Just when I thought the best part of the tour was Paris……..you went to Milan.  One of my favorite cities.  I have cousins there and went quite often when I lived in Europe.  Ah…..the Duomo, La Scala, all the good food……Milan is fantastic.

But I think the best part of this segment is the Violin Museum.  Such beautiful pictures of the Stradivari instruments, I got tears in my eyes.  When I read that your cello was c. 1685 I thought, “I must ask him to post a photo.”  But then there it was, the last picture.

Magnifico!!!  Grazie!!!

I have to confess that the cello that I played on the tour was not my Ruggeri cello. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even my cello. My Ruggeri never goes on tour. I have brought my second cello for the past 33 years, since I acquired my Ruggeri. The reason this wasn’t even my second cello was because on our last international tour, January, 2016 to Asia, I had my first-ever accident with my instrument on a tour, and it was badly damaged. I fell getting into a freight elevator, because someone already in the elevator pushed the button to close the doors as I was walking in, not realizing that the doors closed in the middle, and as the door from the floor was coming up, I was walking in and I tripped, carrying my cello. When I looked up from the floor I saw my cello to the right and the neck to the left. It had been ripped off the body of the instrument. It is still being restored. The scary part is that I had actually thought about bringing my Ruggeri on the tour because in 42 years nothing had ever happened. I’m so glad I didn’t!!!

David