Prague and England

The Beautiful City of Prague-The City of a Thousand Steeples

The Cousins: ME, Nathan the chef, Mark the DJ, Lucy the Director

SO I am now back from Europe. I never found time or a plae to update from in Prague, and England was just one exciting adventure to the next. PRague was beautiful. It had more of a gothic dark beauty than any of the other cities we had visited. I would be really interested in goin gback to Prague in about 20 years, to see if the rest of the city gets re-build like the main downtown part. With the fall of communisum and the rise of the free capitalist economy, a lot of the outskirts of Prague is filled with tiny strip mall type shops. It was liek suddenly everyone could have a business so no one wanted to miss out. A lot of the architecture is right out of the 70's and is very economic and boxy. However, many of the 1930's art deco buildings and old aristorcat mansions remain, but they are in need of great repair and are boarded up. The down town has been cleaned up and restored and it think it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the beautiful buildning are restored, and then Prague will become one of the most beautiful cities. Right up there with Vienna and Paris.

On the day the rest of the choir headed home to America, I said my goodbyes, and boarded a different plane for England. After a quick change in Amsterdam, I landed at Bristol International Airport, in Bristol England which is in the county of Devon in the South East. My cousin Susan picked me up and it was a 2 hour drive through the countryside, back to her house in Biddeford.

It was such an amazing 10 days in England meeting a great deal of my family for the first time. I got to do exactally what I had wanted to do, just slip right into their lives and live the way they live. Each day was an adventure and each cousin a different experience. Between them all I managed to see their favorite parts of their Devon. I explored the British coast and small seaside town of Weymouth with my cousin Lucy her fiance Mark, and my cousin Nathan. And then I saw London with Susan and Peter. And I had many fun night out with my cousin David and we went to the beach and did some skimm boarding with his mates. The atlantic ocean really isn't that cold :D It was just such an amazing trip, and I feel so lucky that I had the chance to take it. So many memories with my choir friends, and then the experiences shared with my newly discovered family.

Yesterday I watched the Sun come up in Prague as I headed to the airport at 4 am and then watched the Sun set over California as I was safely home. With all the craziness happining in the world it is nice to be home, but not for long. Off I go on my next leg of my travels to meet up with my parents and brothers on the beautiful island of Maui.

goodbye from salzburg

Goodbye from Salzburg
Hello All-
It was a great day, with some touring of Upper Austria, and the Church where Maria's wedding (sound of Music) was filmed. There was frantic last minute shopping in the city center of Old Salzburg, and then of course the Concert at the Dom, which was fantastic!!! Singing Mozart's Coronation Mass in the place it was written was fantastic. The house was full, and the orchestra was amazing! Even though the words for the mass are in Latin, the feeling and emotion could still be felt. At least among us choir geeks, the phrases from the masses are well known, and since we sing them all the time we know what they translate to. Let me share with you what we sang. Read the Latin even though you may not be able to do it right, it is pretty much said like it is spelled. Then read the English translation. Both are stunningly beautiful.

There is the First part the Kyrie;
Kyrie eleison
Lord have mercy
Chiste eleison
Christ have mercy
Kyrie eleison
Lord have mercy

Then the Gloria;
Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax
Glory in the highest to God. And on earth peace
hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te.
to men of good will. We praise thee. We bless thee.
Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi
We worship thee. We glorify thee. Thanks we give to thee
propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis,
because of great glory thy. Lord God, King of heaven,

Then the Credo;
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
I believe in one God, Father almighty,
factorem coeli et terrae,
maker of heaven and of earth,
visibilium omnium, et invisibilium.
visible of all things, and invisible.
Et in umum Dominum Jesum Christum,
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
Filium Dei unigenitum.
Son of God only begotten.
Et ex Patre natum ante omni saecula.
And of Father born before all ages.

Then the Sanctus;
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Lord God of Hosts.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Full are heaven and earth of glory thy.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in highest.

And finally the Benedictus;

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Blessed who comes in name of Lord.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Hossana in highest.

And Agnus Day;
Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who take away sins of world,
miserere nobis.
have mercy on us.
Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who take away sins of world, dona nobis pacem.
grant us peace.

I know to us today reading and singing the Latin may seem a like a pointless ritual, but if you know what you are singing about it puts everything into a different perspective. Each part of the song gives praise to God, and if you look at the translations, many of our "contemporary Christian" songs come from the Latin translations. Hearing these phrases echo through the Dom and watching as the sounds drifted higher and higher to the sky was amazing. The ceiling of the Dom is beautifully painted with scenes from the life of Christ, and looking at them while singing and listening to the soloists really made me think about the words.
Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi: Lamb of God, who takes away sins of world, Dona nobis pacem: grant us peace, Hosanna in excelsis: Hosanna in highest. The words are beautiful praises to God. After all the practice and all the hard work, for me, the songs turned from a piece of repertoire to a life song of praise. I couldn't help but think about God and giving the whole performance to him. Yes there was a whole full house there, and many people who put in hard work, but the true praise honor and glory goes to the one who gave the inspiration for the words and the praises.

