When I last wrote I had just finished a wonderful walk around the town and returned to my hotel. The rest of my day was a good deal less exciting, consisting of some practice in my room and sorting out some emails on the computer. I ventured out again for a very late lunch and then returned to my room for more practice. At 8pm I'd had enough but it was much too cold to go out once more, so I decided to settle down in my room and do something that I never do - switch on the television. It was rather hard to find a channel that I could understand, but by the time I was up to number 57 or so, I located BBC World and listened to as much of that as I could handle. When I'd seen the same items three times I'd had enough so had another shot at finding something to watch.

The next English channel was BBC Prime and Ground Force was being shown - it felt very surreal to watch Charley Dimmock and her team attempting to shovel impossibly tough soil in the sunny English countryside and I did wonder whether she might like to have a shot at my garden, but that thought was short lived... So I switched off and read my book for a while before getting an early night.

This morning, I rehearsed once again with the orchestra and was amazed when one of the 1st violinists came up to me, beaming, and told me how much he had enjoyed reading the Letter from Slovenia on my website!

The rehearsal went very well again and it was good to play in the larger and better concert hall which is where the concerts take place. The microphones were all laid out in preparation for our broadcast tomorrow
night and we worked steadily for a good couple of hours before finishing the rehearsal.

Then George invited me to a delicious lunch and it was great to catch up with him once more. He has such a lot of exciting plans for the orchestra and told me about a marvelous project that he has arranged which will be an entire French week here - the orchestra are bringing over 100 school children from France to mix with the children here, and there is a big cultural exchange with concerts and all sorts of celebrations. I wish I were free to come over, as it sounds such a treat.

After lunch I had a quick look around the shops and then had a rest in my room before preparing for my concert. When I open a concert, rather than waiting for an overture, I always feel an added pressure and like to get to my dressing room in plenty of time to make sure that I am prepared and ready to start the evening event. Also the Elgar is such a huge piece, and so I allowed time to go through the score once more and cover the passages that always require my attention.

George and I entered the concert hall together at 7.30 to find a nice, warm reception from the audience. They could not have been more attentive for the Elgar, which must have been a new piece for almost every member of the public. At the end I received a marvellous reception from them, four curtain calls and the rhythmic clapping that audiences in certain countries like to give to show their special appreciation - George was very pleased and assured me that the audience were particularly pleased and liked me very much.

After the interval, when I signed autographs and received a bar of milk chocolate from a kindly lady, I sat in the hall to hear the performance of The Planets by Holst. It was a magnificent performance which, bearing in mind that the orchestra didn't know the piece four days ago, is testament to the quality of the musicians here. I really think that this orchestra will soon make its mark on audiences abroad and is one that we should all watch out for in the future.

George introduced me to some lovely French friends of his who are living and working here, and they invited us back to their beautiful apartment, overlooking the Triple Bridge that I had enjoyed walking across yesterday. We were treated to some delicious Bordeaux wine and parma ham and cheese, plus pastries, not to mention the good company. I felt quite pleased with myself, as the whole gathering were speaking French and my hazy days of French A level quickly returned so I was able to join in the conversation freely - possibly aided by the delicious red wine....

Tomorrow will be busy, as George (who is a fantastic violinist) has invited me to play chamber music with some members of the orchestra - so we'll be playing through some Beethoven quartets, just for fun, and who knows what else...? If I get time, I'll report back... but for now, it's time for bed.

Tasmin