Back to the States

After a very, very long day of travel, we made it back to the United States and to Iowa.

Our first flight was 10 hours from Munich to Atlanta. For some, it went fast, because they had countless movies and television shows to watch at the touch of button via the screens on the back of the seats in front of them. For others, 10 of us, to be exact, it was not such a quick ride. Sadly, our screens did not work at all and we were reduced to begging our fortunate comrades to let us watch "just one movie, please?" Brendon and Danielle were kind enough to allow Lindsay and I to do just that.

After getting through customs smoothly, we had a three-hour layover in Atlanta before taking off for Minneapolis. Despite some disturbing turbulence during both flights, we made it through the second one alright.

We got on a bus in Minneapolis and traveled the three hours back to Des Moines. We made it by about 1 a.m., which was like 7 a.m. back in Europe. And we walked sleepily to our cars and then home in the pouring rain.

But despite the fatigue, it was a wondeful trip. Our eyes were opened to many different ways of life around the world, but also to the customs of our school's heritage in Denmark.

Read more about the trip and what it meant to the choir students in this week's edition of The Grand Views on Friday. The story will also be accessible at thegrandviews.com.

Also, mark your calendars now for the choir's post-tour concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 5, in the Luther Memorial Church on Grand View's campus.

It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to take you all along on this journey with us. As far as I'm concerned, this blog will be posted indefinitely. Thank you so much for reading.

Our Last Full Day

We left our last group of host families this morning and headed for Nurnberg, a bigger city in the area. They wanted us to sightsee, but since it was our last day, we were tired and worn out from sightseeing every other day. Needless to say, many of us would have rather slept longer.

Saul is being positive here, none of us actually felt the way his face looks.

The whole group

Lois at McDonald's in Germany!

Once we were on the road again, we stopped for a few minutes at a stadium-like wall structure that Hitler built for his officers to use to assess the Nazi troops.

Apparently, there has been some controversy as to whether the structure should have been destroyed or not, but it still stands in Nurnberg.

The wall

It was eerie standing there, imagining what went on at that spot just over six decades ago. It made me feel physically sick. And if that is what only a wall could do, I can’t imagine what visiting the site of a concentration camp would be like.

We left then to go to Wolfratshausen, a town south of Munich—also called Munchen, I found out today. I prefer Munchen. It’s also near the Alps.

The sign! On the corner, near the church

This is the town where they performed their last concert on the tour. For this one, Duffy cut some of the songs, citing blending problems for their voices and also lack of piano. We were also on a kind of time crunch. The concert began at 5 p.m. and we had to leave for the hotel by 6:30.

The church was very small, but the group did well. Before the concert, Duffy gave her choir one last pep talk, stating, “It’s been a wonderful trip. I know you’re tired, but this is our last night to do this thing.”

And they did. The Danish song with the trio was cut, which made me very sad, of course. But it was a very good last concert. There were some flat notes that I heard, but not many.

The audience seemed to love “Singet Dem Herrn,” probably because they could understand it the easiest. That piece has come a long way since the concert in Agaard, Denmark.

Some of the beginning notes for “Lamb of God” were a little off, like some of the women weren’t quite sure of their entrances. I think it’s probably because of the order change; it threw them off a little.

Audrey Swanson’s solo in “The Earth Adorned” was the best tonight that I’ve ever heard it.

The group singing an encore for the last concert

In the midst of it all, I was able to meet a German journalist, taking photos for the local paper. We didn’t have time to exchange names, but she said a review of it could be found at this Web site http://www.merkur-online.de/. No guarantees about an English version.

Immediately after the concert, we drove to Munich where we had dinner and some last remarks about the tour. Everyone stood up and shared a favorite memory from the last two weeks.

In other news, Keyla got all of the signatures for her entire deck of cards today. The challenge was to get one European to sign his or her name to 54 playing cards. She finished it with the signatures of some people running a shop in Nurnberg.

Also, Jena Butenhoff has sort of been dealing with a cold all week. But it seemed to be at its worst today. She sat out of the last concert and slept most of the time we were on the bus. But by dinner time, she seemed to be doing better.

