Cycle Day 13 On again

Saturday 2 August - off we go again. A week out of the saddle has made us soft. It´s time to start pedalling again.

We have decided to head north to a train station and, from there, to take a train to Szczecin, near the German border. Cycling in Germany is far more pleasant than in Poland so we decide to spend more of our cycle days there.



Cycled - 67.5 km
Busking earnings - 0
no punctures

The 5th International Suzuki Workshop in Poland

Suzuki is a method of musical education developed by Dr Shinichi Suzuki. It concentrates on developing talent using techniques that mimic the way that children learn their first language - orally, with a lot of encouragement and in a way that is fun.

Suzuki workshops are an opportunity for children to meet and play together. Since the repertoire is international, children from all over the world can meet and immediately start playing together. Music is thus literally their language. 

You also learn a lot from teachers who come from all over the world. We learnt, for example, that Vivaldi was a prolific composer of concertos for young people. Many of these were composed for girl orphans in a monastery whom he trained to perform for the aristocracy.

Suzuki workshops generally finish with a concert. On Friday afternoon, we travelled into Gdansk for a wonderful performance in the Gdansk Music Academy Concert Hall.

The photo above shows some of the players in the concert. Isla is third from the left in the 2nd row. Note the boy on the left in the 1st row and remember his name well - Antoni Ingielewicz. He is 7 years old and has been playing for 2 years. He is already playing pieces from Suzuki Book 7 (normally reached at a much older age) and in his solo concert performed a virtuoso piece on his sixteenth size violin which was stunning to listen to. He is a very cheery boy and was a joy to have in Isla´s class. Watch out for him - he is going to go far!

Besides the music, we swam in the lake, went out in a pedal boat, and (Isla) learnt how to roller-surf.

We are alive and well in Poland

Just a quicknote to those folk who are receiving posts from us by email.

1. We are alive and well in Poland (Tuesday 29 July), attending the 5th International Polish Suzuki Workshop.

2. We are catching up with writing posts from the past week at the Tourist In formation Centre where there is free Internet access! Over the past week, we have been unable to get to a computer.

3. If you are viewing this message in an email, yopu will not be seeing the photos. Please visit our blog at www.andywightman.com/blog to see all our posts in their full glory.

Day 12 - Onto the Suzuki Workshop

Sunday 27 July - the last leg to the Suzuki Workshop.

We leave the hotel, having considered not paying anything after our sleepless night but think again and pay up. We refuse to buy breakfast from them, however, and instead buy some food at the local shop and eat in the park.

Cycling on Polish roads is fine, the drivers are quite polite but there are no facilities for cyclists and it is stressful to be having to concentrate on the road all day.

We arrive at Szarlota - a lovely location by a lake and register for the workshop.

Cycled 48.55km
Busking earnings - 0
no punctures

800km

Here I am close to Koscierzyna - 800km now done.

Thanks to my latest sponsors - Uncle Ian, Aunty Helen and Mum's friend Aeltsje (from Friesland but living in Scotland).