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Wednesday, July 25
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Greetings from Canterbury!
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All is going well. We had a great
flight. Our short layover at Shannon Airport was interesting. After we
had breakfast, we shared the gate area with a troop of US Army soldiers
who were deploying to Iraq. Some of us enjoyed the chance to speak with
them.
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We had a great tour of Windsor
Castle (we missed the Queen) and then drove to Canterbury. We checked
into our dorm, went right off to the picnic, and then finally enjoyed a
good night sleep.
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Today we had an amazing breakfast,
followed by our first rehearsal with Henry Leck and David Flood which went
very well! Now we are enjoying lunch and shopping in Canterbury.
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We haven't found a way to
upload photos yet but we are looking into it.
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| Cheerio! |
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Thursday, 26 July 2007 |
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| Thursday was a busy day of
music making. We began with a morning rehearsal, followed by lunch,
"cooked" up by our fantastic chaperones (P, B +J!) |
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The afternoon brought our
guided tour of the incredible Canterbury Cathedral which you can learn
more about by visiting here:
http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/index.htm.
We are learning about history, architecture, religion and much, much
more! It is simply awe-inspiring to be in such an amazing space! At
5:30pm we joined in the daily Evensong Service, a daily service which
includes mostly music and has been going on at the Cathedral for hundreds
and hundreds of years. We feel privileged to be part of such a historical
event. Following an amazing dinner, we were back in the Cathedral for an
evening rehearsal.
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| Friday,
27 July 2007 |
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Friday is a major
performing day for us. Following this morning's rehearsal, we will be the
featured choir in a 30 minute concert in Canterbury Cathedral.
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This evening, the festival
choir will give our first concert in the Cathedral which will be amazing!
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| More updates soon!! |
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Saturday, 28 July 2007 |
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| Touring with a large group
requires a fair amount of flexibility, creativity and good luck, among
other things. Probably the best example of our good luck is Helen
Bartolome, our BEST Tour Guide. From the moment she greeted us at
Heathrow, she has been a dynamo of energy and information. |
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| This morning as we
departed Canterbury, Helen helped us convince (bribe?) our bus driver to
divert our tour to Dover to see the White Cliffs, the English Channel,
and, since the weather was clear, a view of France in the distance. What a
thrill!! Leeds Castle was very beautiful with scenic grounds, gardens,
moat, a falconry demo and much more. |
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| We are now on our way to
Oxford to check in and have dinner. After 3 days of immersion in choral
music, today has been a welcome day of rest. |
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| By the way, we hope to
post some photos by tonight or tomorrow. Until then... |
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Sunday, 29 July 2007 |
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| Greetings
from Oxford! Upon arrival last night, we checked in and continued to
experience excellent dormitory food, while the accommodations have left
something to be desired. But everyone kept a "stiff upper lip" and made
any adjustments that were necessary. This is a great group of kids!!! |
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| This
morning we enjoyed a late breakfast and a chance for some extra sleep. The
exercise group went for a jog in beautiful University Park before
breakfast - all three of us! We then strolled around Oxford on our way to
rehearsal at the Sheldonian Theatre, followed by an hour of shopping. We
then had lunch, got dressed and performed the final festival concert with
orchestra which was a rousing success. Dinner was outstanding and free
time after dinner was enjoyed by all! |
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| We are now preparing for
our departure tomorrow to London and our concert at St. Paul's Covent
Garden! We are looking forward to seeing the London sights and checking
into a real hotel!! Still working on photos! |
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| Monday,
30 July 2007 |
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| Greetings
from London!! Upon arrival this morning we went directly to Covent Garden
for a brief rehearsal, followed by lunch in the piazza. Our performance at
St. Paul's Covent Garden was a shared concert with the South Bay
Children's Choir from California. They performed first. We followed with a
number of our favorite selections, including Yo Le Canto, John Barleycorn,
Mo Li Hua (with dancers!), Go Where I Send Thee, City Called Heaven and
St. Louis Blues. We then combined with the SBCC for two finale selections.
It was a truly outstanding concert!! |
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| We
then enjoyed some time for strolling, shopping and a driving tour of
London. We are now happily checked-in to our London hotel! Limitations of
technology and time have conspired to delay the posting of photos on this
website. If we don't solve it while on the tour, we will certainly post
many photos upon our return. |
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| Tuesday,
31 July 2007 |
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| Our final
full day in England was fantastic! To begin, we were able to sleep in,
followed by free time shopping, strolling or resting in the hotel. Then it
was off to the Hard Rock Cafe (the original!) for lunch. Our cruise on the
Thames was a great highlight, followed by a visit to the Tower of London
to see the Crown Jewels, among other exhibits. We then visited Buckingham
Palace where we took photos and sang a song. We even managed a 35 minute
visit to Harrods!! |
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| We had
dinner in a piano bar/restaurant named Sopranos. The kids sang along with
the pianist on lots of songs! After dinner a group strolled to Hyde Park,
hoping to play Frisbee and enjoy the grounds of Kensington Palace, but it
was closed. All involved enjoyed simply being in London. |
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| All are
packing right now for our departure tomorrow for Ireland. We will make one
final attempt at sending photos tomorrow! |
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Wednesday, 1 August 2007 |
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| Since a
picture is worth a thousand words, I'll be brief. Many thanks to Chris
Acevedo for solving our problem and sending some of Tina Viani's photos |
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| The flight
to Ireland was fine - we didn't lose anyone! We saw the Book of Kells
today, had lunch and shopping and thoroughly enjoyed the "Celtic Storm," a
show modeled after Riverdance. We have a big event tomorrow in Dundalk!! |
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Thursday, 2 August 2007 |
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| We
have just arrived back at the hotel from our day in Dundalk. Our Irish
hosts treated us like royalty! (Or, perhaps royalty is more appropriate
for England - maybe in Ireland I should say, like family.) Three
receptions, a visit to the museum, lunch, and bowling were just some of
the ways we spent our day. We then gave a highly entertaining and
well-received concert. |
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| The
updates have been shorter here in Dublin due to the fact that there is
only one computer in this hotel and there is a line of people waiting to
use it next. |
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| Slainte
(Cheers!) |
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Friday, 3 August 2007 |
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Our final
day in Ireland was brilliant!!! (The word brilliant is the local word for
excellent or fantastic!)
We had a guided tour of downtown Dublin, took pictures on the shore, and
had some leisure time for shopping and frisbee. We also had an exciting
visit to a pub in Temple Bar. We all enjoyed the Irish music and sodas.
This was followed by a required siesta and a delicious farewell dinner at
our hotel. Our final meeting covered both the details of traveling home
tomorrow and the highlights of our great tour!
Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow:) ETA: 3:00p.m. at FWMS
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| Oiche
Nihaitha |
| (Good
Night) |
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