Here’s our schedule for tomorrow’s trip back to the states:

We’ll get up around 6:30 a.m. and drive to the Munich International Airport, which isn’t too far from the hotel we’re staying in tonight. Our plane to Atlanta, Georgia, takes off from Munich at 8:45 a.m. We fly for…forever, and make it to Atlanta by 2:50 p.m., which will feel like 9 p.m. to us. We take off from Atlanta at 6:35 p.m. and make it back to Minneapolis by 8:15 p.m. From there, we’ll drive back to Des Moines. Yay! We’re all pretty excited to get back…

**Also, posting this blog cost me 10 euro, so maybe you should go back and read it again...

Lichtenfels Concert

Tonight brought another very good concert, this time in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lichtenfels, Germany.

Warming up before the concert: MacKenzie Schroeder and Chelsea Carter

Some highlights:

Keyla Spahr's solo during "Darkness is Falling." I don't know if it was the great acoustics in the church or if she was just having a good night, but it sounded especially fantastic.

There were some rough spots in "Hosianna, dem Sohne David," when it seemed like people were missing their entrances, but I think it was a small enough issue that no one noticed.

Jena Butenhoff and Abby Eick sing during the concert

The ending song, "Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal," was really amazing from the back of the church. Lindsay and Sam said they heard some people getting off tempo and matching the others, but from where I was standing, it was incredible.


The audience loved the whole thing. They applauded after every song (even though Kathryn Duffy requests audiences not to do so) and gave the choir its second standing ovation this tour.



Tomorrow, we'll go to Nurnburg to eat lunch and then to Wolfratshausen where the choir will perform their last concert on the tour. After that, we'll drive to Munich for dinner and to spend our last night in Germany in a hotel there. We fly out so early on Monday morning, I don't even want to talk about it yet.

Two Opera Houses in One Day

We woke up this morning in Lichtenfels, Germany. And got back on the tour bus, of course!

We traveled to two different opera houses in the city of Bayreuth, about an hour away from Lichtenfels.

The first is called the Festspiel Haus, a massive opera house built by composer Richard Wagner in the late 1800s. He was unhappy with the opera house in the city center, so he built a bigger one outside of town.

The Festspiel Opera House

We were lucky to get in for a tour because the house is closed for most of the year to allow for set building and performances and is only open for tours during two months in the spring. Operas are still performed in the house during the summer months, although there is no air conditioning and tickets are extremely hard to get.

The group singing on Wagner's stage

People who want tickets must write a letter to the officials at the opera house. They will then receive an order form which is then sent in. Rejections letters to those orders are then sent out for at least eight years after the initial order because the demand for tickets is so high.

The entire group in front of the Festspiel Haus

We then went to the other opera house, Margravial Opera House in the city center of Bayreuth. It wasn’t quite as huge, but it was very big and ornate. Gold decorations and artwork cover majority of the walls and stage inside.

The Margravial Opera House

One of the few pre-World War II Jewish synagogues still stands next to the Margravial house. Our tour guide said this it is extremely rare that it survived the destruction of the war not only because of what it is, but also because of the city’s proximity to Berlin and the land most occupied by Nazis. But because it is adjacent to the opera house, it was passed by because of the fear that the destruction of the synagogue would cause damage to the opera house.

I couldn't stop taking pictures because it was so cool

And then I wrote my name where all the opera singers write their names after productions behind the stage with chalk. Don't tell anyone, though.

We had lunch in the city and then boarded the bus again to travel back to the Evangelical Luther Kirche Schney in Lichtenfels. The choir had a short rehearsal and then headed back to the host homes for dinner before the concert at 7 p.m., which is where we are now.

This is Marcel, our driver from Luxembourg, with Brandon and Nick, his two American best friends. He gets us through some really small spaces on those European streets.

I'll post an update from tonight's concert later this evening. I've heard the acoustics in the church are very good, so it should be a good show.

The Best Concert There Ever Was

So the concert at Alpenrod was the best this entire trip. Even the notoriously-rocky "Singet Den Herrn" sounded nearly flawless! They received a standing ovation, which one of the host families said was a rare occurance, and once the whole choir got outside, they cheered.

"That concert," said Nick Adolf. "That's why we came here!"

After the concert, we attended a reception with the host families and then went to our separate homes.

