, where two oval rooms, with slightly different size, adjacent to each other displayed different Water Lilies paintings on curved wall. There were 4 paintings in each room displaying different colourful impressionist images of water surface with water lilies, willows, iris, and sky reflection. The rooms had direct filtered light from above, which gave nice nuance on the paintings.
Besides the Nympheas, the museum also held many paintings from impressionist era from Renoir, Sisley, and Cezanne, among others.


Monet's Water Lilies

From the l'Orangerie we walked pass the Place de la Concorde and the beginning of Champs-Elysees to visit the Petit Palais (small palace). Instead of the name, it was another museum building with a spacious hall displaying paintings and sculptures. The backside of the building had a half-circle shape, where we rested for a while in the museum's cafe.

Petit Palais

From the Petit Palais we took the Metro to visit the Jardin du Luxembourg, another nice garden in Paris. The garden was pretty full of Parisian who enjoyed the nice sunny weather and the nice view of the garden. We also sat for a while on the chairs that were provided for public. Besides the nice garden and Luxembourg Palace, we also could enjoy some statues and the famous Medicis fountain in the garden.

Jardin du Luxembourg

It was almost dinnertime when we were in the garden. Recently we read a review of an Indonesian restaurant in Paris. It was located on Rue de Vaugirard, in the front of the Luxembourg Palace. We were very close so we decided to have dinner there. We arrived at the restaurant few minutes before 7 and waited until it was open at 7 o'clock.
We were welcomed by the owner herself and had some nice chats while ordering our food. The menus were original Indonesian dishes. I ordered lamb sate (sate kambing). Originally I opted for gule kambing but it was not available.
The sate was nice, with sauce made only from sweet soy sauce, chilies, and red onions.

After the dinner our friend went back to Fontainebleau, but both of us stayed a bit longer at the restaurant. Enjoying the almost sunset time, we walked around in the area. We passed by the Pantheon and some small streets near the Sorbonne University. We stopped shortly at the Place de la Sorbonne, a small square next to the university building.
Because it was already quite late, we walked to the Metro station and back to the hotel.

Pantheon

Monday morning was started differently. It was cloudy and raining. Originally we planned to visit Montmartre but then we changed our mind. In the end we chose safer and drier activity: went to shopping center.
We took the Metro to Boulevard Haussmann where the big department stores were located. First we visited the Printemps, browsed around the cosmetics and clothes sections. Then we moved to Galeries Lafayette, mainly to check its foods section. The building of the store was impressive with a steel-glass dome and stylish balconies.

The dome of Galeries Lafayette

We supposed to meet our friend again for lunch at a Szechuan restaurant named Panda as he had suggested. Coincidentally we found that the same restaurant existed in the Galeries Lafayette, but unfortunately we suddenly had no mobile network so we could not contact him.
So we went to the restaurant at the address that he gave, at Blvd. de Strasbourg. We found a Szechuan restaurant but the name was not Panda! Nevertheless we entered and waited for him. It was quite a desperate situation because we still could not contact him. When finally we were able to do that, he said that the restaurant was not the one that he had expected. But since we had waited quite long there, we urged him to go back joining us.
The food turned out to be OK, typical spicy Szechuan dishes, except that they were not spicy enough for me.

From the restaurant we walked along Blvd. de Strasbourg and Blvd. de Sebastopol to Pompidou Centre. The building had a unique modern design, mainly built by steel and glass materials with a noticeable staircase tube. There was a wide square in front of the building, where at one side we could enjoy some street performers. A little bit further we saw the Stravinsky Fountain with some modern-art statues inspired by Stravinsky's compositions.
We entered the public area of the building, visited the souvenir corner and bookshop.

Street performer near the Pompidou Centre

After that we walked along the Rue Rambuteau crossing the Blvd. de Sebastopol to Les Halles area. We visited St. Eustache church at the end of the street, with a unique head-shaped statue on the park in front of the church, and then walked along Jardin des Halles. Les Halles was originally a marketplace area, which had been transformed into a modern shopping center.

From Les Halles we walked heading south along the Blvd. de Sebastopol, passed Chatelet area and reached the Seine bank. We crossed the river to the Ile de la Cite island and passed the Palais de Justice and Sainte-Chapelle, a chapel from Louis IX era with very beautiful stained glass.

