SENIOR SCHOOL

After arriving in Paris and getting to grips with the metro, we went for an evening boat trip on the River Seine. Despite the cold the trip was very enjoyable, giving a different perspective of the beautiful city. After a Parisian style breakfast the next day, we walked from our hotel up to Monmartre, where we had some free time to look around the artistic area before we set off to one of Paris’s best known landmarks: the Eiffel Tower. As the lift was being repaired, we couldn’t go to the top of the tower, yet we had fantastic views of the city from the second floor. The busy day continued with a tour of the fabulous Paris Opera House. On the tour we were shown the gilded hall where the Parisian nobility once gathered during the intermission and the design of the magnificent interior was explained to us. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. In the evening we sang mass at Eglise St Eustache. This was challenging, yet the church staff were very hospitable and the French service was a new and interesting experience.

We spent the next day in Disneyland, where we took part in a musical theatre workshop before performing on the stage. After a successful concert we were allowed to spend the rest of the day on the rides which all the girls enjoyed. This day was fun not only because of the rides but because it gave us a chance to perform different styles of music. The next day was more relaxing with a morning of shopping and a visit to the contemporary Pompidou Museum. In the afternoon, we held a concert at Eglise de la Madeleine, which looks more like the Parthenon than a church from the outside. This was our longest concert of the tour with solo, instrumentals and choir pieces and proved to be my favourite, as the building was magnificent and we sang some beautiful pieces.

For our last day in Paris we sang at the best known Cathedral: the Notre Dame. Despite our short time slot, we were warmly received by the crowd in Notre Dame and it was an amazing experience to sing in such an historic building. Before leaving for the Cité de la Musique museum, we did some busking outside the Notre Dame which was a really fun way to end our music on the tour. We spent the remainder of our day at Cité de la Musique which housed an incredible variety of instruments. I really enjoyed visiting the museum as the collections were very interesting, including a tortoise guitar.

The tour was a really valuable experience for me as it challenged my musical ability and it was a very cultural trip. A special thank you must go to Amanda Langard and Mrs Lindner for arranging the tour and to Mrs Lindner for all the hard work that she put into the wonderful music. Also, thank you very much to Mrs Musgrave for all her enthusiasm and organisation and Miss Waterfeld for stepping in for Amanda at the last minute.

I can’t wait for the next one!