11:40 p.m.

Yesterday, we had a day off, and spent some really productive time playing golf! (Northview, a gorgeous course designed by Arnold Palmer). Because of not getting to a piano, and again, as on Wednesday, in order to avoid rush hour, we left the hotel, this time for Port Moody, well ahead of time at 3:00. With traffic being lighter than we thought it would be, our arrival time was actually about 4:30, though even this was pretty slow, given the distance (about 35 km?).

Port Moody has an interesting history. Originally, it served as the western end of the trans-Canada CPR; recently, though, because of the increased population of Vancouver, it has become a bit of a bedroom community. In spite of this, the town has managed to keep much of its original charm, mainly because of the Official Plan; most of the buildings seem brand new, which could really be a bad thing, except they've obviously been very careful about whom they've hired as architects; everything has a pleasingly asymmetrical feel about it, and they haven't destroyed the natural setting, which is surrounded by mountains at the end of the Burrard Inlet.

The theatre we played in is called the Inlet Theatre, and is situated right at the head of the inlet itself. The whole thing is part of a complex called the Inlet Centre, and contains the administrative offices of the town, a library, and a theatre which serves primarily as the town council chamber. The building is narrow and long, and is designed like the interior of a railway roundhouse in order to reflect the town's heritage, though the architecture is modern in its design and in its liberal use of glass. The Centre sits in a park-like setting, and they have managed to beautifully blend the structure of the building with the naturalness of the landscape.

Bill told us that getting the pianos into the hall was quite an experience. The back wall of the stage is really a huge glass window that opens out onto a large lawn and apparently, when the window is open, there can be performances outside from the stage, with the people sitting on the grass. The problem is that there is no loading dock, and the only way to get the truck to this back part is to drive over the grass. Apparently, however, this was expected and there were no tire tracks when Jim and I arrived, so everything was OK.

As to the hall itself, if it hadn't been so small, we might have had a problem, as it was one of the driest spaces we've ever played in. With the audience in such close proximity, it wasn't too bad, though we still missed the reverberation. The people who organize the series said that most of their concerts are in the new theatre in Coquitlam, where the acoustics are superb, and they said they'd book us there when we came back. Overall, a good experience, and it was run by really nice people.