Master debaters

(In spite of the dirty-sounding entry title, this entry is perfectly clean. )

Yesterday I went to a taping of the CBC radio show The Debaters. I’d been to the show last year, and I enjoyed it so much that I came back this year. It was part of the Just for Laughs festival here in Montreal.

In The Debaters, comedians debate various topics. In the first round, each debater presents their argument. Then, in the next round (called the Bare Knuckle Round), they argue with each other. The next round, The Firing Line, is where the host asks both debaters a series of questions on the topic being debated. Finally, each debater gives a summary of their argument. The audience then applauds for the comedian that they think had the better (or funnier) argument, and the winner of the debate is decided by applause.

The topics debated this time were: Vampires or Zombies, which are the greatest cinematic undead? Are the big oil companies really so bad? Is the moustache one of man's greatest inventions? Has Hollywood been good for Europe? Has stand-up comedy become a joke? And is everything (movies, TV) better in 3D?

The host of the show had a little hammer that he’d hit on his desk if the debaters talked on for too long. During one of the debates, one of the debaters went on talking for too long, and so the host hit the hammer on his desk. When the debater still wouldn't shut up, the host went over to him and hit him with the hammer.

Another time when someone talked too long, the host went over to a couch that was in the background and started to lie down on it.

During the debate about moustaches, the debater in favour of them was wearing a fake moustache. At the end of the debate, he took the fake moustache off, revealing…another fake moustache underneath it.

They had an Irish guy and a German guy debating whether Hollywood has been good for Europe. Before the debate, the two debaters danced for quite a long time. The debate itself was completely chaotic from start to finish, and honestly I never even knew who was on which side of that debate!

It was a very enjoyable afternoon!

Europe, part 6 (Tuscany)

Before my travel diaries about Italy.....you can see a video of my orchestra (and other groups at the Salzburg festival) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVl4js5lj6I . The infamous Song of Peace comes in at 6:40 or so in the video. Enjoy!

Sunday July 6

It was the day of the long bus ride. The all-day bus ride from Austria to Italy.

We rode through the Alps. I played a funny paper game with friends. It was hilarious! We stopped off at a small road stop and I saw a lizard.

We eventually reached Italy. We stopped off at a restaurant place for lunch. I had some really good chicken. I think I may have bought some Kinder chocolate there too. It was so hot outside! Luckily, our bus was air-conditioned.

On the way to our hotel in Italy, we played a game in the bus. Our travel guide (the one we had for the whole trip) organized it. It was a trivia game about Italy. I didn't know a lot about Italy though.

We arrived in Montecatini in the late afternoon. My goodness, what a beautiful city! It was quite unlike Austria.

A friend took this photo of Montecatini from the bus window.

Our hotel (named "Tuscany Inn") was nice, and had some balconies. The view from the balcony was spectacular. As I was out on my balcony, I heard an orchestra member playing his trumpet from his balcony.

View from my balcony

A friend photographed this view from his balcony

I photographed my friends on their balcony, from my balcony.

After we got settled into our rooms, we had dinner in the dining room at the hotel. After dinner, our travel guide took us out for gelato. I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I also saw several palm trees in the town.

Sunset in Montecatini. (Photo by a friend)

Then some of us went with the travel guide to the funicular station to take the funicular (cable car) into the higher part of the town (Montecatini Alto) that was on a hill. We had a spectacular view of the nighttime city lights in Montecatini and surrounding areas. We wandered around the village there. We saw some people sculptures made from plants, and we saw a cat. I think the coolest thing in Montecatini Alto was the castle courtyard. Some of us came across a building that looked like a castle. An opening in the wall led to some stairs, which led to a big unlit courtyard. The view of the stard from there was amazing. I ran out of the courtyard, found some of my friends, and told them to go into the courtyard. I ran back into the courtyard before them, and when they arrived there, I jumped out and shouted "Boo!" and scared them!

Back in the hotel that night, I was telling my roommates that I'd had a silly idea. I said that it was so warm outside, I wanted to sleep on the balcony. So, my roommates and another orchestra member helped me move my mattress outside to the balcony! They were worried about me getting cold, but I didn't get cold once all night.

Monday, July 7

We spent most of the day in Florence. It took about an hour to drive there in the bus.

In the morning, we had a tour of Florence. We got to see the Duomo, which I'd learned about in art class! We also went inside the church where Rossini and other famous Italians were buried. We saw lots of sculptures, including a copy of Michelangelo's David and some lions that an orchestra member thought were scary.

The Tevere river in Florence. Photo by a friend.

We could go wherever we wanted for lunch. A bunch of us went to a pizza restaurant that our travel guide recommended. The pizza was great! Some people had pizza with pine nuts on it, but I stuck to the salami pizza. After lunch, we went shopping and wandered around. Most of the museums were closed on Mondays, unfortunately. A lot of people bought leather things. We saw some screevers (pavement artists.) I bought some postcards and bookmarks. A friend made up a song about pay toilets in Italy. All the tourist shops and stands had numerous things with Michelangelo's David's penis on them -- bookmarks, boxer shorts, magnets, etc.

A screever (pavement artist). Photo by a friend.

Later on that afternoon we had a rehearsal in a church. I was so tired that I kept falling asleep during rehearsal. After rehearsal we had dinner in a restaurant, and after dinner we played a concert (which was part of a youth orchestra festival) in the same church. It was an extrememly successful concert and the audience loved us and we played two encores, but I was extremely tired and had an incredibly difficult time staying awake for the whole thing. I fell asleep in the bus on the way back to Montecatini. So did a lot of people.

