2017 Shakopee Wind Symphony Tour Blog

This page will house our running tour blog as we prepare for and travel through the heart of Europe on our 2017 Tour.

3/31/17 @ 8:50AM CEST

Sorry for the delay - it's been a crazy last 12 hours, or so! Our last full day in Europe was a great way to wrap up the whole trip experience. We all had different options available to us in the morning. Some chose to get up early and check out the indoor market, others made little trip around the city, and some slept in a bit. What is cool is that students' sense of adventure was in full force and people weren't afraid to get out and experience what Budapest has to offer. I think the big lesson that applies to each of the cities we've visited is that they each have something special and unique that sets them apart. And, it was fantastic to get a small taste of each of those characteristic traits.

We gathered around noon and made the trip to to Esztergom, located a little over an hour north of Budapest and sitting along the Slovakian border. This old city, now only with around 70,000 inhabitants, was once a capital city of the region. Because of that, it has one of the most spectacular buildings in Europe. A Basilica in Esztergom was founded in the 10th century. The diocese began construction on the current building in 1822 and is the largest church in Hungary, and third largest in the world. It's an imposing structure with a huge dome. Check out some images online to see how massive the place is.

The MOST important thing to happen there was our concert, of course! Whether it was because of the incredible beauty of the space or the fact that we needed to leave Europe with a fantastic final concert, the band really came together to play a fantastic concert. There is simply nothing that can compare to the feeling of that many musicians falling into step and communicating with each other the way musicians do to create great expression through art. I've asked some kids what their top three highlights of the trip are, and many respond with this performance as one of them. Again, what a great way to culminate the trip experience.

The end of this beautiful weather day was spent at our farewell dinner. Grand Tours and our friends here in Europe know how to put together a fun and engaging last meal together. We ate at a fun location south of the city center that specializes in "typical" Hungarian foods and having great fun. We were all in one large wine cellar with two long tables. And, at one end was a stage. On that stage was a very fun quartet of Hungarian musicians. This little combo played some traditional music, as well as some really creative arrangements of songs we recognize. Joining them occasionally was a troupe of fold dancers. They entertained with some pretty athletic dancing and got the crowd involved, too. It's at this point that I hope a certain video does not find it's way on Facebook.

As I write this our tour group has made the first leg of the journey home. Most are in the airport in Frankfurt, and some are in Vienna. Both are awaiting the roughly nine hour flight back to Chicago. There are a lot tired kids! We returned back to the hotel quite late and night and our wake up call was at 2:15 this morning. I suspect most will find a way to sleep away the trans-Atlantic flight. It's been a very full and busy schedule for the last week, but I am so happy that everyone had a chance to experience as much as they did. This temporary sleep deficit is totally worth it!

We look forward to reunited with family and friends in Shakopee in about 20 hours! Thanks again for following along. I truly hope this little blog was able to give you a little window into our fun in Europe! Stay well!!

Mr. V

3/29/17 @ 11:44PM CEST

On the road again! Today was a light travel day as we moved from Vienna to Budapest. With only one short stop, the trip was about three and a half hours. We were able to get into the Budapest city center around 1:30 and have lunch. Afterwards, we met with some local guides and moved around town to see the major sights.

A few words about the professionals we have at our sides throughout this trip: First, we must start with Jeff and Keith at GrandTours in St. Paul. They are our travel agents, but also our connection to these destinations, as well as our advocates back home. Our local tour managers are in constant communication with them and they work a lot behind the scenes to make things work. In country, Sylvia is our main tour manager and she takes care of the details as we keep moving at our fast pace. She's always more than a few steps ahead and carries two cell phones, just to give your a sense of what she is up against! She, along with our other managers Igor and Frederico, guide our movements and keep the daily stuff moving smoothly. Last, but certainly not least, are our drivers. Jorg (pronounced Yorg), Drage (pronounced Drah-gee), and Luke are the three professional bus drivers moving us safely from city to city and from site to site every day. All these people are the absolute best at what they do and are some really great people. We definitely owe them some thanks for their hard work every day. Sylvia and Drage are actually old friends at this point, as both were along for our last band tour. It's really nice to have a professional relationship with people we see and work with every three years!

