 LOG JUNE 27 We are here - checked into our first hotel. Rooms are lovely. We are about to have our first dinner in Austria. The flight across the Atlantic was 8 hours. Got to Frankfurt right on time. Few people slept. We then had a 5 hour lay-over in Frankfurt before we could travel to Vienna. Needless to say, we were a bit tired. I think everyone slept on that little one hour flight. We were met by our guides and the buses were ready to go. We all enjoyed the Strudel demo and were refreshed with a delicious piece of strudel and a hot drink. We then walked around the formal gardens of one of the palaces. All in all, a tiring 36 hours or so, but Vienna is beyond beautiful!!! Check out a few pics. JUNE 28 We started out with an amazing breakfast offered at the hotel. Any type of breakfast food you could imagine; cheese, yogurt, cold meats, eggs, juice, bagels, etc. Most kids and adults slept through the night and looked refreshed. Our buses dropped us at Hofburg Chapel where we attended the morning Mass and were able to listen to the Vienna Boys Choir. We then received a tour of the Hofburg Palace - lots of gold leaf. Chaperone groups headed out for lunch on their own there being a multitude of cafes, coffee shops, and corner bakeries. A few kids still ended up at McDonalds. (Sorry) We also received a guided walking tour of the city center and a self-guided tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral. We all had to arrive at St. Peter's Church by 3pm where we had time to rehearse, do a sound check and change before the concert. I wish you all could have heard the concert. The acoustics in the church were absolutely amazing. You all would have been very proud!!! We had a late European dinner in a pub where everyone ate fish. Do you believe it? Off to bed now and off to Salzburg tomorrow. JUNE 29 We left Vienna early this morning to travel to Melk Abbey - about a two hour journey next to the swollen Danube River. We received a guided tour of the Abbey and then had time to walk around the Abbey Church. I doubt that anyone in the group had ever seen that much gold in one place. The pictures will never do it justice. Our lunch was at a cafeteria along the motorway. Everyone could pick out what they wanted and all seemed excited to play in the playground. In other locations we also saw the church where the Sound of Music wedding scene was filmed and the Silent Night Chapel - the site where Silent Night of written. The singers sang the duet that they usually sing at Christmas, Silent Night and Night of Silence. Amazing it was and the few people in the area not attached to Choristers were thrilled.
More later
JUNE 30 After another great breakfast at our Salzbug hotel we headed off on a walking tour of the city were we saw many of the sites used in the Sound of Music movie; gardens, concert hall, the "16 going on 17" gazebo, and the cemetery where the family hid from the Nazis. After spending the early afternoon shopping and eating lunch we headed off to a palace that was used to entertain people since the 17th century. The place was full of trick fountains, and wooden moving figurines powered by water. We were there during a storm, so the parts of us that didn't get wet from the storm got soaked from the trick fountains. Then we proceeded up the mountain to the town of Faustanau. We rehearsed in a lovely little church and then had a marvelous concert with a local choir. We felt so welcomed and everyone left smiling. JULY 1 We left beautiful Salzburg and the living hills behind and traveled on to Innsbruck today. In route we saw the jagged peaks of the Alps with some snow left in the highest places. The highlight of the day was the tour of the Berchtesgaden salt mine where we were fitted with protective clothing, traveled on a mine-like car into the mountain and then learned about the process of making salt from the salt rich layer buried below the Alps. Minors once used wooden slides to get from one level of mine to the other, and we were given the opportunity experience the thrill. Don't worry, you will see plenty of pictures. We are half way through the trip now, and still have a cable car ride, a castle tour, plenty of shopping, more old town centers, and another concert to go. JULY 2 Today we drove about an hour and a half up to Neuschwanstein Castle built by King Ludwig II back in the late 19th century. It was quite a hike up the road to get to the castle and then up some steps to get to the tour entrance. We toured the few rooms that were actually finished back over 100 years ago. The rest of the castle is not done. Poor King Ludwig only lived there 172 and then died mysteriously. The drive to and from the castle couldn't have been more beautiful. We also hit the small down of Oberammergau - a tongue twister if there ever was one. We twisted through the mountains on our return to Innsbruck were we were treated to another delicious dinner (this one had fries). JULY 3 It was off to our final destination, Munich, Germany. But first we stopped near Innsbruck to ride one of the Olympic gondola cars up about 7,000 feet where we greeted by a herd of cows. The clouds parted for us and we got a pretty spectacular view of the valley. We then drove to Altotting where Mr. Plankl, owner of the Plankl Hotel, greeted us and then served us an excellent dinner in the hotel's dining room. The singers changed after dinner and then we were off to our last concert at St. Phillipp und Jakob Church. Once again, I wish all could have heard the singers' voices resonating through yet another lofty cathedral. Quite amazing and you all would have been very proud. The local high school choir also sang a magnificient set and then treated us to a post-concert reception. Then it was off to the Hotel Mark in the heart of Munich. JULY 4 We began the day with a walking tour of Old Munich where we saw old beer gardens, churches and government buildings. Due to the bombing during WWII much of Munich was heavily damaged so much of what we saw had been restored and indeed many building were covered in scaffolding and were undergoing current restoration. We also saw the site where Hitler in 1923 attempted a coup of the current government. He was arrested, found guilty of treason, should have been hanged, but was only imprisoned for 6 months. The rest, as they say, is history. During the afternoon, most of us visted another part of that grim history, Dachau Concentration Camp. The camp has been preserved as a memorial to the thousands who died there. I was very proud of the fact that so many singers chose to have the experience Dachau offered them. Since Dachau was not on our tour itinerary, our guides helped us navigate the local trains and buses to get there. All went smoothly, but I was very thankful that we dress in the same color t-shirts every day. Another group of singers did decide to vistit the Munich Zoo which was the first zoo in the world to group animals by their country of origin. Dinner was at one of the oldest beer halls in Munich where we had a buffet dinner with sausages, krat, German potato salad, etc., etc. But it was also the 4th of July so we all sang the National Anthem and then began our thank yous and good byes. And Now we are Home! For further details all Travelers can be downloaded - available at bottom of this page CHECK OUT SOME THINGS WE WILL SEEBerchtesgaden and the Berchtesgaden Salt MineMirabell Gardens Hofburg Palace Neuschanstein Castle Melk Abbey |