Monday 8 December – Salzburg

Hi,

Arrived safely last night around 6.30 p.m. to this very charming and historical city. The Youth Hostel is within 10 mins walk of the centre, so after putting our cases in rooms, we walked into town for dinner. A crisp clear evening, a chance to see the extensive Christmas market stalls. Very busy! This morning the students are currently having a guided tour of the main sights including the huge Collegiate Chapel where we will be peforming a short Advent Recital at 1.30 p.m. Following this they will then have some free time to shop and see more of Salzburg’s sights. We leave tomorrow morning to head to Suisse.

A brief up-date of our activities. On Saturday we had a sight-seeing tour of the centre of Prague, starting at the castle on the hill by the cathedral and then walking down across the historic Charles Bridge. It was very busy! 1000s of tourists, a public holiday for St. Nicholas. Busier than the summer tourist season.  Everyone had another chance to visit the Christmnas markets in the square – the local delicacies enjoyed by many. In the evening we saw Carmen at the State Opera Theatre. It all became a bit of a rush at the end as we got caught in a massive traffic jam in the centre of Prague. On Saturday we also celebrated 3 birthdays – Jon. Mui (held over from wednesday), Sascha Harris 17th & Jonathan Ward 18th!. It was also Carol and Ian Batey’s Ruby Wedding Anniversary!. They all had a memorable day.

Yestrdaywas also very memorable, with a performance of the Schubert Mass at the 9.30 a.m. Service. The whole thing was simply stunning. Choir and orchestra perched high in the gallery overlooking the cathedral, their glorious sounds filling the amazing Gothic Cathedral. Very, Very moving!

It was very entertaining having to climb up the narrow spiral stairs with the doublebass to get into position.

We’ve mangaged to edit out some great photos and with Ben Ho’s help will aim to get these posted very shortly.

Everyone in great spirits, Mr Bean video (and live performance) on the bus was great fun, even distracting the card players so that the ‘olds’ (Saffir & Batey) beat the ‘youngs’ (Morgan and G.Wells).

Weather not too cold, lots of snow though, red jackets proving indespensible keeping warm and identifying the tour group in amongst the huge crowds.

Love,

James A