Ah, Budapest. This city and the country of Hungary have such an interesting and convoluted history. After the Romans, the Magyar people migrated out of far Western Europe around the Ural mountains and settled in the area, a low spot between mountain ranges called the Carpathian Basin. Interestingly, some kept moving and became what we now know as the Finnish people in Northern Europe. The Finnish and Hungarian languages are consequently very closely related. The subsequent centuries since the 9th have seen invaders after invaders due to their unfortunate geographic location linking the East and the West - someone was always trying to expand their empire and they were caught in the middle. If you're into the history of Europe, the Hungarian timeline is worth looking into. Check out this website for a start: http://gotohungary.com/history

Budapest is actually two different cities, fairly recently combined. Buda is on the hilly side and these days has about a third of the residents and is relatively sleepy. Pest is the where all the action is and hold the other two thirds of the nearly 1.8 million people. The capitol is definitely the showpiece of urban Hungary as the next closest city in size is only one tenth the size. The whole country only has about 10 million inhabitants and most of the economy is based in agriculture. With such a complicated past involving the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire (aka the Hapsburgs), and the post-ware communist USSR, Hungary has more than seen it's share of craziness. Today, it does it's best to survive in the greater European economy.

After our tour and history lesson, we checked in and were able to find some supper. Everyone is getting some great practice using foreign currency and making the conversions in their heads. Things are made a bit easier because of the heavy tourism in Budapest - most service industry people speak pretty good English. Back to the buses and we drove down to mighty Danube River. A reminder that we first saw the Danube in Passau when it was much, much smaller. Here, it is a fast flowing force with river cruise ships and large container vessels. We took a one hour long trip on the river at night on a specially charted boat just for us! There are some great views of the old castle, the various churches, and the overwhelming beautiful parliament building. The gorgeous views and the perfect weather made for a great night. There was even a prom-posal!

Tomorrow, we have a bit of free time for exploring and shopping before we change and head to our concert venue tomorrow afternoon/evening. It's hard to believe, but we only have one more full day here. This tour has moved at a breakneck speed and it's been fantastic. We will power through the next 48 hours!

I'll update again tomorrow!

Mr. V

3/29/17 @ 12:15AM CEST

Today was quite busy and a little bit crazy. After breakfast in our Vienna hotel, we headed straight to the Vienna State Opera House. Originally constructed in the 1860s, this opulent building hosts an incredible and impressive number of shows most of the year. In fact, they present a different show every night of the week. Normally, an opera company will perform a run of show for two or three weeks and move on. However, this company hauls the sets on and off campus every day to and from their storage facility, work from anywhere between three and five hours to put it all together, and have a performance only to reverse the process - every day! We were also happened to be there while all this changeover was taking place. It's really cool to get a small glimpse of the inner workings of such a big and complicated process. Besides all that cool stuff, we were led through the beautiful marble lobbies and fanciful intermission rooms where the high society hang out between acts.

Next, had some business to take care of: set up for tonight's concert at the cathedral. St. Stephen's is a large and busy church, so we needed to work around their schedule today, which led to somewhat of a disjointed and complicated day. So, we headed from the opera house to the church and quickly got our chairs and stands where we needed them. This was followed by some time to get some lunch and/or see some other old town sites. And finally, we came back for another quick window for a very abbreviated sound check and rehearsal. Our first venue in Prague was such an incredible acoustic, but this was even more amazing. The sheer vastness of he building and the Gothic aesthetic makes the experience incredibly special.

Next: on the buses again, and this time to visit the Shonbrunn Palace. This "summer home" is just a few miles from the city center and at the time of it's construction was out in rural Vienna. The building we see there today was built between 1740 and 1750 and was sort of like going up north to the cabin for the Hapsburg royals - just getting away from it all in your 1,441 room mansion (complete with a full staff and acres of hunting grounds). This UNESCO site is considered basically in it's original, unchanged condition which adds to it's cultural value. The royal family did not lack for the nice things in life and we had the opportunity to tour the lavish rooms as they were when the family occupied the palace - complete with the furnishings and artwork. Students were afforded some time to be outside in the gardens in the beautiful weather. It was a great day for a visit to Shonbrunn!

Back to work! When hustled back through the Vienna rush hour traffic and ate a specially prepared supper in what is probably most appropriately called the church fellowship hall. There is a building directly across the lane from the South side of the cathedral building that houses the offices and other spaces for the church. As I mentioned, it's a big and busy place and they have something like 20 priests. It turns out that one of them as a passion for cooking. So, he and the "church basement ladies" of the cathedral prepared and served a tasty home cooked meal for us. Pretty cool. In fact, in this land of fattening fruit-based pasty desserts, we were able to having some truly homemade apple strudel direct from the cathedral kitchen. There's really nothing to complain about here.

