Farewell Ruth (for now)
I can’t say I’m not happy to be leaving Paris this morning. Paris is one of those places which you always look forward to visiting greatly but are always ready to leave and whilst the Mandarin has been nice but we’re anxious to stay somewhere less, shall we say, pretentious.
So it was, off to do battle on the Periferique to Le Bourget airport for the final time of this tour. Le Bourget is renowned for the landing of Charles Lindbergh after his historic solo transatlantic crossing in 1927 and as the departure point two weeks earlier for the French biplane The White Bird (L’Oiseau Blanc), which took off in its own attempt at a transatlantic flight but then mysteriously disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic (or possibly the American state of Maine). Home to the Paris air show, it was built in 1919 and was the main airport for Paris until the arrival of Orly.
On board our bird, it was Parma ham and melon which I devoured as I missed breakfast this morning due to a late and desperate gym appointment. Last night’s late night Leffe’s with Mike and Jim really left their mark and I figured the gym was the only remedy. It helped, a little. Just under an hour later we were touching down at the minuscule Dijon airport. Coming in to land we could see that this is a very fertile area of the country, well manicured and obviously a lovely place to live. Gastronomically of course, Dijon is notable for being the center of the Burgundy wine growing region with vineyards such as Gevrey-Chambertin very close to the city and for its famous mustard which sadly, in my view, thanks to European Union Law genericization, can now be manufactured outside Dijon and cannot be registered for protected designation of origin status. Dijon also rather appropriately hosts the International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn.
A short drive to the venue and we pull in and head for catering for a bowl of ‘healing’ minestrone soup. I chat with Chris and Dave in the kitchens and Chris is laughing as he sent the runner out to get a couple of bottles of wine for around 20 Euros and something was lost in translations as she returned with 20 bottles of red and 20 bottles of white. I said to Chris that this was probably the best place in Europe for such a mistake to happen. I’m sure it will get drunk.
Ianto found himself doing his daily practice pad warm-ups in the fresh air today…
Tonight we say a sad farewell to the lovely Ruth Moody and her band. They have been an absolute delight to be around and I’m sure she has made many many new fans on this run of shows. She actually spent a few years living in France and her parents were here to see her in the audience this evening. Richard and I watched most of her set from the auditorium and it was as beautiful as ever. This girl doesn’t know how to sing a bad note. Once again, BUY her album.
Ruth joined us on stage for three tunes and sang like an angel once again, Mark said his thanks to her and we continued our show to an excitable crowd who rushed to the front of the stage at exactly the same point in the show as last night. I’d love to know how they manage that? Is is specific socially networked info or is it just ‘what happens’?
We did our encores and were whisked away to the airport where Nick our pilot was waiting and had arranged ‘airside’ access so we could hop from the cars to the steps of the plane once more. True luxury which I might add doesn’t get taken for granted by any of us. Just in case you were wondering. We’re well aware that after the tour, it’s back to airport terminals, queues and baggage claim.
And so back in to Germany for our stay in Cologne on a very regularly used hotel on the bank of the Rhine and next to the magnificent Hohenzollern Bridge. In the room by 1:30am it wasn’t long before I was asleep and dreaming of what I might do on tomorrow’s day off.
“..are we doing an encore or what?”
pic Renan Garandel