Oboes!

As I was saying, you can hardly walk a block in Paris without seeing something of interest...and there we were, walking along the Rue Montalembert, in the 7th, minding our own business, when Vicki exclaims "Oboes!" I look in the window, and sure enough, there is a young woman playing the oboe. And lots of oboes and oboe accessories. We are passing by the oboe division of Buffet Crampon, fabricant of wind instruments. They make oboes here. Very good ones. As a former oboist (5th through 11th grades), I am enthralled. Students of this blog know that we have already featured oboes and oboists in many, many different settings...just search oboe and oboist in the search box. We didn't set foot in the atelier...not in the market for a $12,000 oboe currently...but will surely look into their massive showroom on the Boulevard St. Germain sometime soon. Paris...!

Production line

Awards won; beginner oboe kit

Bells for English horns? Heckelphones?

Showroom; you don't want to buy one of these $12k puppies without trying it out

Oboe stands and covers; and reeds

Tens of thousands of euros of oboes ready to ship somewhere...

More oboe accoutrements, including a backpack;
and thread and knives for making your own double reeds

Concluding recognition: just how generous and tolerant my parents were in paying for instrument rentals and lessons in my youth for something so foreign to their world...my mother could play popular music on the piano, and my father could whistle anything...but...the oboe?!