Finally, we get to the big event of the day: the performance! First, it bears mentioning that a performance by a high school group in the cathedral is not at all common. We keep hearing from our guides that the local tourism pros that they know are always surprised to hear that a school group from the US is giving a concert there. In fact, admission was charged for the concert - 15 Euro! So, it was even bigger joy that we had a pretty decently sized audience. The reality is that a performer needs an audience to make the things more meaningful and interactive and we were able to enjoy that feedback tonight. It's such a neat thing to share artistic expression with people in their "home" even though we are visiting from thousands of miles away. That exchange of artistic ideas is what will help make this trip so memorable for these travelers. We give some music, and our hosts give a taste of their culture and way of life - a win/win for everyone!

We get to sleep in tomorrow morning, relatively speaking, and head off to Budapest in the morning. I know that I look forward to seeing another beautiful city and all that it has to offer.

Thanks again for reading and following our journey!

Mr. V

3/28/17 @ 11:52PM CEST

Grüß Gott! We can speak some German now, because we're in Austria! We loaded up and headed Southeast for Vienna this morning, driving through the Czech countryside in the beautiful region of Moravia. After one pit stop, we made it to Vienna in about four and half hours. And, even better, the weather keeps getting better and better. Blue skies and temperatures in the 60s are making for a really great trip. In fact, the forecast for the next few days looks absolutely fantastic!

We arrived in historic central Vienna and had some time for lunch on our own, then met with three local guides for a quick walking tour of the area. This included a little bit of information about the Roman history of the area, as well as the imposing Hofburg castle complex where the Hapsburgs ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for centuries. The royals held on to this power for so long and had so many children that they're legacy lives on in most of the European countries - it was common practice to marry off the royal children to gain territory and avoid wars. We've been hearing a lot about the famous Maria Theresa who ruled the empire in the 1700s and had thirteen children, one of which was Marie Antoinette. She's referred to as the mother-in-law of Europe because she worked hard to marry off her children to strategic princes across the continent in order to strengthen her reign.

We also had a short bus tour around the Ringstrasse. This road encircles the old city and was once the moat that reinforced the protection given by the city walls. Neither the moat nor the old wall exist - the moat was filled in and the wide boulevard was created after the fortifications were no longer needed. Soon after, the elegant homes of nobles and other important sprang up alongside new civic buildings, including the state opera and university buildings. Today, it's a busy street full of bicycles, pedestrians, car, and trams.

We checked into our hotel and after a bit headed to the north of the city center to a quaint restaurant. We ate family style in this really old establishment (Beethoven rented an apartment there for a while!) and enjoyed some typical Viennese food like schnitzel, roasted turkey, potato dumplings, sauerkraut, and rye bread. We finished off with some very tasty sweet cheese strudel.

Tomorrow is another packed day - a concert rehearsal and set up, a tour of the Schonbrunn Castle, supper, and a late concert at St. Stephen's!

This kids have been kept very busy and we have full days. It's actually a lot of work without a lot of down time, and they're taking it all in stride. Overall, attitudes and outlook have been very positive and, when asked they report back with great feedback. This trip is really turning out to be such a great experience and the students are being exposed to some really great stuff. I look forward to hearing stories from them for years to come!

Until tomorrow!

Mr. V

3/26/17 @ 8:41 CEST

Today was a tourists dream! We have had great weather today, which really adds to how well things have been going. It's not easy to make the most of a visit by slogging through a foreign city in the wind and rain. It's still early Spring here, so the temperatures are a little brisk in the morning, and there was a steady breeze. But, all in all, we couldn't ask for a better conditions.

We began the day with the Daylight Savings Time adjustment all over again. Europe makes the move to DST at a different time than the US, so we lost an hour overnight. Thankfully, we were able to sleep in a bit before we needed to leave the hotel. That was made even better by the fantastic food our hotels have had in the morning. Breakfasts are included in our tour pricing and we are definitely getting our value. There are plenty of choices available to keep everyone happy. I would go ahead and use the word "hearty" to describe the typical European breakfast food options.

Our bus drivers only had one task this morning - to pick us up and the hotel this morning and drop us on the other side of the river at the top of the hill. The rest of our day was spent walking.... and walking.... and walking. The Prague Castle complex has been in use for better than 1000 years, more or less. We started there with a bit of free time (a buffer given to deal with the potential for long lines at the security check) and some people took advantage of the time to attend mass at St. Vitus Cathedral, a really traditional and high-church experience. At 11:00 we met with our local guides again. They took us through the majority of the historic castle, showing us the important rooms and areas of the complex. King Wenceslas is the most famous and familiar personality from the area, and the name we associate with the Christmas Carol (read a little more about that here). The carol alludes to Prague's sometimes bloody and power-filled past. The US cannot offer the experience of walking in the footsteps of history like Europe can. These cathedrals and castles have seen a millennia of events, and it totally makes the stories a lot more relevant. The site is still an operating seat of government and the office of the President of the Czech Republic is located in one of the former royal residence buildings.

