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Allez, Allez!

By R+1 -
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Well, after a fab time in Corsica with our mad bunch of choristers, our adventure there ended. It had to, because another one was about to start. A short hop with Air Corsica landed us in Nice, and a short taxi ride plonked us in Antibes. Lovely old town, without all the razzle dazzl(ers) of Cannes. The Princess lucked an amazing flat in the centre of the old town for less than the price of a first-born. This is it: first floor on the corner... A restful couple of days, and then it was back to Nice to pick up our campervan and hit the road. First stop in the mountains of the Central Massif on the way to Chauvet Cave. Narrow winding roads with semis and trucks coming at us with inches to spare, while driving on the wrong side of the road. This campervan is as big as a truck and I had to learn where the wheels (and the side mirrors!) were real quick. Here's a snap of the town we spent the first night. The bridge is the main road! Chauvet Cave has cave paintings from the Upp...
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Rencontres de Chants Polyphonique, Calvi, Corsica

By R+1 -
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Hi, it's the Princess here to update you on our latest adventure! The last post left us high in the spiky mountains in the interior of Corsica so you'll be happy to hear we were safely delivered to Calvi by our wonderful bus driver Domenico who had driven us all through Sardinia as well - just in time for the Polyphonic Songs Festival! Where to start. Our hotel was at the foot of yet another citadel in the centre of the old city on the edge of the sea. Amazingly the beach here has yellow sand - not the black rocks we had become accustomed to. The venue for the festival was an 18th century cathedral up on top of the hill. It was a short but steep hike up - totally worth it for the views and the huge acoustic! The first is a photo taken from the bus when we first arrived at Christoph Columb hotel and the second is the view from the top. The program started off with an amazing vocal quartet from Puglia led by Enza Pagliari, who is justifiably famous in her own right. Their ...
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Singing Corsica

By R+1 -
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The long awaited Singing Corsica installment is finally here. I'm sitting in our campervan in little french town in France's Central Massif, wondering how I'm going to convey the essence of what we've experienced. It's been very intense. Only one week in Sardinia and then another in Corsica, but it seems like months have passed. Mornings start early, with an ocean swim, followed by a hot shower and then breakfast in a great hotel, usually near the beach. Then it's a morning rehearsal followed by a bit of free time and lunch and then maybe an afternoon rehearsal. The choir is pretty amazing, having been flung together only at the start of the trip, but there are some amazing voices and everyone has done their homework. Things coming together very quickly. Everyone's pitching is excellent and mostly everyone has the lyrics under control. Stuart (Davis) is doing a great job out the front and has seemingly endless energy and a certain brashness to make things ha...
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