Day 11: Prague
On Sunday we had the pleasure of singing another Mass at a local church which gave an English service. The priest gave a very current, meaningful and relevant sermon in his Bronx accent. Janet even took notes. Rob napped… the pleasures of being in the back row…
We gave a good performance that would have made a nice recording if it weren’t for the cable cars rolling by… oh about once every time we sang a piece…
The bus had to drop us a kilometre from the church due to some bizarre regulation which made getting picked up interesting as none of our cell phones seemed be capable of calling our driver. It all worked out though and we ended up taking a bit of a tour of Prague as he got lost taking us to lunch…
That evening many Phoenicians went to a tavern across the street from the hotel to chat while a few ventured back into the square to a jazz club that featured a fabulous piano trio.
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Day 10: To Prague
Today was both Julie and Henri’s anniversary as well as Sascha’s birthday. Commemorating the anniversary, Sascha decorated another cake at the front of the bus while the service girls brought him a lovely candle lit desert and card from the choir.
This was a travel day to Prague and the bus stopped in a non-descript Czech town for lunch where we mixed English, some German and a lot of sign language to order some lunch. Some had less of a challenge as they shamefully ventured into McDonalds for Big Macs and fries… It was also challenging adjusting to a new currency.
We arrived in Prague, what was to become the laundry capital of our tour, before dinner. Bus rides will be ever the more pleasant now. While wandering though Wenceslas Square, a few Phoenicians ended up at a terraced restaurant called Café Boulevard where they ordered a Pilsner. The waiter asked if they would like a large and some nodded. The picture tells the rest of the story.
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Day 9: Rothenburg ob der Tauber
From the big city of Nürnberg to the tourist attraction of Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, this town is not nearly as big, but perhaps just as busy. (P.S., Ramona would want you to know that it’s ROW-tin-burg, not Rotten Burg though there was an aroma throughout the city on the first night that would make one wonder…)
Predominantly Lutheran, this town Rothenburg came under threat during the escalating Catholic-Protestant tensions hundreds of years ago. Legend has it that the town was saved by a wise Protestant town councilor who convinced the Catholic general to leave the town unscathed if he could drink 3 ½ litres of wine in one draught. He did, and today they have a large town clock commemorating the event. Apparently, the townspeople themselves reenact this several times a year, too. Some Phoenix members certainly did…
Before our concert, Roy played a lovely short concert at the cathedral. We went busking in the town square to try and attract an audience to the evening concert. We attracted a good crowd outside and were warmly received, but it didn’t attract the evening numbers we’d hoped. Fortunately, the audience kept coming and again by the end of the concert, we had a decent, enthusiastic audience. (One couple in particular sat in the front row smiling broadly and applauding heartily after each piece. We hoped they would join us for the rest of the tour but alas they had other things to do…) Being a touristy town, we had audience members present from Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
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Day 8: Nürnberg
Hello from Nürnberg, the mini-Bratwurst (sausage) capital of Germany and probably the largest city we’ve visited so far. Nürnberg is a walled city that was rebuilt after the war. It has all the amenities of a large metropolitan centre: not only McDonald’s, but our first Starbucks, North Face, and Nike stores. Chris was the first to break down and wander into the Starbucks [ed.: in my defense, I didn’t buy the coffee…]
Margaret will no doubt always remember Nürnberg as the place where she douced her purse in Coke, despite Sascha’s valiant attempts at a rescue. (He is everywhere!) The main square also featured an Albrecht Dürer exhibit on Adam and Eve, a Chinese parade, and more people than we’ve seen anywhere else.
The choir split up into a few groups. One went off in search of shoes and bras; another spent the day taking in the National Museum. The museum boasted remarkable collections of medieval artifacts (liturgical tapestries, stained glass, carvings, sacred vessels; burial artifacts, weapons; you name it), a Dürer exhibit, fashion through the ages, and a collection of over 600 musical instruments from the past millennium. Despite the heat, many choir members spent a lot of time here, listening to recordings of the old pianofortes and harpsichords in front of them, seeing how brass instruments were made, and more.
Nürnberg is apparently the Bratwurst capital of Germany. Many Phoenicians had there will here. There will likely be no more need for Bratwurst on the rest of the trip…
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Day 7: Speyer
Today brought with it opportunities to shop, rehearse and perform – in fact, Julie was the first to fall… purchasing a stylish pair of red shoes.
Unfortunately, the Dom – our original concert venue – was under construction. Another church offered their building before we left Vancouver. The less-prominent location, though, meant that we needed help recruiting an audience. Enter Sascha, not only our coach driver but now roadie and concert promoter as well. Sascha rounded up audience members from the streets of Speyer throughout the concert, and by the last piece our smattering of brave souls had been transfigured into what was nearly a full house! In attendance was a choir with some enthusiastic members who sang along with many of our pieces.