We crossed the Seine at the other side of the island and walked along Blvd. Saint-Germain until the area near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. We visited Brasserie Lipp to have a coffee break. The brasserie was one of the famous cafes in the Saint-Germain area, where many politicians were regular customers.
It was quite empty when we were there. The interior of the brasserie was quite nice, the walls were a combination of wide mirrors and ceramics with floral pattern.

After the coffee break we walked around the Saint-Germain area. We went through small streets with old buildings and nice restaurants on both sides, for example along Rue de Buci.
After a while we ended up walking in the direction to Saint-Sulpice church. We entered the big church and found the meridian line and the obelisk, which had become famous due to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code.


Streets in the Saint-Germain area

From the Saint-Sulpice we took part with our friend who needed to go back home. The weather turned out to be very nice that evening, so we decided to go to Montmartre.

From the Metro station we climbed the hill to the Sacre Cour. The view from above was wonderful, we could see the whole landscape of Paris. From the beautiful church we walked around the area that was quite crowded with tourists and street artists.

Sacre Cour Basilica

From the hilly Montmartre area we walked down to Blvd. de Clichy. We walked along the boulevard, passed the famous Moulin Rouge and further until we reached Place de Clichy.
We stopped at Brasserie Wepler for dinner. It was an old restaurant in the area with nice atmosphere and attractive foods. We ordered oysters for starters and I had duck confit for main course. The duck was very nice, crispy and a bit salty skin and tender meat.
After the very nice dinner we went back to the hotel.

The following morning we took the early train back to Rotterdam, with nice memories stuck in our mind. One day we'll be back to Paris!

Genesis Turn It On Again Tour

Amsterdam ArenA, 1 July 2007

Genesis is really an old friend of mine. I have known them since 1987 when I was only 12 years old. At that time I bought a cassette of Genesis called 'The very best of Genesis vol. 2', produced locally by Aquarius Indonesia. I still remember how I enjoyed their songs from Duke, Abacab, until Invisible Touch albums. I also had a copy of the Invisible Touch video containing clips of almost all songs from the album.

Several years after that I still followed their activities. I enjoyed We Can't Dance album, with nice songs like Driving the Last Spike and Fading Lights. It was even better when they released The Way We Walk live albums. From then on I was captivated by their 'ancient' songs from the 70's, thanks to the old medley.

Since that moment, it seemed like I traveled back in time. Slowly, in between my passion for music from that period like Metallica, Megadeth, Helloween, and other heavy stuffs, I threw myself back to the progressive-rock era by listening to Seconds Out, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the Archive 1967-75 box set.
After that there was no turning back, I collected their official albums completely plus the Archive box sets and the official DVD releases.
In the past two years I also got the chance to watch their 'reincarnation', The Musical Box. I watched them performed The Lamb Lies and Selling England shows.

With this prelude, I think you agree that I was one who got excited and happy when last year Genesis announced to back on stage in 2007. Well, not the most perfect formation, but we couldn't always get what we wanted, could we?

On a Saturday morning in November last year, I was one of the people who queued at the post office to get the ticket for Genesis' concert in Amsterdam ArenA, the only show in Holland. I got two tickets at the tribune, great!
Not much happening until few months back, when I bought the first Genesis SACD box set and re-shaped my memory of their songs with the wonderful 'new' sound of their albums between 1976-1982 period. I must admit that I really love this new SACD mix (kudos to Nick Davis).
I also got regular updates from Germany Genesis Fanclub website about the tour preparation and rehearsals, until finally they kicked out in Helsinki last month. After touring some cities in Europe, there came the first of July, when Genesis played the Amsterdam ArenA, and I was there!

It was a mild Sunday in the summer. It was not too hot and luckily it was not rain. I took the train from Eindhoven with my wife to Arena. We arrived there around half past seven in the evening. There were lots of people outside the ArenA, also at the queue to enter the stadium. The entrance process was smooth, no one bothered about digital pocket camera in the bag.

It was the first time I entered Amsterdam ArenA, the biggest stadium in Holland. It took already quite some energy to climb the stairs to reach the corridor of the tribune seats. Before entering the tribune, I bought a Genesis t-shirt. They also sold some interesting stuffs at the merchandise corner, including Anatomy Of A Tour book and Phil's The Long Goodnight documentary DVD.