Ule, the smallest of our hosts

Stena....or me, 16 years ago

Monica, Anna and I with our hosts Kati Henrich and her eldest daughter, Lisa

This morning, we woke up early and left Alpenrod for Eisenach, Germany, where we stopped at the Bach Haus, a museum devoted to the composer and his family.

We were able to walk around and look at exhibits, as well as hear a musical demonstration of the instruments for which Bach created his music.

The museum tour guide played the various instruments and also gave us a brief overview of Bach's life.

Keyla helped him out by playing one of the organs during the demonstration.


After that, we drove to the spot where we had to get out of the bus and hike to Wartburg Castle. It's so steep that vehicles can only go so far.

It all began with Brenda's calves getting sore. She was the first to take a break on the side of the cobblestone road. Others stopped along the way, too, but a group of us went on until we reached the top.

The walk up...

The castle is beautiful, but unfortunately, a lot of us were tired or feeling sick and didn't enjoy it as much as we could have. We went on an hour-long tour throughout the castle. And the last room we walked through was where Martin Luther sought shelter when he was considered an outlaw in the country. The room is where, for 10 weeks, he translated the New Testament of the Bible from the original Greek to the German language.

From the outside

Inside the castle



Anna and the view

After a long hike back down and two hours in the tour bus, we reached Lichtenfels, which is where we will be staying for tonight and tomorrow night. I actually am flying solo tonight, without Monica and Anna, in the Rohde family's house. I do miss my two favorite roommates, but am excited to spend time with the two girls who live here, Helene and Ellie.

The choir will have a break from singing tonight (and also to bask in the glory of last night's performance) until tomorrow, when they will perform in a church in Lichtenfels.

Also, Saul wore a Wu Tang Clan shirt today.

This really does deserve a post of its own, but I won't do that.

Cologne Was Better Than We Thought

At dinner Wednesday night, we ate at an Italian restaurant…go figure…but it was nice. The employees became so interested in the fact that the group was a choir, they requested a song. So they sang “Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal,” for the entire restaurant. Some guests even came over from their seats to listen. Everyone pretty much agreed they started out in the wrong key without the aid of a tuning fork or piano key, but it still sounded good. And everyone in the restaurant applauded.

Today, we traveled even further into Germany, to Cologne and then Alpenrod for the night.

We stopped of in Cologne, Germany—or Koln—after taking off from Bielefelds early Thursday morning.

After some shopping time, we walked, heads tilted back and mouths gaping toward the giant Cologne Cathedral where the choir was able to sing two of their pieces for a short service. The cathedral was so cold that many of the choir members said they could see their breath as they sang. We weren’t allowed to take photos during the service, but I got a couple of secret ones.




The cathedral was damaged by bombs dropped on the city during World War II, but it has since been restored. The black, gothic structure towers above the town of Cologne and the magnitude of the whole thing is really too incredible to describe.


We also happened to run into an old friend of Grand View at a shop nearby the cathedral. Dick Tremain, a former public relations professor at GV, and his family were visiting Cologne on the same day we did. Dick, his wife and daughter were able to watch the choir performance, too.


Dick also asked for me to say hello to Mrs. Kaylene Ruby. So, Ruby! Hello from Dick Tremain!


After the German service at the cathedral, we took less than an hour for lunch, while dodging the notorious gypsies known to roam the city. Seven of us ate at a little German bar where three of us, had sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes. I had my doubts, but it was so good! We boarded the bus once more and headed to Alpenrod, Germany, where we are now.




We made it to Alpenrod Church—or Evangelische Kirche Alpenrod—just before 4 p.m., Germany time. It’s an old church that dates back to the early 1600s, in an old, small German town in a hilly part of the country.

On the way here, we drove along the Rhine River and saw several old castles and tons and tons of wine vineyards on the sides of the hills. The countryside here is really beautiful.

Tonight, the group will perform a concert at the Alpenrod Church and we’ll be staying with host families. The family hosting Anna, Monica and I have four children and have opened up a little apartment below their home to us. The kids are adorable! The youngest is three-years-old and tried to bring Monica’s suitcase into the house.

This is day two of our trek across Germany. We started in Northern Germany when we came down through Denmark. Now, we’re in Western Germany, near the Rhine. Tomorrow, we’ll head straight east to see Wartburg Castle and then go a little further to the south for one full day and two nights in Lichtenfels. All that is followed by our final destination of Munich, to the far south. Rumors going around say we’ll be close to the Alps on the last night.