We ended the evening at the Dom Hof Brauerhaus with dessert, drinks, and a few songs. (Even our groupies have our memorized repertoire almost learned now.) We heard that there were Russians on staff, so we thanked them with Borogoroditzsye Dyevo before heading back to the hotel.
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Day 6: Speyer
Yesterday, when we were loading the bus for Bernkastel, we woke a dear old lady from her sleep in her home on the road where the bus was parked. As a result, our driver told her we would sing for her and we did – a rousing version of “I Can Tell the World” from the sidewalk. She was moved to tears as she listened and took pictures.
Today as we drove down the hill, we found her standing by her home (she had been waiting for us to drive by for two hours) with gifts of flowers, chocolate and coffee. This was an uplifting moment to start our day. Her voice, apparently, had been damaged a year earlier during an operation and she could only speak in whispers. She is now if the proud owner of a Phoenix golf shirt, a Canada pin and a Live in Europe CD. We also have a standing invitation to have tea in her rose garden next time we are in Trier!
Today was Jaime’s birthday! Sascha thought this was a great excuse to have cake. So at a rest stop, he produced a flan which he topped with chocolate pudding and whipped cream – right at the front of the bus – and distributed it using what he called his ‘service girls’, Debbie, Janet and Kate.
We ended up at Speyer, another beautiful city with significant Roman history. We toured around in the afternoon, taking in the cathedrals, the technology museum that housed many airplanes – including a 747, U-boats and old cars. There was plenty of shopping and a very cheap internet café from which we are currently blogging. Stay tuned for news about the concert we will perform tomorrow.
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Day 5: Bernkastel
After two performances on Sunday we had a free day to spend in a quaint if not a bit touristy little town called Bernkastel. The choir split into many groups, some strolling the town, others shopping (shoes seem to be very popular with the non-male members of the group…). Some went cycling and others – no doubt attracted by the burlesque appearance, took the opportunity to e-mail home at a rather sketchy internet café.
From there we left for Kues, where Hildegard Lüngen hosted us to a lovely wine tasting and dinner. The event took place in a 14th century wine cellar.
The portions (tastings) were remarkably genourous… not what you would get at the average BC winery… needless to say, the atmosphere quickly became quite jovial… What happened in the wine cellar will stay in the wine cellar.
Many thanks to Hildegard for the fabulous time.
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Day 4: Trier – Treis Karden
Sunday morning, we sang at the Trier Dom cathedral. This massive space had the perfect acoustic for the von Bingen chant, with a sound that descended from the high arched ceiling down on the congregation to great effect. The congregation applauded our service music at the close of the mass; we were told later that this gesture is exceedingly rare at the Dom. This will undoubtedly be one of the more memorable performances of this tour for the choir.
That evening we headed to Treis-Karden to perform as part of the Moselfestwochen, a music festival held along the Mosel River. This small church was ideal for the Phoenix sound, and pieces of our performance here will undoubtedly end up on the CD Don is recording. We received a standing ovation and many audience members lingered after to mingle and buy CDs.
Before the concert, the festival treated us to an unexpectedly lovely dinner—so large, in fact, that we had to come back to finish dessert after the concert.
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Day 3: Trier
July 21st was a travel and rehearsal day. We left Koster Eberbach at 9:15 AM for a beautiful retreat, Robert Schuman Haus, in Trier. Unfortunately, the final climb to Schuman Haus was under construction, forcing our ever-vigilant coach driver, Sascha, to improvise. We barely squeezed past the barriers on day one; but not having any place to turn around prior to the construction, on days two and three Sascha actually drove the bus through the neighbourhood and up the hill in reverse!
The weather has been wonderful here for most of the trip, but the rain still tends to reappear whenever we load the bus. Luckilly, the construction cleared before our last day, so we did not have to schlep (that’s German for ‘drag’) our luggage down the hill upon departure.
We rehearsed in the chapel at Schuman Haus Saturday evening. Fortunately, Magdy and Tim kept their shirts on. (You’ll have to ask later.)
Trier is one of Europe’s oldest cities and was the western seat of the Roman Empire. We chose as our meeting place the Porta Nigra (“black gate”), a large stone structure left over from Roman times. From there, the choir dispersed and we explored in various directions: singing Bogoroditsye Dyevo impromptu in a remarkable yellow rococo cathedral; exploring the Roman baths; department store shopping; and winding up at the amazing Trier Dom cathedral where we were to sing mass the following morning.
Chris was nearly left behind, and is now 5 minutes early for every bus rendezvous. Puntlicheit!
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