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No, I didn't feel the , though I'm told it was felt as far away as Amsterdam! I'm writing this blog over a steaming bowl of noodles (when in Rome...) at a tiny sushi place around the corner from the hotel in that we're checking-in to. Inevitably, there is always a huge queue for check-in, especially when it's a Berlioz-sized orchestra. I've officially boycotted the queue and opted for lunch first.

Not such a long bus journey today from Utrecht. We have three coaches – two ordinary ones and a 'business class' coach. This is the ü²ú±ð°ù-²ú³Ü²õ, a class above, and competition for a place on it is fierce. Coach-wars! Only kidding, it's all very friendly; but in all seriousness, to secure a seat on it you need to be there at least half an hour early to put your towel (bag) on the sun-lounger (seat). I've boycotted this too. The driver of the ü²ú±ð°ù-²ú³Ü²õ guards his vehicle fiercely, with frightening militancy – definitely not one to be crossed. Grumble, grumble...sorry.

My last blog got up to Day 6 (that sounds suspiciously Big Brother, no?) – Heerlen. To be fair, the weather was against Heerlen...it was good ol' Glasgow weather which complemented the grey of the concrete nicely. I forgave all though when I was served the best club sandwich in the world at a pancake café nearby. The hall was pretty new and had a good acoustic, before I knew it I was back on the bus to Utrecht.

I was sorry to leave Utrecht today, I really liked the place and it was an ideal base for us. Yesterday we had much of the day free as we were playing in the city that night, so no long bus rides. It was a great chance to explore the canals and old town, and pop into some shops to guarantee my suitcase is overweight on the return flight. A group of us decided to work off yet another hotel breakfast by climbing the Dom tower, all 465 steps of it - great views at the top and slightly wobbly legs at the bottom (incidentally, our guide looked uncannily like the SSO Marketing Manager Stephen Duffy).

I said we were playing in the city, well that's not technically true. Utrecht's main concert hall is being refurbished at the moment, so instead we were playing in a temporary hall on the outskirts. Jaws dropped as we pulled up beside a gigantic bright red warehouse, christened the 'Red Bull' by Amanda Shearman.

Inside, it was vast but had an astonishingly good acoustic – very alive but also warm. The concert sold very well, it's always nice to play to full house, and it was a welcome change to get back to the hotel fairly early. The violas headed straight out for their traditional 'viola night out'...enough said.

So, that brings us to Day 8 of the SSO Holland Tour (don't deny that you read that in a Geordie accent). We're in Eindhoven now, Philips-town - it was apparently only a village in 1900, expanded by the electrical giant. 2 concerts here and then off to !

Continuing the pet-theme of the Quote of the Day:

Sonia Cromarty (cello): "We've been here too long: we're recognising the cats"

David Chadwick

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It's Day 6 of the tour and today we're off to do Beethoven 6 in (in the very south of Holland). It feels like we've been here for ages already, although it's only half way through! Yesterday we had a much-needed free day. For the next few days we're based back in Utrecht.

Quite a few people (myself included) took the chance to go over to as it's only a short train-ride away and we won't be playing there on this tour.

I had a brilliant day, poking around the quiet backstreets of the Jordaan area,

getting a culture fix at the and avoiding surprisingly aggressive cyclists. Being music geeks, we couldn't help ourselves but to spend half an hour or so rifling through the fantastic sheet-music shop next to the Concertgebouw. Whilst we were there who should we bump into but 3 other members of the orchestra (who have asked to remain nameless, to protect their street-cred...)!

After we travelled up north to – a nice town encircled by a canal and plenty of cosy restaurants (perfect for a band in need of grub between rehearsal and concert). The hall was a strange one, a very wide stage but not an especially deep one. This meant that the strings we spread out quite a lot further than we're used to being, so I felt miles away from everything. The acoustic felt very uncomfortable at first, it was very difficult to hear anything that wasn't in the immediate vicinity, but I'm told it sounded good out front. It does make me think how lucky we are to have the as our home, not just for concerts but for all our rehearsals. I enjoyed the concert, although it was my first Symphonie Fantastique ever - having only been here a year I find I'm doing pretty much everything for the first time. The overture (Frank's Jugs) was a good play too and Pieter's Walton concerto was fantastic, it's a piece that is really growing on me. That night we stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of Groningen, but it was only a fleeting visit, what with a drink or two (ahem) in the bar and then a 9am bus to Enschede!

