Dinant

We spent this day in Dinant, where we were to sing in the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame situated at the base of The Citadel, a fortress overlooking the River Meuse.

Anne-Marie led us through the various rooms of the Citadel explaining that it had been used to house 400 mainly Flemish soldiers after the creation of Belgium in 1830. They were very well looked after compared with the citizens of the city below. Yes, there was resentment. And there is still resentment. Anne-Marie told us not to believe the placards on one of the rooms we passed through. They told a Flemish view of history. I hadn't realised just how raw the Flemish vs Walloon antipathy can be in Belgium.

A basic lunch at the restaurant at the top of The Citadel where I had to be extremely careful to secure gluten free food. The waitresses had no idea. Fortunately, a supervisor came to my rescue.

Then the descent back down to the bottom on the funicular for rehearsal in the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame which boasts a very fine Ladon stained glass window.

Today's concert was infinitely more successful. Ivan had recovered from his migraine and was playing the organ like a demon. Richard had craved painkillers from me the night before which I suspect had been mixed with a measure of alcohol to enable him to sleep.

We had listeners during rehearsal and a respectable turnout for the concert in the evening.

On the way back to the bus, walking slowly because of THE knee, I was accosted by a group of very fanciable young men who were pedalling a carriage along the waterside. A barman was serving beer and wine from the middle. They got stuck at one point where the carriage had turned into a street. I couldn't imagine them cycling their way out of that. Anyway, I was handed a beer!

Another thunderstorm hit when we reached the hotel and freshened the air up considerably overnight.

Photo is of the onion ring dome on the spire of the church, and I haven't mentioned the very nice tea shop next to the church which served chocolate and melt-in-the-mouth macarons as well as tea in Chinese style tea pots.