Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Pictures of Thomas in France

Thomas has been informed that he will be playing some new songs in an upcoming percussion recital, so he wanted to practice at the FIM (Flint Institute of Music) today. As I was picking him up, we were leaving the building when a blonde woman I'd never seen before accosted him and started complimenting him. Apparently she's a parent of a piano player who accompanied all the kids on the trip to France, and wanted to tell me how awesome Thomas had been. She said at least five times that he was the STAR of the last performance, and had been asked by the (French) conductor to come to the front for a bow. Thomas mumbled something about how it was the other percussionist really, as he'd been doing the snare all the way through the piece (Ravel's Bolero) and Thomas had only joined in at the end, etc., but it was the first we'd heard of any of this, of course. She offered to email us some pictures, and they've just arrived. I present them to you with her captions:

"Thomas during a rehearsal in France"

"Some members of the FYSO in France" (seems a bit vague in all respects there - perhaps she was sleep-deprived)


"Thomas...the star of the final concert in France" (beside him stands the true star (according to Thomas) who not only spoke very good English, but had his own motorbike!)


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Thomas's Tour de France begins!

This Sunday, Thomas returned from his whirlwind 11-concerts-in-9-days tour of France. My last words to him were to take lots of pictures and he actually did! But not, you will notice, of any people. Only the things that interest Thomas are recorded below. (Getting Thomas to comment would be like pulling teeth, and I only have the sketchiest idea what's going on, so you'll have to draw your own conclusions. We begin with Thomas's first impressions of Europe...)






At home with the Nemorin family, first host family in France




Limonest, where the Nemorin family live












First visit to Lyon (with the Nemorin family)





Paris in the Spring


How you know you're in Paris.


Thomas was so taken with the bird on top that he wanted a closer shot:





Yes, those are padlocks. Apparently both sides of this bridge are covered with them.








Art and its admirers in the Louvre