Diary of the GR5 Walk in 1999

Up at 6 am to find the weather outside is miserable: dark, cloudy and raining. All the more incentive to take the lay-day. I am still sore from the chaffing, so I am further convinced to take the day off. Breakfast is at 8 am and I go down to find an amazing meal waiting for me: a large parfait glass filled with fresh strawberries, six varieties of bread, cheese, meats, coffee and of course one large freshly boiled egg. Outside, a street market is starting to take shape.

I spend the morning photographing the upstairs dining room, which was used by a pope, (brochure collected) and the large room where I had breakfast.

The market outside is fairly small with mostly craft work, antique and food stalls and for the children, a small merry-go-round in the center of the square. I wander around for a while until the rain starts again and I retire to my room for a rest. I am very mindful of my pains.

Later on, I wake up to find the sun beaming through my window and the dull clouds replaced by mostly bright blue sky. Wonderful! I head out into the street and climb the 217 stairs of the church tower to take some photographs of the places I have thus far traveled.

The tower bells are tolling a medley of Beatles tunes with a trumpet playing the melody. After this is Henry Mancini�s Moon River followed by a few other tunes. This all sounds rather good and I hang around listening to this concert.

I have to dine early at the hotel because they have a function at 7 pm that will use all their available resources. The guests have arrived early and taken over most of the tables in front of the hotel. I am informed by one of them that they are a "very famous choir from Rotterdam". The choir seems to consist mainly of middle-aged women. Apparently, they save all the money that they are paid for performing and when they have enough they spend the lot on a weekend away.

Dinner is finished and as I am going up the stairs to my room, the owner warns me that the noise from the function may keep me awake.

I should have guessed what a "very famous choir from Rotterdam" would get up to after a very enjoyable day out, they sing. They start at 7:30 pm and then sing fairly continuously until 10:30 pm. Fantastic! With great voices singing lively foot tapping songs, I drift off to sleep.