Europe: The Musical

At long last I have put together and edited all the video I took in Europe, both in Ireland last fall and in Europe this spring. I shot the video of Honan Chapel mostly so that I could better capture the whole building than I could with still pictures, but they were setting up for a wedding, so there were singers and a harpist practising in the back. It gives you a good sense of the amazing acoustics of the place. Every time I look at the video, I wish Honan was still the place I go every Sunday. The clip of the bells of St. Finbarre's Cathedral I took when I was showing Mom around Cork. We later went to the Lessons & Carols service there and it was beautiful - starting with a single boy's voice singing "Once in Royal David's City."

Then there's the bells of Notre Dame (plus a car horn), from the second story window of the Shakespeare & Co. book shop. In the words of Disney (though I'm not sure they quite apply to today's Paris...):

Morning in Paris, the city awakes

To the bells of Notre Dame

The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes

To the bells of Notre Dame

To the big bells as loud as the thunder

To the little bells soft as a psalm

And some say the soul of the city's

The toll of the bells

The bells of Notre Dame

Then there's a selection of musicians busking in Parc Güell. I couldn't take video of all of them, so there's pictures in that section as well, though I still didn't cover nearly all of them. And, of course, there's different people on different days!

I'm afraid I didn't take any video in Granada, so the pictures and words I have already given you will have to suffice. And there isn't any video from Berlin because what I really wanted to take video of – the anniversary celebrations – was at the end of the trip, so my camera was dying and would barely take all the pictures I asked of it. Ach, I wish you could have seen the dominoes falling, especially, but the fireworks and the musicians, too! But I'm sure it's on youtube somewhere as plenty of other people were taking videos.