Today and Yesterday- a 2for special!!!

Yesterday was the day that a large amount of the chorale members were looking forward to the most. We were finally able to sing in Notre Dame!!! Our tour bus, driven by the fantastic "Pollo," dropped us off just outside of the island that the cathedral is located on. Apparently, tour buses aren't allowed on the island at all. We made quite a scene, walking the streets of Paris draped in our elegant black gowns amidst the Parisian pedestrians. We definitely got several strange looks! I've seen hundreds of pictures of Notre Dame in my life, but I'll tell you, there's nothing at all like being inside it. All the years it's existed seem to pile up and remain inside the tall ceilings. It's as if voices from hundreds of years ago are still echoing in its deep chambers. As one chorale member, Emily Smith, said, "It's almost like being in a museum, there's so many alcoves and details!" I couldn't agree more. Every way you turn, a new detail is uncovered and appreciated. Singing was an even wilder experience. One of the men helping organize the recital approached a microphone and proceeded to shush the entire church to welcome our entrance. We went through our repetoire, fighting the urges to completely space out and gaze at the sights around us. We had many, many people coming in and out of the pews to listen. We even saw several tears roll.

After our performance at Notre Dame, we had time for an afternoon at leisure. We grouped into smaller divisions to go explore! By this point, we had several days experience in Paris, and had some sort of idea what we'd like to see. My group went to the Musee de l'Orangerie located right by the Place de la Concorde. It's a fantastic art museum that displays Les Nympheas (Monet's Waterlilies) in beatifully lit, elliptical rooms. I didn't expect the paintings to be so big and long. Seeing them all was really quite breathtaking. There was another section of the museum that held some Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne, Guillame, and Matisse paintings (just to name a few). It was a small museum with crowds much smaller than the Louvre. Most of us left with souvenirs to remember the experience.

After a very lively last dinner in Paris, we boarded our overnight train to Munich, or Munchen. It was a VERY tight squeeze for most of us as we were mainly sharing train compartments between six people in bunks three people high. I tried to get a picture of the setup, but it was too small to get into and be able to get a photo. It was a bonding experience, for sure. We had a beautiful view of little villages and churches as we whizzed through the French/German countryside. After a somewhat restless night, we ended up in Munich this morning, eager for the day.

Our first activity, after a delicious breakfast at the train station (believe it or not), was a trip to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. This is the castle that Disney modeled their famous logo after. It's tucked beautifully into the side of the mountains. You could travel up the winding mountainside either by foot, horse and carriage, or by bus. No matter which way we took, we all had the same beautiful view of the foliage surrounding us. Since most of us come from Illinois, it's very strange to see the land buckle and give way to such monstrous mountains. We were all left feeling impressed and amazed.

We had a long bus ride to Salzburg from the castle. We entertained ourselves by sleeping :) and playing a competitive game of Musicals and Movies. One side of the bus names a musical like Cats, and the other side of the bus has to come up with the name of a Musical starting with the last letter, so Singing in the Rain would work. We kept volleying back and forth until everyone was breathless from shouting possibilities or just stumped. What a great way to burn off some otherwise boring bus time!

We had a DELICIOUS dinner at the hotel, ok, maybe I'm a bit biased toward the German and Austrian food. It really was, delicious, though. Now we've all wound down and are ready to to see what tomorrow brings us. We'll be singing at the University Church. Check back tomorrow for more updates. Sorry to miss you yesterday- no internet on the train!