Saturday 3 December - Messiah

Breakfast was a fried egg and back bacon croissant and a banana

Unusual diesel visitors in Saint-Lazare.  They were shut down, probably the crew had come in for lunch.  These are used for some passenger train empty movements.

Seen on a panhandler's sign on the rue de Levis

PROMO -50%

2 euros is crossed out
1 euro is inserted

We wnet to a performance of Handael's Messiah at La Madeleine this evening.  It was the Paul Kuentz Chorus and Orchestra which performs every year in La Madeleine.  We managed to get seats close to the front where the acoustics were very good but we were not caught in the glare of the lights for the orchestra.  The church has many domes and there is a lengthy echo at the back where the sounds are muddy.

The performance was excellent.  It was in English and some of the enunciation was a little strange. The soloists were all excellent as was the trumpet and the hard working double base who played the continuo.

The conductor made the audience stand for the Hallelujah Chorus and at the end there was an encore.  He explained the tradition of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus and for the audience to sing along. It was a good evening with lots of joyful music.

As we have come to know Paris over the years we have come to walk more and more.  La Madeleine is only a short hop on the Metro line 3 to Saint-Lazare then line 14.  However, it was a clear dry evening and we walked both ways, just 25 minutes each way.

Before the performance the choir formed up in their outdoor clothes

After the performance