I'm writing this on the Eurostar from London to Paris, which will be the last stop on my European trip. If you're not caught in snow chaos (like me back in December) the trip from London from Paris really is extremely enjoyable, from city centre to city centre just a bit more than two and a half hours.

My weekend in London turned out to be great, mostly due to the presence of my former boss and great mentor Gerard Mortier, who is now running the Teatro Real and had flown in for the dress rehearsal of Dmitri Tcherniakov's production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at English National Opera (ENO) which we attended together yesterday evening. The night before we had dinner together. With him being in Madrid and me in Toronto we don't get to see each other very often and having the opportunity to spend time together really was very welcome. If he hadn't given me a lot of confidence and tons of professional opportunities when I was very young and still a beginner in opera I wouldn't do what I'm doing today.

Also at ENO I was lucky enough to see Terry Gilliam's new production of Berlioz' Damnation of Faust, one of the most brilliantly conceived and crafted productions I've seen in quite some time. It is hard to believe that this was Gilliam's first staging of an opera ever. The performance alone would have made my trip worthwhile.

In Paris, I will have another two busy days of meetings and performances before I come home on Thursday.