Tuesday, July 8

We visited two cities on this day, Lucca and Pisa.

Lucca (where Puccini was born) is a charming town with a wall that goes all the way around the city. The wall has a road on it that you can walk or ride a bike on.

Lucca seen from the wall. Photo by a friend.

The wall around Lucca. (my own photo)

When we arrived there, many of us decided to rent bicycles. I was a bit nervous riding a bike, since it had been so long since the last time I'd ridden one. But Davide, the guy from the youth orchestra festival who was staying with my orchestra for our time in Tuscany, encouraged me. I lost the rest of the group of orchestra members that I'd started out with, because I was so slow, but I stayed with Davide. I had a great time. We stopped off at a pizza restaurant for lunch, and talked for a while. It turned out that he used to go to a university in Montreal.

Davide at the pizza place. My mom says he's good-looking :)

After that, we all went in the bus to Pisa. It was rather nice, but a very touristy place. I bought some souvenirs and took some pictures.

Building in Pisa.

Orchestra members doing touristy things.

After our short stay in Pisa, we rode the bus back to the Tuscany Inn. After supper, we walked to the place where we'd play in that night's concert, a hotel/spa thing I think, called Terme Tettuccio. I have never played in a more fascinating and beautiful concert place! I'll post some photos of it here. (We played in a sort-of outdoor place/courtyard , so it was a sort-of outdoor concert, I guess.)

(photo by a friend)

We played a concert there with a youth orchestra from Spain. We each played some music on our own, and then we teamed up and played some pieces together. After the concert, the Spanish orchestra musicians had a crazy jam session where they played Spanish music, and people danced. Everyone was excited, and everyone really enjoyed it!

People dancing to the Spanish orchestra's music session. Photo by a friend.

We went back to the hotel, and then a bunch of us walked to a disco. I danced there for a while, but I was very tired. Fun times!

In the next entry, we enter a land of ancient ruins, modern-day tourists, pines, wines, and fascination.

Europe, Part 4 (Alps, Salzburg)

Thursday, July 3

On this day, we went from Vienna to Salzburg. I was amazed at the Alps. I don't think I'd ever seen anything more beautiful!

We drove to the Alps from Vienna. For lunch, we crossed the border into Germany and went into a small mountain town of Berchtesgaden. I remember, when we were in the bus going to the town, someone shouted, "Hey, look! A man wearing lederhosen!"

Some people went to restaurants for lunch, and some went to the grocery store. The grocery store was an A&P!! I wish they had those at home. They have A&P's in Ontario, and in little Bavarian mountain towns, but not in Montreal! I bought some kaiser rolls. I wish we could get good kaiser rolls at home too! I think I might've gotten my Kinder chocolate there too, but maybe I got it at Mondsee in Austria.

Town where we had lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine. I never knew a tour of a salt mine could be so exciting! We had to put on mining suits. Then, we rode in a train to another part of the salt mine. I don't like fast rides, so I was a bit scared at first, but the train wasn't too fast and wasn't scary at all. Nevertheless, some of us screamed anyway so we'd trick the people behind us into thinking it was scary. :P

We got a tour of the salt mines. At one point, we had to slide down some long slides. I was a bit scared to do that, but our German guide assured me that it was "funny", so I went down the slides. They were fun! We all rode a boat across an underground lake, and saw a light show while we were in the boat. Various coloured lines appeared on the walls, and music played. It was fascinating. (That light show video I linked to wasn't taken by an orchestra member, I just found it on YouTube.) Then we went in a neat elevator, and then we each got a little container of salt to take home.

Outside the salt mine.

Inside the saltmine. (Photo by a friend)

After the saltmine tour, we went back to Austria, and arrived in Salzburg! I loved our hotel there. We dropped off our stuff in the hotel rooms, and then we went in the bus to a building where we attended the opening of the Cantus Music Festival. Nobody much enjoyed the actual food at the supper, and I was very tired, but otherwise we had a good time. We had water in wine glasses, so we tried wetting our fingers and rubbing the rims of the wine glasses. This was the first time I managed to make a sound with a wine glass! The Cantus Festival was mostly a choir festival. Some of the choirs sang songs at the supper. Some orchestra members suggested we sing one of our orchestra pieces, but most of us weren't keen on that idea.

After supper, we went outside. It was raining. We did various things and wandered around town. Karlo, one of our double bass payers, was trying to teach us to perform Steve Reich's Clapping Music.

Clapping Music. Photo by a friend. Karlo's the one in the orange shirt. I'm the one in the white visor.

The bus drove us back to our hotel. I heard news that some orchestra musicians and monitors were going down the street to a pub. I never miss out on a trip to a pub if I can help it! The rules of the trip stated that people of legal drinking age were allowed to have 2 drinks in a day. So, I ordered a beer. I wasn't expecting to get a HUGE glass of beer, but I did! Stiegl, they call the local beer. It was quite good. I ordered a second big glass after the first. After I finished the second glass, I was feeling tired, and it was about time to go to bed anyway. We all went back to the hotel. I was exhausted.

In the next entry, we find the Red Bull mansion, something happens to a mirror, and I encounter the rare Cimbasso.

At the drug store

Earlier this evening my mother and sister and I went to the Pharmaprix. We found some chocolate letters. We tried to find enough letters to make swear words, but there wasn't enough of the right letters. Though my mother found enough letters to make the word "pee."

One time I was in a dollar store, and I found some wooden letters, with each letter in a separate package. The letters were arranged alphabetically on hooks. I re-arranged the letters so they spelled a very bad word.