After bought soft drinks and french fries, we entered the stadium. We got seats at the right-hand side tribune. Not until I checked the row number when I realized that our seats were at the highest row! We had a full view of the stadium and the stage, except the wide screen on the left-hand side.

The main stage was still hidden behind black curtain, but we could observe the whole stage layout. It was quite wide, with a wave-shaped background and two oval screens on both sides. There were seven metal towers soared above the background for lighting support. The festival area was almost full with people and it was not much different situation at the tribune.

About half past seven, the black curtain was removed. The main stage was not so big and the layout was a Genesis standard: Tony's keyboards at the right, two drums sets on the raised floor at the back, two pedal sets for Mike and Daryl, and center microphone stand. While the whole stadium was almost full, we still had to wait for another 45 minutes before the band hit the stage. It was pretty boring except for the light and the big screens testing.

But finally it started! No spectacular entrance, just the complete background turned on as white dotted lights, they kicked in with instrumental medley of Behind The Lines and Duke's End. Phil played drums, Mike took the center stage, and Tony was calm and serious as always. This instrumental opening was pretty good, I would say it was like a warming up for the band, kind of jamming session.

Behind The Lines

The second song was Turn It On Again, where Phil took the center stage. His vocal was still OK in spite of his age. I found these two opening songs from Duke were a perfect choice. After Turn It On Again, Phil shortly interacted with the audience, introduced Mr. Tony Banks and Mr. Mike Rutherford, warmly applauded by the crowd.

The following two songs were from newer era, No Son Of Mine and Land Of Confusion. The background was turned to a huge display screen, showed the ticking clock at the beginning of No Son Of Mine and the puppets during Land Of Confusion. The oval screens on both sides helped us on the tribune to watch 'closer' to the stage. It was nice to watch old Mike and white-haired Tony in action.

After those 'pop' songs, the band got down to real business with Phil started the familiar "I got sunshine in my stomach" line of In The Cage. Mike used his double neck for switching between guitar and bass. I enjoyed this part, Phil's vocal was good and the music was flawless. In The Cage was the first part of medley, where the instrumental part was smoothly moved to the instrumental part of The Cinema Show. Phil back behind his drums and they ended the medley with another smooth transition to Duke's Travels.

In The Cage

Almost as a continuation of the previous medley, the band played the calm Afterglow. It was another enjoyable moment for me since I always like this song from Wind and Wuthering album.

To maintain the stamina, at least in my opinion, they played another slow song, Hold On My Heart. Phil sat on a chair and the lights turned into pink-purple nuance, kind of romantic.

After two slow songs, Phil told his story about a scary house to begin the wonderful Home By The Sea suite. This song was performed perfectly. The visualization was brilliant, with images of the house, the face on the wall, and the ghosts animation. The sound was powerful, especially during Second Home By The Sea with double drums. The lighting was great, with raising spotlights on the light towers at the end of the song.

Home By The Sea

After a short stop, they performed Follow You Follow Me. Phil was playing drums while singing. This song was performed softly, even better with a nice simple animation showing characters from Genesis' album covers such as the Duke, walking son from We Can't Dance cover, sleeping lawn mower from Selling England, and Cynthia with her croquet stick from Nursery Crime.

Then came the second medley: Firth of Fifth - I Know What I Like. The performance was perfect, sounds great especially the solos from Daryl. What I like most from this song was the background slide, showing pictures of young Genesis faces, very nostalgic and touching. There were many pictures, combination of photo shoots and live pictures (including Gabriel's flower face from Supper's Ready). During Phil's tambourine dance, the background slide also showed the same dance but from around 25 years earlier!
At the end of the song, with reddened stage, there was a net being raised between the light towers, which made the stage looked like a huge crown. This medley was definitely my most favorite part of the show.


I Know What I Like

Mama, the next song, was good. Phil's sound and act were still worth watching. Especially because of his older look, the light show during the laughter part was terrific.

Not enough of old songs, the band performed the beautiful Ripples. Mike again used his double neck. We experienced another good performance of classic Genesis song, with nice green-yellowish light nuance and trees image background that reminded me to Roger Dean's art from albums of Yes. The crowd gave very warm applause at the end of this song.

