Wherein We Buy a Car

 

BMW 440i xDrive Coupe

We got lucky on Saturday.  For a few weeks we've been test driving BMWs and found one we liked, a 340 sedan.  However, these cars are manufactured in Germany.  US dealers must compete for a production time.  The earliest we could get the 340 was August. On a whim we went to Herb Chambers in Boston to look at other models.  The sales man said he didn't have the 340 sedan but he did have a 440 coupe that was brought in yesterday with 1200 miles.  SOLD!  This car has everything technically imaginable.  It drives like a dream, the radio sounds like a recording studio and the road noise is negligible.  As Wayne says, it's like driving a computer.  We pick it up next week.  

Sunday was our first concert this season at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Calderwood Hall. A little over a decade ago, Renzo Piano designed a new wing for the Gardner.  This was not without controversy due to the necessity of demolishing the carriage house.  The addition is a very modern contemporary design which also does not meld with the Gardner or the neighboring buildings.  However, the interior is a delight with a restaurant, a sitting room, tons of glass, an exhibition space and a unique concert hall. The acoustics in the hall are impeccable, and it's made for live acoustic performances. The space is essentially a stageless cube with the musicians performing in the middle of the floor and the audience seated on all four sides, both on the floor and on three levels of balconies that line the cube up to 3 balconies.  Each of the balconies has only a single row of seats. 

   

This afternoon's performance was by the Claremont Trio.Here you may listen to a bit of their music and read the biographies.