Enschede was basically shut. We arrived on Sunday morning, not a soul about. As it was the same programme as the previous day we only had a quick 'top & tail' rehearsal before the afternoon concert. It didn't seem to have sold all that well which was a shame as it was a great hall and I thought the orchestra were sounding bloody good. Afterwards, some of our party left us to return to Glasgow as we're only playing the smaller-scale Beethoven for the next few concerts. They'll re-join us on Thursday in Eindhoven for more Berlioz. It's more economical that way, but perhaps worsens our carbon footprint. The Berlioz uses massive orchestration for it's time...2 tubas, 2, harps, 4 bassoons....I think he asked for huge numbers of strings as well, 40ish first violins and 12 basses. Needless to say, we're running at less than half that, string-wise, or else this tour would have been an equally huge money pit. These days we're also playing on metal strings with modern bows, and besides – how many stages can hold that sort of a string section?! That said, the spectacle of row upon row of second violins would have been awe inspiring...you know it's true.

Just for good measure...here's Pieter ironing his shirt, snapped by Amanda Shearman:

...ironing so fast it's a blur!

Quote of the Day:

From a 2nd violinist: "Do dogs bark in foreign languages?"

David Chadwick

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So, – I really want to say that my guidebook was wrong but to be honest it was a bit of a shrine to concrete. Think .

The concert hall was good though – complete with 1980s funky neon lights all over the walls and ceiling.

It was one of those halls where you can hear yourself incredibly clearly, frighteningly so. It was a case of "do I really sound like that?" especially after not having seen my violin since it went on the van on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed the Haydn, what a great piece – and most importantly, a great 2nd violin part. had the whole audience on their feet after his Rococo Variations and there was a standing ovation too for the Beethoven. The storm (4th movement) was a whirlwind – the 2nd fiddles have 2 pages of near-constant semiquavers at precisely the wrong tempo to be comfortably playable...it is always painful. Next time you see an orchestra play it, watch out for the entire section collapsing briefly when there are 7 precious bars rest at the beginning of the last movement!

Now we check out of our hotel in and head to for tonight's concert. We'll stay there overnight and head to on Sunday. Plenty of coach-hours to learn how to pronounce Groningen.

Quote of the Day:

Driver: "Please sit down and put your seatbelts on"
Tim Rundle: "There aren't any seatbelts..."
Driver (quietly): "...good luck"

David Chadwick

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Hello, my name is David Chadwick, I joined the second violin section of the SSO about a year ago and this is my first blog! Right now, the orchestra are in Holland on an 8 concert tour and I've decided to blog my way through since we'll be spending a lot of time on a coach over the next 10 days or so.

I've noticed that when on tour my responsibilities as a human being become diminished to eating/drinking/sleeping/playing. As we are such a large group, tours like this require a lot of planning and pretty much every last detail is organised for us by our brilliant management team (creep). From the moment I landed I became a lemming, utterly incapable of making any decision on my own. Funny thing that. However, this morning, in a rare burst of initiative, I decided to walk off breakfast and have a quick poke around the canal-side area of , where we'll be staying for much of this tour.

It seems a lovely place (despite having to walk through a mammoth shopping centre to reach anywhere from our hotel), lots of cafes and little shops that might have to be visited.

Today we are off to for our first concert of the tour. My guidebook says of Tilburg: "its centre bears the scars of unfortunate 1960s urban renewal schemes"...hmmm.

The programme, at least, is attractive: Haydn Trauersinfonie, Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Beethoven Pastoral. In fact, the programme for the whole tour is a good one – in addition to those already mentioned, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique & Les Francs-Juges as well as and Elgar Cello Concertos. All will be with and Dutch cellist

Finally, I shall be keeping my ears open for the Quote of the Day...today's is:

Shelagh Watson (our fixer): "this tour is quite civilized..."
Amanda Shearman (cello): "But Shelagh, it's only Day 1 – and we haven't even landed"

Editor's note – the same cellist later threw a birthday bash in her hotel room.

David Chadwick

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