Ripples

Back to the new era, Phil Collins chanted the popular intro of Throwing It All Away and surely followed by the crowd. Regardless of its pop style, this song is one of my Genesis favorites. The big screen showed candid shoots of the crowds during this song, gave us a very nice entertainment similar to what we usually get on sport live coverage. It was great to see people sang, then smiled or waved once they had known that they were on the screen.

Throwing It All Away

Another interaction with the audience, Phil explained his domino principle. Finally I was actively involved in this domino effect after watched it so many times in the DVD. The light was great, and the crowd responded eagerly.
The song itself was great. I enjoyed the calm first part and the powerful second part. Phil's vocal quality was still good. The visual effects were wonderful, showing falling domino pieces and Phil's face surrounded with light waves.

After the powerful Domino, the crew set up bar stool that placed between two drums sets. Then Phil and Chester performed the drum duet, this time started with the bar stool. I think the stool had a leather surface, which made the sound quite different. They gradually moved to the drums and performed the powerful and tight duet. The drum duet directly continued by Los Endos, a wonderful instrumental song from Genesis' progressive era. Once again I enjoyed Mike's double neck action. The background displayed fire flame animation, brilliant support to give progressive nuance.

Los Endos

After that the band performed their standard live songs, Tonight Tonight Tonight followed by Invisible Touch. They were nice as usual and Invisible Touch was one of crowd's favorite. I saw many people danced with this song.

Ending the Invisible Touch, the band went off the stage. Surely no one in the crowd agreed with this, so we shouted, clapped our hands, until finally we heard the electric drum intro of I Can't Dance. The sound effects were great, the walking was enjoyable, but for me the most wonderful aspect of this song was the background, where it displayed big size white walking Genesis at the beginning and then turned to many colorful of them at the end. Though I never really liked this song (honestly I booed at the end of this song) but still the performance could not be ignored.

I Can't Dance

After his dance at the end of I Can't Dance, Phil thanked Chester and Daryl, who got very warm applause from the audience. Then he announced the last song, mentioned that the song was very special for them. It was the beautiful Carpet Crawlers. Nothing could beat this nice calm song as the ending of the show, with very nice vocal harmony from the trio at the refrain.

Then it was over. We waited quite a while until we could walk down the tribune and walked in a hurry to catch our last train to home.

To conclude, off course it was a great show. It was not perfect, though. First of all, the acoustic of Amsterdam ArenA was terrible. From our place the echoes were enormous, sounded like there were two bands performed at both sides of the stadium at slightly different timing. Another thing that I could not totally appreciate was the neighboring crowd. It seems like there was a generation gap between some of them. Some people enjoyed the new songs and chatted, unfortunately quite loud, between themselves during the old songs. Some others loved the old songs and luckily they were wise enough to just keep quite during the new songs. So in the end I tend to appreciate old progressive fans than the young pop fans. Long live progressive rock!

Nevertheless, it was indeed a great show. The production was great, the lighting and the visual were beyond my expectation. The band was still great performers on the stage. Chester Thompson still very discipline with his tempo and Daryl Stuermer still sharp on the strings. Tony, Mike, and Phil were still solid as a team after 15 years break.

In the end, as an old friend, I would always remember this as a great show (have I mentioned it?). I cannot wait until they release the DVD from performance in Rome and also the next SACD box sets.

Genesis are:
Phil Collins - Vocals, Drums
Tony Banks - Keyboards, Vocals
Mike Rutherford - Guitars, Bass, Vocals

Supported by:
Chester Thompson - Drums
Daryl Stuermer - Guitars, Bass

Set list:
Behind The Lines / Duke's End
Turn It On Again
No Son Of Mine
Land Of Confusion
In The Cage / The Cinema Show / Duke's Travels
Afterglow
Hold On My Heart
Home By The Sea / Second Home By The Sea
Follow You Follow Me
Firth Of Fifth / I Know What I Like
Mama
Ripples
Throwing It All Away
Domino
Drum Duet
Los Endos
Tonight Tonight Tonight
Invisible Touch
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I Can't Dance
Carpet Crawlers