Musings Part 2

Monday, March 19^th, 2012

It is 11:15 am here in Amsterdam where I am waiting for a flight.  Sitting on a cold vent by the window at Gate F 7, I have separated myself from the group so I can have a bit of “me” time.  Truly, the most trying thing in choir tours is the fact that it is very difficult to find a second away from the hustle and bustle and constant chatter of well-meaning by sometimes highly irritating people. 

I am grumpy.  I miss Italy, I need sleep and I am so irritated that I had to wake up at 2:30 this morning for a flight that I nearly missed due to a combination of incompetency from those planning our airport transfer and the slow procedure of going through security at  Rome’s airport.  I miss my friends who have continued on in the tour and are heading to Florence and Assisi today.   They will end up in Venice- a place that I have always wanted to see.  It is my hope that sitting here and musing about the events of the last few days may lighten my spirits as I get ready for this last leg of my trip. 

 The stories of my adventures ended at my musings about Pompeii and my reflections on Antiquity and our lack of admiration and appreciation for history.

Rome continued to marvel me with all its history, but this was not what affected me the most.  It was the music that we created and listened to and the grandeur of the spaces in which we sang that touched me profoundly.

The Vatican has always been the place I wanted to visit most in my life.  My Catholic faith has always been central in my life.  It has always been something that many of my friends have never understood or could believe.  Tara Nadal- the crazy, dramatic, outgoing, in your face type of person who loves to have fun and be the centre of attention- how could it be that she is also a person of deep devotion to her faith?  Truly, I don’t know.  All I know is that it has been the biggest force in my life.  The other very important facet of my life that people DO understand is the importance of music in my life.    When you marry the two together, then the importance of this trip should be evident.   Conducting at the Vatican, even if only one song, was a dream come true for me, though for many, it was a disappointment.

We spent that Wednesday morning getting up early, anxiously chattering with one another over a breakfast that would become very repetitive over the next few days- flaky croissants, meat that resembled ham, cheese, a heavy pound cake and strong coffee that needed something a little more than the thin, hot milk that was provided that gave the coffee a little lightening more than thickness.  Any stranger looking into the window of the Villaferrata would have thought that we were heading to the funeral of a diplomat.  We were dressed in our Sunday finest- well, our black Sunday finest- as we wanted to look dignified when heading to sing at the most important Basilica in Christianity.  The announcement was made that our three buses had arrived and we all filed onto the light yellow “Mocci” buses waiting for us at the front of our Villa.  It must have been an amusing sight to those watching- people of every colour, every personality, ranging in ages from a lone teenager to the energetic Doris, a 94 year old who wore heels and refused help when climbing the steep entrance to the bus, people with canes, wheelchairs and various other ailments anxiously pushing their way onto the bus.  The excitement was thick in the air- you could feel it clinging to us as we climbed into the buses. 

As we rode into Rome, we hit traffic that would even make the traffic in Manila look like a ride on an expressway.  The fumes of the Vespas , transit buses and cars caused me to feel that familiar dizzy feeling that I was beginning to get accustomed to on this trip.  Because of the traffic, our bus tour became very abbreviated and though I was disappointed that I would not see the sights I wanted to see, I wasn’t going to let it affect me, because we would, in a few short hours be singing at mass in the Vatican. 

I’ll end for now as it’s almost time to board and a group of noisy teenagers have once again gravitated towards me and have ended my moment of solitude.  The last installment of my musings will be from my home back in Brampton.  Back to reality…..