Ship Happens...

When working on ships everything can happen. A week ago, a piece on my Bb clarinet broke during the gig in the Manhattan Room. The rest of the gig I was playing on my A clarinet. Luckily I could borrow  the clarinet from the saxophoneplayer  in ManBand,  and yesterday I went into Naples with my clarinet to look for a repairman. I had prepared a little letter in Italian and they knew right away what was wrong with it when I got there. For only 10 euros, I now have a functioning clarinet.

 

After some shopping in the Music Street in Naples we visited the concervatory.  Here Henrik is posing in front of his friend Beethoven 

 Naples for me means pizza, really good pizza that is.  We visited this pizzaplace on our last contract and here we are back at "Pizzeria Decumani"

Henrik and Sofia ordered the speciality "Stella pizza" wich is a pizza shaped as a star with different filling in each "arm". 

Michael from the bluesband "Charlie Love and the silky smooth band" joined us for pizza.  Today we are in Civitavecchia (Rome) and enjoying our day off. 

 

Chiao Bella!

/Bea

Sign-on procedure and other pics

We´ve done our first week onboard the Norwegian Epic and finally got some internet and opportunity to update the blog. We´re currently in Barcelona and will shortly start our next cruise. Here are some pics from our sign-on day a week ago:

 Outside the ship waiting to go onboard

 Bea found her luggage

 The sign-on procedure took a few hours. A circus of forms, passports, papers etc.

 The lecture room with all the newly arrived crew

 Forms, forms

 I have missed my keycard...

...and my nametag :)

 After all the sign-on commotion it was nice to relax on crew deck with the best view in the world: Mount Vesuvius in Naples!

Everyone has got a flat screen tv in their cabins, but Im not sure this counts as a "sea view"? Hmm. 

Dolce Trio on new adventures

Today we started our second adventure on the Norwegian Epic. Well our contract hasn't started yet, but the travel to Barcelona did.

 

Early this morning we said goodbye to our families and better halves. A last cup of coffee at Landvetter airport and we were soon on our way to Schipol, Amsterdam and then Barcelona.

Here you can see Sofia on the plane trying to read and summarize what we learned last year about safety on board.

A pleasant surprise was that this year we got each a single room at the airport hotel. The hotel is quite far away from Barcelona center and there is not much to see there so we decided to take a bus and enjoy a dinner with Henrik's aunt and uncle + cousins.

 We had a incredible meal that started with some tapas Barcelona style, then main course fish or meat and ending with a crema catalana. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e)

Tomorrow we will leave the hotel at 06:70 and then sign on the Epic so time for this trio member to get some sleep.

Be sure to check out our blog and we will keep you updated with our life on the Epic, the people, the ports and a lot more!

 

/Bea

Mozart program in Torslanda church

This is the program from our concert in Torslanda church last saturday evening. You simply can´t get too much Mozart, so we did a whole concert! Beautiful pieces arranged for our group by Henrik and Bea. My favourite is the "Kegelstadt trio"which we performed in its full length of three movements. 

For those who missed the concert, there´s hope of course. We´re bringing Mozart with us on the Epic. Only 2 weeks left now until our cruise conctract begins for the Mediterranean season. We´ll keep you posted on our adventures, IF we find good WiFi :)

-Sofia

Outdoor wedding

The rainy skies took a break just as the happy couple on this wedding were about to walk down the isle (pier). Dolce played during the ceremony and before dinner.

 The venue was located on the other side of the river, beneath the big bridge in Gothenburg city center

Dolce trio in wedding gig mode :)

- Sofia

Concert in Höreda church

Yesterday Dolce Trio played a concert in Höreda Church. 

The program included works by Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Elgar, Shostakovich, Peterson-Berger and Rachmaninov.

Höreda is a part of Eksjö municipality and it was a 2.5 hour drive from Gothenburg. Exciting to play a concert in a new county. We were nicely greeted by the priest and congregation.

The Tram Wedding

Three weeks ago Karin and Johan contacted us and wondered if we could play at their wedding. It turned out to be an exciting experience where the ceremony would be on a tram from the 60's. 

We were unsure at first if we all would fit on the tram (Henrik's piano) and whether it would work to play even though the tram was in motion.

In order to take gigs where there is no electricity, Henrik has fixed a car battery that he can connect to the electric piano. So now the Dolce Trio can play "almost" everywhere.

The bride and groom and priest during the ceremony.

Happy trio.

After the tram ride the whole wedding party had to take a boat out to Brännö, an island outside Gothenburg. There Dolce played waltzes and other dance music on Brännö pier. In Sweden Brännö pier is known from Lasse Dahlqvist's song, dance at Brännö pier ( dans på Brännö brygga) and this was also the desired bridal waltz.

This is the view of the Swedish archipelago from Brännö pier.

Tomorrow we will play a concert in Höreda church at 18.00.  You are very welcome!

/Bea