so much to post, so little time

OK! I'm BACK. HOME.
That means- full internet access and my mac.
Time to start the postage.

So- my audition in London/One and a half day on-the-town excursion:
Arrived in London Wed. night, took forever to take the Tube(s) to my lovely host's home.
Now THIS is cool- one of the couples that is a sponsor of the opera, also sponsor singers in town when there are auditions...so, voila- no hotel to pay for, PLUS they had a grand piano to warm up with PLUS they had tea with milk waiting for me when I arrived at 10:30pm.
Thursday- Walk around London and see EVERYTHING. I mean, we even went to Parliament and saw the House of Lords AND Commons in full swing from the spectator ie, nosebleed seats.
Audition- early in the morning (10:30) for Koenigin, but I was feeling good in the a.m., and brought everything I had.
So the panel got it all- the F's, the low, the middle, the high, the dramatic, and..whatever else.

BACK to Germany, where I had Koenigin number..9 I think... Saturday night- which ALSO went great, since I had just 'warmed up' with it the day before.

Sunday- fly to Nice in the afternoon, check in to my hotel, wander around town in the evening (also get accosted by a not-so-fun guy that kept following me and trying to speak Italian, French, and English to me when CLEARLY I was not interested, ignoring him, and trying to find a place to have dinner)...Sooo--that actually wasn't so fun.
PS- if you want to buy real estate by the sea- NICE! Every other building has at least a studio, 2 or 3 bedroom for sale. Is the economy REALLY that bad that people are selling their vacation homes because they can't RENT them out either?
Wow.

Monday- audition in Monte Carlo. Sang Queen and Fire. Immediate feedback was that I have great french (to which I replied, IN french that I studied the language for 6 years--BONUS!).

Spent the day in Monte Carlo (where a small bowl of pasta costs 18 Euros. Ouch).
Back to Nice and to my hotel in the evening.
Tuesday morning- my flight back was at 2, but it was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day, so I spent the morning having tea and a croissant by the water, and then dipped my toes in the mediterranean and sat on the rock-beach for about an hour for the FIRST time in the SUN since...well last summer/fall--beautiful, warm, and I didn't want to leave.

Then, due to a FRENCH TRANSIT STRIKE, I couldn't take the 4 Euro bus to the airport. So I had to take a 30 Euro taxi there.
Amazing.

Had plenty of time at the airport to browse the duty free, and in the end, the plane was half-empty on the way back so I got to sprawl in my own three seater row for the hour long flight.

It's unbelievable how many destinations one can reach in SUCH a short time across Europe.
Ok, even with fast trains- I can get to berlin in 4-5 hours...but I was in another COUNTRY...and that only took an hour.

It was really fun.

The feedback? So far- I've heard about the Queen- they're going in a different direction--which always makes me laugh-- umm, someone that DOESN"T hit all the high F's?
lolsss.
No, in reality I know that I do NOT sound like a dramatic soprano when I sing this piece. I sound steel-y and evil, but not like some Russian full lyric WITH magical high F's..
So if they're going in another direction, I'm guessing it's a more dramatic voice.

So I'll wait on the second audition and see.

Either way, London was definitely worth the mini-vacation (especially since my flight and stay was paid for by the company), and we shall see about my visit to Southern France and how that turns out (sadly, for this one the expenses did add up, but--it's SOUTHERN FRANCE!!).