Back Home Blues

Greetings from Gettysburg! We arrived on campus late last night, after an exciting two flights. The first flight took off from the Nice airport in France, and went to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Next, we got on our flight from Paris to Dulles Airport.
   On Thursday we our bus to Nice, capital of the French Riviera. Nice is built on beautiful beaches, with cute markets and even a castle in the town. We had enough time to find the market and grab a sandwich for lunch, and then climb to the top of the castle, where we took some great pics. The beach in Nice is perfect-the water is  bright blue and the weather was beautiful.

       After we got back from Nice, we had our first concert in the Jazz a Juan festival. We played on the square in the middle of town. There was traffic all around us, and people who walked by came and sat down to watch. There was a great audience, and people really enjoyed the concert. Unfortunately, we started later than expected because of technical issues. In the middle of one of Alyssa's flute solos, an ambulance came by with sirens that were playing in the same key of the song....Kevin was very excited about that.

On Friday, we played petanque together...also know as Bocce ball. Alyssa's team beat Dr. Jones' team in a rousing came complete with team cheers and witty banter. Kevin's team lost both games, but really enjoyed learning the game from the enthusiastic man who was teaching the group.

After Petanque, the band went to our hotel's beach restaurant for our final meal together. There were many touching speeches shared as we reflected on our wonderful two weeks. After the delicious three course meal, most of us decided to hit up the beach. A few people decided to go tubing, but most of us picked swimming instead. Our last day in the Mediterranean was very relaxing, but we were all very sad the tour had to end.

After a final concert in park which featured one of Dr. Jones' old friends on flute, many students attended a concert on the main stage which included Marcus Miller, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock that was a tribute to the Miles Davis album Bitch's Brew. It opened with a psychedelic rendition of Miles Runs the Voodoo Down which set the tone quite well for the evening. Another personal highlight was 'Round Midnight, a chart which the jazz ensemble also played during the tour. It was a great show and a fitting way to end the tour.