Standing in the depth of the forest is one of the most magnificent “I’m alive” moments to be had. Being amidst the trees, the birds, the insects, the soil, the air… it always sends a tingle up my spine. My racing mind stops. And my heart fills with light, and life. It is so real yet so magical.

Would you like to take a moment with me today, and stand right in the middle of the rainforest? We can stand in one place and look around to see what we might see, and hear what we might hear. We can pretend we live in a treehouse, high up in the branches.

Please click on the play button to listen while you scroll through the photos below to be whisked away to the depths of the rainforest with me. Enjoy…

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Have a wonderful weekend mes amis.

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+ soundscape and photographs taken on a walk through Lamginton National Park in Queensland, Australia, January 2010.

+click here for more soundscapes.

On our way to the Val D’Amour we spent a night in Reims – a beautiful French city in the Champagne region. Yes, champagne.  Oh what a treat it was to enjoy a glass of the bubbly stuff right at the source! I had fantasies of finding a little bed and breakfast in one of the wineries and learning more about the making of etc, but alas we didn’t arrive in the region until after 9pm and had to leave by midday the next day to be able to get to our destination on time.

I did however have just enough time to enjoy a delicious glass of Mailly. The next morning, French Boy and I wandered about the town, I knowing little about where I was or what I was seeing,  and he knowing quite alot. I always feel really lucky to be wandering around this fabulous country with him, he is not only like a private tour guide but he has personal memories to add to each story.

After we indulged in a breakfast of pain au chocolat, croissants, baguette with homemade jam, fresh juice and coffee (me, tea of course), we wandered toward the cathedral, having spotted the towers ahead, pointed straight to the sky. And although I am not religious – despite the fact that my last name in Dutch actually means “by the church” (so ironic!) – I do enjoy history and art, and this particular church is an incredible structure housing both amazing art and fascinating history. From the outside it reminded me of the Notre Dame in Paris. And in the inside at first well, it just reminded me of a church. But as I wandered further through the huge arched nave, and looked and listened, I realised how significant this particular place has been in the course of French history.

Would you like to know what it sounds like inside? I recorded a little soundscape for you, click the play button below to be transported inside as we gaze at the photos I took while wandering through the aisles…

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This is where I stood for the longest while, looking up at those gigantic windows and watching the light flood through. Of all the stained glass windows in the cathedral, these ones made me stop in my tracks. They were so uniquely different to all the others, so modern and creative. French Boy noticed my reaction and lent in to whisper two words to me:  “Marc Chagall”. Oh I thought, no wonder I adore them, what a masterpiece.

I hope you enjoyed my quietish tour through the cathedral. Although this particular post really had nothing to do with the scenery or food of France.

xx

PS Funnily enough there  just happened to be a Canadian village set up in the Reims city square that weekend. How bizarre it was to be eating croissants in this very French town and seeing Canadian flags attached to little wooden huts selling maple syrup, cranberries, beer, salmon, soaps and wool sweaters. It was like being in Montreal, but then absolutely nothing like it. Nice touch to our weekend though!

I don’t know about you, but my week has been rather chaotic. Not so much on the outside, but on the inside. My head is full of stuff. It is filled with to-do lists, demands, commitments, negotiations to be made, responsibilities weighing heavy, and emotions riding high. On the outside I may be cool, calm and collected but on the inside, it’s a wild and crazy ride. Rarely does my exterior expose what is going on behind the scenes. But every now and then it will bubble up, and reveal itself to those I am closest to by either snapping a sharp remark, or dismissing their needs. As much as I want to eradicate this behaviour, I am told it is called “human nature”.

What I have learnt though, over the years, is that beautiful sound and music is a wonderful, gentle technique of subjugation. It calms the soul, breathes life into the deepest, darkest commotions of the mind, and warms the heart. When you take the time to listen – just listen – then a sense of renewal is found.

I had no intention of writing all of the above as an introduction to this soundscape but somehow, it happened. And I see it is not without purpose, because what I am about to share with you is a continual, flowing moment of musical interlude that does just that: breathes life and love into a place where commotion is writhe. A moment that almost everyone who visits this special place will experience at some point. It’s a moment when one goes below the cool, calm and magnificent exterior and experiences life under the skin, below the surface, and deep in the veins of this celebrated city. The sound echoes through this labyrinthine nerve center, and penetrates through to its darkest corners.

