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Today started with a rehearsal a rehearsal at Royal Albert Hall. The trick with having a round building is that you can't tell which side you're on. Once we started walking down these hallways, I had no idea which street we were near. To add to the confusion, they sell seats behind the orchestra, so you can't just walk around 'til you get back stage, you could walk around forever. |
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I did sneak a few pictures inside the hall, but I was too chicken to use my flash. I tried to bring up the contrast here, but it's still a little muddy. The general concept is, the Royal Albert Hall is big and opulent. There are no seats in the middle section (there is a fountain though). There are several tiers of boxes and then the top balcony seats. It holds about 6800 people. |
| After rehearsal, I met Alison P. for lunch. We decided to meet in front of the Albert Memorial. I didn't read all the stuff saying what all the ornaments and auxiliary statues mean, but they mean something and it's very pretty. |
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Here's a view of the front of the Royal Albert Hall taken from across the street at the Royal Albert memorial. |
| After lunch at a nice pub, Alison P. and I went for a walk through Kensington Gardens. Since I had seen some of the west side of the Park on Friday, we walked mostly on the East side (East and west are relative to the right and left of the map I picked up at the hotel.). We passed by the Peter Pan Statue and continued up to these fountains. | |
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I'm guessing that a lot of the grand statues and fountains and concert Halls were commissioned by some monarch or other for national pride and self-aggrandizement. I wonder if cities in the US would invest in such grand parks and statues or would people be too practical to vote it into the city budget. Well, that 's a rant for another day…..
Anyway, the concert went really well. I'm glad I really like Symphony of Psalms and Daphnes and Cloe so it will be a joy to do them often. After the concert I did a quick run to the internet café up the street. I can not get through to AOL from my hotel room. I ask you, what good are they? (I'll change my tune if I can get on-line tomorrow from Edinburgh.)
