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.