We made our way down the hill to the Lesser or Lower Town of Prague. It's built up with the houses of former nobility as they wanted to live as close as they could to the King. There, we entered what is probably the most crowded location in the city - the Charles Bridge. This popular tourist spot is the oldest existing bridge in Prague - construction began in 1357 under the direction of it's namesake, King Charles IV of Bohemia. It actually replaces an earlier bridge built in 1158 after it was destroyed in a flood. Although not original to the bridge, it is now lined with statutes of important saints. It's also lined with massive amounts of tourists and people trying to sell you thing!

The bridge empties out into the Old Town and we were back in familiar territory. Students had the remainder of the afternoon and evening to eat, sight-see, eat some more, and shop with their tour families and friends. Some kids cite the beautiful views, others the local art scene, and others the fun little shops you can find everywhere as their favorite parts of the day. I think everyone can agree that the tasty dessert foods that are found at food stands everywhere are definitely a hit. Specifically, trndelnik is a favorite (watch this video for a neat look at how they're made). I can personally vouch for their deliciousness (they're especially good when served with ice cream!).

Tomorrow, we load up and check out of the hotel in Prague. We'll be heading to Vienna for an estimated three hours. We'll get the information when we get there, but Vienna was the center of Classical music for the Western world for quite a long time, so this should be really cool!

Thanks again for following along!

Mr. V

3/25/17 @ 11:23PM CET

Welcome back to the blog! We survived the jet lag this morning (more the most part). We woke to a strangely beautiful, foggy morning in Cesky Krumlov. It just added an neat element to it's mystique. It's a two hour drive to the Prague suburbs and the sun eventually came out and we had a picturesque drive.

Prague, the capitol city of the Czech Republic, has about 1.25 million and is easily the largest metropolitan area in the country. It's the center of commerce and the economy for the region and is very cosmopolitan. We arrived in the late morning and were dropped on the edge of the Old Town. After a few moments on our own for lunch, we met with four local guides for an hour walking tour of the Old Town and Jewish Quarter. Prague has VERY long history and remained fairly untouched by WWII, so much of the older buildings remain and have been renovated over the past 30 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Again, we are planted in a very beautiful city!

Then we went to the hotel to get checked in and take an hour to rest before changing for the evening's performance. Incidentally, we've done a tremendous amount of instrument loading and unloading on this trip so far, but we're getting faster and faster at it! We bused as near to our venue as we could and needed to haul everything by foot for the last half-mile or so. Our space is part of the city museum system and is the Musical Instrument Museum. I'm not really sure at all what the space was in the past, but it's cavernous and makes for a REALLY long reverberation. As a performing musician, that kind of acoustic can make for a challenging performance, but everyone handled it like a pro. We're huge group and we made a mighty sound in there, to be sure! It was a real blast to play tonight and the audience really showed their appreciation.

Dinner tonight after the concert was just about as much fun! We headed to a restaurant in an old monastery that came complete with our very own live three-piece polka band. We were set up on long benches at large tables and were served some more great food - chicken kabobs with lots of veggies. We're also getting a quick lesson in European deserts. They definitely have something different going on with what they include, but it's always tasty stuff.

Tomorrow will be a day of sightseeing in Prague. We begin with some more time with our guides as we check out the area around the Castle and the St. Charles Bridge. Then, the rest of the time is ours to explore.

3/23/17 @ 6:10pm CST

The journey has begun! As I write this we are headed South on I-90 through Wisconsin and less than two hours from O'Hare. Many hours of preparation, planning, and rehearsing have gone into what we are about to experience. This very long day (which is only about a third done when you count all the traveling and the shift in time zones) will be a rather inglorious first step on our journey, however. I doubt anyone is looking forward to the near nine-hour plane ride in the same clothes we've all be wearing for the past 24 hours, but I'm confident it will be well worth it.

I've had the great fortune to have traveled on group tours with musicians many times, and I've always come away from the experience with a new appreciation for the world and our friends in different cultures. As a teacher, this exposure to how other people do what they do is the most important reason we work at providing an opporunity such as this. We all become better world citizens when we can empathize with more and more people who don't live like we do.

So far we've had a rather uneventful bus ride. We'll in on Facebook when we get to the airport and just as we're about to taxi away from the gate.

Look back here every day for updates and photos!

Mr. V