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Vienna, and we will stop on the way to sing at a wedding we were invited to sing at. It is in the church where Silent Night was created and performed for the first time. I think it will be a fun unique experience. Hope everything is well on the California front. The people here are really grateful for what we are doing and they feel privileged to have us, while at the same time we feel privileged to be here. See you next in Vienna!

Love,
Andrew

Hello from Austria

Hello from Austria
Hi From Austria
HI GUYS I FINALLY MANAGED TO GET ONLINE AT AN INTERNET CAFE RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM THE HOTEL. EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL HERE, and I apologize in advance for the typos in the letter, many of the keys are in different spots and there are added ones that we dont have at home. The flight was safe and fun with all the choir people. We had a nice and easy connection in Frankfurt to Munich. Then when we arrived in Munich we met our guide who took us to our tour bus. They are really nice, think royal coach meets Mercedes Benz! It took about an hour to reach Salzburg, but the drive was beautiful! There is so much green it is amazing. Mom, you would love the freeway direction signs, they are about 3 times as large as ours and they are blue. The freeway on and off ramps are all nicely landscaped with trees and grass. there is a lot of green but not so many colors like our highway daisies or CA poppies. The alps are beautiful, my hotel room window faces them and we got to view them all the way to the hotel. The Weather has been pretty good. we have had sunny days with nice cool cloud cover which turns into light rain in the evening. there are so many thunder storms, youd think you were in North Carolina :)

We are staying in what's called New Town, which is right on the outskirts of the main historic district known as Old town. There are three main churches in Old Town, the salzburg Dom (cathedral), University church, and St. Peters. We have had all our practices in the University Church, which is right across from Mozart's house, and is the church where Mozart's father and then Mozart were the churches musical composers. The Salzburg Dom is the main, well known church in Salzburg. We just left our first rehearsal there with the choir of over 500, and the orchestra and brass choir. The brass players are excelent. They are as excelent as the Kings brass, but with a tone that is even sweeter, if you can even imagine a sweeter tone. The French horns played so tight that it sounded as if there was one. And the trumpet solo in "festival Piece on St.Anne" Sounded to perfect to be real, but there he was playing it. And the oboe introduction on one of the othere pieces was unimaginable. The refinement of the musicians skills is like nothing else known to those in the states. For as much as we think we have it all, the music in the states dulls to the refined perfection of the musicians, and at such a young age!

We have had enough down time to explore the city on our own. I have taken over 200 pictures and I am so glad I brought my computer to load them onto. The city is so beautiful and singing the music is such a unique experience. Singing the Coronation Mass in the church is was written for seems so surreal. The Dom has 5 organs in it. One main one at the back, and then 4 smaller ones in each of the corners (hehe) of the circle underneath the Dome. Each of the churches are very beautiful, but everything seems so wrapped up in ritual and history, that it seems like some of the experience and reason for the churches existence gets lost. The churches are like gilded jewelry boxes, but with out the jewelry they are pointless. It was really amazing to watch each persons face as we sang in the cathedrals, the echo after we finished seemed to go on forever. The voices just echoed on to the heavens, it really made the songs come alive. Visiting the churches it was interesting to see people from all backgrounds and faiths become quiet and reverent as they entered the buildings. For some unspoken reason the building reminded everyone that wether the faith was theirs or not, this was a place that commanded respect.

The shops around the University church are very quaint. It is very reminiscent of carmel or solvang. The tiny shops are tucked away in every little nook and cranny. Some are no deeper then 6 feet and no longer then maybe ten, and that is from wall to wall, and then the shelves come out another foot and a half. But it is nice, there VERY VERY few cars in the city. everything is pedestrian traffic, so there is no fear of getting run over. Here in the city everyone walks, from the elderly to the young. One walks or bikes or takes the bus. We have seen a lot of the sites used in the Sound of Music. I must say the camera does wonders and makes them look a lot larger ;) But they are equally beautiful and cool to visit. As soon as I figure out how to load pictures I will send some. We have one more day in Salzburg, and then it is off to Vienna. The concert is tomorrow night and I am really looking forward to it. I am going to head to bed it is 11:24pm and we have to be up to up tomorrow early for another tour. This is such an aamazing experience. Feel freet o send this off to anyone. The address book isnt loading up and everything is in german and I dont want to loose this letter:) I love you all, and I wish you were here, you would enjoy it, there is something here for everyone!

Love,
Andrew

testing still

test picture

first post, what to say

wow, who would have guessed that a mere 30 years or so ago, my parents were doing this exact thing, except they were recording their thoughts in a book, that may have been lucky enought to have a lock. Now with the creation of computers and passwords, and the advantage blogs like of xanga, myspace, and blogspot, just to name a few, it has become so easy to let our thought be known to the world, and at the same time record some of our most private thoughts in the same program. Where will the future take us next? Do we dare even guess, for it will change even in the next minute. Live is ever moving, just as God intended it. Roger Charlie...