After today, we have three days and three nights left on the trip, including one day of travel. I think everyone is more than enjoying themselves on the trip, but, as with any trip, some tension exists between people. Some are also feeling sick with sore throats and coughs.

On the agenda for the rest of the trip:
Tomorrow, March 20:
We’ll leave early and drive to Eisenach, Germany to see the house devoted to the Bach family. Then, we’ll walk the 30 minutes it takes to get to Wartburg Castle for a tour. We’ll then drive to Lichtenfels for the night and entire next day. In all, we’ll be driving about seven hours.

Saturday, March 21
During the day, we’ll sightsee in Bayreuth, Germany. We’ll then return to Lichtenfels for rehearsal and then another concert at the church there.

Sunday, March 22
We’ll leave Lichtenfels early for Nurnberg where we will have lunch. Then, we’ll travel to Wolfratshausen to perform at a church there. We’ll be staying in a hotel in Munich this night, which is where our plane will take off from early in the morning on Monday.
Look for an overview of tonight’s concert up with tomorrow’s blog entry.

To Germany

About yesterday:

The gymnastics show was incredible! After a 20-minute performance of rhythmic gymnastics to music by both girl and boy performers, they showed us how they tumble.

They flipped and flew through the air on mats and springboards. It was really amazing to watch.

The teams performing

Kim Hahn said the reason why there are so many gymnastics schools in Denmark is because they believe it is the basis for all sport and learning it will allow the students to do anything.

Kim Hahn telling the crowd about the gymnastics show

This morning, we woke up and sleepwalked to Agaard Efterskole once more to meet our bus. Today, we’re in Germany and it was a long ride to get here…like seven hours of bus, but everyone looked forward to the time to catch up on sleep.

An alley in Lubeck

The back of the St. Jacobi Church in Lubeck

The choir singing in St. Jacobi

We stopped in Lubeck, Germany for lunch and to sing in the cathedral where Hugo Distler, the composer of two of the choir’s songs on the tour concert, played the organ from 1931 until 1937.

Germany seems a little busier than Denmark, which seemed a more laid back. But a lot of the choir members and others have said after our first day in Germany that less people speak English, which has made things a little more difficult.

Right now, we’re in Bielefeld at the Tulip Inn. We’ll eat dinner in about an hour and maybe walk around the town after that. Contrary to our last hotel location, this one seems to be surrounded by a lot of different businesses in a downtown area.

Concert at Vojens

The choir is currently singing their third concert in a row overseas at the Vojens Gymnastik Efterskole. The room they're doing it in doesn't exactly have the resonance of the cathedrals and churches they've been performing in the past several days, but they've been doing wonderful so far.

The crowd is mostly students from Vojens (the ones in the blue jackets) and other spectators. The room is one of their gymnasiums where they practice rhythmic gymnastics, which is more like dance to us.

They're halfway done with their concert and most of the notes so far have sounded pretty good. The solos and groups are going well, too.

Climbing Castle Towers

View from the very top of Kolidinghus Castle in Denmark

We didn't know this when we left the school, but we ended up at another castle. Except we got to go inside this time!

Outside of the castle

So we go into this castle, Koldinghus Castle, where some of the Danish kings resided. We went on a short tour and then got to look around by ourselves. The castle burned in 1808 when Spanish guards, called to the castle to help the Danish fight English troops, started a fire in a fireplace that set the entire structure ablaze. It has since been restored and turned into a museum.

A lot of us went up to the very top tower of the castle, which made us dizzy, tired and made our legs shake. (Except for Brandon because HE'S in CROSS COUNTRY). But it was an incredible view! It made me want to watch Beauty and the Beast. I'm also planning on living in a castle now.

Now, we're at the Vojens School, another gymnastics school for 15-17 year olds. Kim Hahn, a teacher, has been our guide and told us about the area between Agaard and Vojens.

Hahn has been in touch with Grand View president Kent Henning about bringing a gymnastic team to the university in 2010. Preparations are currently underway, but they're planning on Fall 2010.

Senior Anna Juhl's family is here to watch the concert. They're from a town an hour and a half away from here and she hasn't seen them in 12 years. She's excited.

The concert will start in about 45 minutes and is being held in a gym here in the school.