I speak of the metro Chatelet in Paris. And today, I take you with me as I walk from one of the cavernous tunnels passing by a 12-piece orchestra that plays in this underground mecca, up the stairs and back out to the grandness above. This metro of Paris is very much like one’s mid-week mind. And this music is the strong and gentle breath it needs.

Please press the play button below and enjoy…

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It’s dark out there. And stormy.
I’ve turned off my music, and I’ve switched off the phone.

I’m listening to – and breathing in – the rain.

Please press the play button below to sit with me on my boat, and listen…

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Let your mind and heart wander. This gentle storm will take us far away and bring us back to the present, in the kindest of ways.

Enjoy the rest of your day my dear readers. And if night has fallen in your corner of the world, I hope you will have the sweetest dreams tonight.

xx

There is always romance in the air in Paris, but in Spring, romance and love seems to envelope the whole city more than ever. I adore Paris in the Spring time – I moved to Paris in the Spring, I fell in love in the Spring, and it seems I keep coming back in the Spring. Perhaps I’m addicted to the romance…

So for this final soundscape for the series, its all about Spring love in Paris – a collection of photos taken while wandering the streets of the city in Spring, along with a soundscape captured while strolling at dusk with French Boy through St Germain the other Saturday night, stopping in at Taschen (which was still open at 10pm!), and then wandering around the corner, hand in hand, to find an old dude singing I can’t believe you’re in love with me, dressed in berret and suspenders. so. ro. man. tic.

The sound quality of this one is very poor unfortunately, but I rather like the 1920′s feel of it, and I hope you will still enjoy it. So, please take it away, monsieur…

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Thanks for lending me your ears for my series 4 soundscape. Click here to be whisked back to series 1 (in Amsterdam), series 2 (in Paris), series 3 (in Sydney).

Visiting Paris is a festival for the senses. For French Boy and I, its notably our taste buds that party like its 1999. The moments prior to this particular trip, we spent the train ride deciding where we would eat for every single meal. Since we only had 2 nights there, that being 6 meals – we realised we had to cull our list of favourites down substantially.

But to my surprise, it wasn’t the food and wine that stole my heart this time.

It was music.

No matter where we wandered, no matter what time of day or night, there was incredible open-air music coming from all sorts of places – from the habitual accordian player on metro line 12, to a saxophonist whose somber, slow tunes at midnight were reverberating through the thick stone walls of the Richelieu hallway of le louvre. Our weekend was marked by spontaneous musical intervals and for me, it was very special, being the week after my musical friend had passed away. I imagined he was there, in the air somewhere, waving a magical mystical conductor’s baton everywhere we went…

However, there was one particular interlude that moved me to tears. We were wandering around the palais royal and as we turned the corner there, out of nowhere, was a 12-piece string ensemble in full swing, performing la petite musique de nuit (4th mvt) , by Mozart – a song I have adored since I was a child. It whisked me right into the moment and I realised at that point that my mind had been everywhere else – thinking about loss, mortality, my family, past events, future projects… but then, for the first time in such a long time, I was right here, in the present, in the middle of Paris, captured in the moment by this music.

With wide eyes and whole heart, I listened, watched, and felt. My senses were enchanted.

I watched as a lady in the crowd waved her arm in the air and gently dropped it with each fall of each note. I watched the conductor – who was also playing a violin – as he came to the woman and played his instrument, just for her. The space between them was filled with admiration, love, passion, understanding and pure pleasure.

I was present.

The music filled my whole body and my heart heaved. As I took my next breath tears welled in my eyes. I watched this lady enjoy the performance without inhibition and I understood: this is life, and I am living it.

Please press the play button below…

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This one’s for you, Mum.

Please press the play button below to be whisked away with me as we wander through the parc around the sacre coeur, in montmatre, paris. As you scroll through the photos, you may even forget you are in paris. Well, that is until…

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