More pictures from Germany!

Thanks to Ann Longmore, Katie Duff's mom, who found this wonderful link on the Mannerchor site of our choir in performance - during the Festival, at St. Mary's Church in Kehl, in action at the street fest, etc.   Enjoy!   http://www.erich-end.de/

Last night in Paris

The final day is over. The cathedral singing in Strasbourg was so beautiful. The day had a few minor schedule glitches, but we made it to Paris and are in our rooms. The kids enjoyed touring Paris a bit and got to spend time at the Eiffel Tower. lt is something to see when it lights up at night.  The kids are up at eight to catch their flight. See you all next week. Safe travels to the rest of the group. Karen

Kehl, and on to Strasbourg!

Hello Canadians. The gals and guys did us proud yesterday in Kehl. The sound was spectacular and the crowd was the best audience I have ever seen this group perform in front of. Zimfira was thrilled. She had invited a retired world choral association president who was so impressed he followed the bus to boderswier to meet everyone. We are leaving for Strasbourg shortly and then on to Paris. More to follow later. Danke for this great experience. Your children have been a great pleasure. Karen

Choir Rocks Kehl

Tonight the choir put on a fantastic performance to a packed house in the St. Marie's church in Kehl Germany. We were incredibly proud to witness the results of a years worth of practice and commitment and the standing ovation they received emphasized it!!!

Lots of pictures to follow and as usual we passed around tissues and shed a few tears; especially during the finale of "Dream a Dream".

The choristers are having a great time and are very happy!! Tomorrow they will sing in the Strasbourg Cathedral, which we saw today and I'm certain will be an experience of a lifetime.

Rob and Nancy Dunford

Sunday night update :-)

As a reward for great behaviour they got to stay out until eleven dancing to an old school german rock and roll band. We formed a giant human train and everyone got in stage with them. It was great fun!

Weekend Report

Hello, all. Sorry we have not had time to write since Friday night. It has been a busy few days. The kids have just finished their final performance of the Bodersweier Festival, with thousands of people in awe of their beautiful sound. They have behaved professionally. You can all be very proud. Literally thousands of photos have been taken and we cannot wait to share them. The festival has been of the grandest scale. For a small village they certainly know how to throw a party! Think Octoberfest times ten. Many of the girls are outside harmonizIng with Bodersweier Mannerchor (our host choir) as I type. Bedtime soon and the big one in Kehl tomorrow. The kids have been kept safe and sound. The adults are having fun too. I will send tomorrow from Kehl.

Germany

Hello parents
I would have greeted in German but the only word I have mastered is Kaffee.
I am not sure if there are words to describe what we saw and did today. We loaded the bus and headed to Frieburg. The city was a historical gold mine as well as a great shopping adventure for some of the kids. They were spectacularly behaved and even got to perform at a stunning middle age cathedral named St. Marks. Tourists stopped in their tracks to hear them. Tomorrow is first if five concerts so all are resting. The German Minister of Finance is coming tomorrow to hear them all.
Until tomorrow
Karen
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Link to HPC pictures on the Bodersweier Mannerchor site

From Zimfira:   We are having a GREAT time in Germany!!! You can see some pictures on the Mannerchor website:  http://www.maennerchor-bodersweier.de/   I want all parents know about this website…to see some pictures of their children.   Everybody is healthy and happy!

Today.

Hi all parents.
So today we woke to Peters friendly accent filling the halls of the hotel. (Lucky we are the only guests) We ate and loaded the bus for Gutach which are the German farms. The tour was quite wonderful with two great English speaking guides. We saw farm houses from the sixteen hundreds, one which was occupied all the way to 1965. Some of us walked into the black forest while others who were perhaps wiser turned back due to torrential rainfall. (It rained buckets)
We left the farm a bit early because of the wet weather and returned to rehearsal. The choir is in fine form and Zimfira is pleased.
We had dinner (the best schnitzel I have ever tasted) The kids are now having down time and will head to lights out in a while.
I will post again tomorrow. Hope all is well.
Karen
PS remember I am typing on aberry so please excuse any type os.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Arrived in Bodersweier!

So a quick note before I try to sleep. We arrive in Boderswier at seven. The bus ride was quite long but our driver got us here safe. The village is picturesque with flower boxes on every window in town. Exactly what you would envision. There is a storks nest on top of the church steeple the size of a water sport tube. It houses what looks to be three storks. Apparently they are an honored bird.
We had a lovely dinner at the hotel and got settled in our rooms which are tiny but cute.
Everyone except me is fast asleep.
The beautiful church has a lovely clock that charms on the hour and it will require getting use to.
The Mannerchor have been so wonderful so far.
Until tomorrow
Karen

Arrived in Paris!

We're all safe, sound and tired. We arrived in Paris on time and are currently on a comfy bus half way to Strasbourg. Much to my relief all luggage came with us! Most of us slept in bits and pieces on flight. The bus is quite quiet right now so more sleep is occurring. We are all anxious to shower because Air Transat decided to heat the plane last night. Something about a blanket shortage. Hahaha
We stopped and had lunch at a highway side cafeteria which was a nice variety of french foods. Some of the kids were taken by the lack of seats on toilet bowls that we have taken advantage of in Canada.
All in all everything so far has gone quite smoothly and the kids have behaved so well. I will add a. Bit more later once we arrive in Germany. We are currently driving through Champagne country. The amount of wheat fields is impressive. No wonder France is known for its bread.
Cheers
Karen