Our Grande Finale

We wrapped up our tour of Classical Europe today, with a tour of Vienna, the classical music capital of the world. The list of composers who called this city home is virtually the same as the "Who's Who" of classical music, including Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Schubert and many more. The group saw the main sights of the city, and several of the monuments to these composers.

After a few hours of free time in the city center, we dressed up (they sure clean up good!), and went to our grande finale event - a guided tour of Schoenbrunn palace, followed by dinner and a concert at the palace. We even got to perform at the conductors request. (You'll have to ask how we did!)

This is truly a great group of kids, and you should be proud of everyone of them. I have never been on tour with a better group of people. Right now I have a combination of tunes going through my head: some Mozart and Strauss from the concert, and the lyrics my generation might know... "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades." There's no doubt this group of young men and women make for a bright future. I told them tonight they may not realize the memories they've made this past week right at this moment, but as they sink in and they remember the incredible sights they've seen, I hope they cherish them for a lifetime.

Well, our wake-up call is set for 3:30 a.m., so it's time to sign off and get a few hours sleep. See you tomorrow!

A Rollercoaster Day (part 2)

In the afternoon, we continued on to St Florian in a relatively quiet bus. We had some time for a bit of a late lunch, and then had a private organ concert at the beautiful church which is part of the monastery. This was the same organ played by Bruckner, and the concert lasted about 20 minutes. After the concert, we had a private tour of the monastery. The bus was quite a bit louder after visiting St Florian, en route to Vienna, where we arrived in time for a late dinner (thanks to a few traffic jams on the autobahn).

So it was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions today, but a good day full of experiences I hope the group will never forget. Tomorrow (today as I type), we will tour Vienna, have some free time, and wrap up our day with our grande finale - a tour, dinner and a concert at Schonbrunn Palace.

A Rollercoaster Day (part 1)

Today was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the group. We departed Salzburg, en route to Vienna. Our first stop was at Mauthausen, a concentration camp from WWII. We split into two groups, and Michael and Stephan lead us through the camp, explaining its history and what really happened here. It's a somber experience to visit such a place, but it's educational too. At the end of our tour, Michael told us, "Why do we do this tour? Because it is our responsibility to remember what happened here. We have a responsibility not to close our eyes and ears to this, and to say something when we hear people that still believe in this wrong ideology, or say a (improper) joke about what happened." We spent longer than expected at Mauthausen, as most of the kids wanted to see the 45 minute movie in English that is offered, or to take the time to walk a long distance down the hill into the quarry where the prisoners were worked to death, to try to understand more what happened to these poor souls.

Picture: Mozart and the gang

Today the kids wound up their tour of Salzburg with Mozart.

Picture: On tour in Salzburg

The group on tour in Salzburg with the castle in the background.

Some fun at the Hofbrauhaus our first night on the tour in Munich.

It appears I can only post one picture per blog entry, so I thought I would post some more pictures. Here is the view we had of Neuschwanstein.

The Hills Are Alive

Yesterday we entered our alpine portion of the tour. Our first stop was a Neuschwanstein, the fairytale castle that is the most photographed castle in Germany, if not all of Europe.

After some time to take some beautiful pictures, we continued across the border into Austria, traveling through the Fernpass to the Olympic city of Innsbruck. We spent a couple of hours in the old town, and then went to the Olympic ski jump to enjoy the view from the top.

Finally, we continued on to our hotel near Salzburg. Today we are on a city tour of Salzburg. Actually, the group is touring as I type with Manfred, the best city guide in the city. This picture is of the group on the steps of Mirabel Gardens, where the "Do-Re-Mi" song from the "Sound of Music" was filmed. The group has seen the home where Mozart was born, and in a few moments I will go outside from this Internet cafe to meet them at the Mozart statue.

All is well, and the kids are being great ambassadors. The lady whose family owns the hotel we stayed at in Oberammergau told me they were truly well behaved and impressive kids. (She said most student groups are not so well behaved, and she was truly impressed with them.)

Day one of our tour went right on schedule. Our flight on a new Airbus 330 was comfortable, had very little turbulence, and got us to Amsterdam right on time. We had a short layover, and then took another punctual flight to Munich. We had time to check in at our hotel, freshen up, and then go to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. Our dinner was a buffet, and everyone had plenty to eat. We also enjoyed a folklore show. When the show got interactive, virtually the whole group took part. This was a ploy to get as many people on the dance floor, and then the chicken dance started. It was the most enthusiastic chicken dance I've ever seen. I think all the group members used up the rest of the energy they had after a long day of travel.

Today we traveled first to see the Wieskirche. This was an extra stop that had not been originally planned for the tour. We also made a second unscheduled stop in Ettal to see the beautiful benedictine monastery there. The reason we had time to stop at each of these was a slight intentional change in the schedule. We put off our stop to see Neuschwanstein Castle until tomorrow, because we didn't want such a full day on the bus after our travel day to Europe. In the afternoon we went to Linderhof Palace, where we had a tour of the opulent favorite home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Then we checked into our hotel in Oberammergau at about 3:30, for some time to explore this beautiful Bavarian village on our own.

Day one of our tour went right on schedule. Our flight on a new Airbus 330 was comfortable, had very little turbulence, and got us to Amsterdam right on time. We had a short layover, and then took another punctual flight to Munich. We had time to check in at our hotel, freshen up, and then go to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. Our dinner was a buffet, and everyone had plenty to eat. We also enjoyed a folklore show. When the show got interactive, virtually the whole group took part. This was a ploy to get as many people on the dance floor, and then the chicken dance started. It was the most enthusiastic chicken dance I've ever seen. I think all the group members used up the rest of the energy they had after a long day of travel.

Today we traveled first to see the Wieskirche. This was an extra stop that had not been originally planned for the tour. We also made a second unscheduled stop in Ettal to see the beautiful benedictine monastery there. The reason we had time to stop at each of these was a slight intentional change in the schedule. We put off our stop to see Neuschwanstein Castle until tomorrow, because we didn't want such a full day on the bus after our travel day to Europe. In the afternoon we went to Linderhof Palace, where we had a tour of the opulent favorite home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Then we checked into our hotel in Oberammergau at about 3:30, for some time to explore this beautiful Bavarian village on our own.

Our Pre-Departure Meeting

We had our pre-departure meeting, and we're now ready to go. There really weren't too many questions, so I think the group has been well informed by Mr Boulka, Mrs Lausche, and Mr Borgstrom.

One question that has come up again since the meeting is the use of a calling card overseas. Here is my take on it...

Some cards say “international” on them. This means you can make international calls with them. However, to use the card, the instructions on the back say to call a certain 800-number to access the system. Those numbers won’t work in Germany and Austria. So, you need a number that you can call in those countries to get into their system to use the card. If the calling card you are looking at does not offer this feature, it will not work. AT&T and MCI both have toll-free access numbers in both of these countries (and virtually every country in the world), so I know their calling cards will work.

On The Road Again

As a tour guide, I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to show so many people the wonders, history and culture of many incredible destinations. Even so, I am really looking forward to taking this group to Europe, perhaps more than any other group I can think of in the past. As music students, they will see the beautiful and grand sights that inspired some of the greatest classical music, see the monuments to these great composers, and hear the performance of one of the world's premier symphony groups. This will be more than a spring break trip to see some far away sights, it will be a profound learning experience, and one I hope deepens their appreciation for the music they perform and love.