Blog: News and Views

Guerrilla Singing

Our visit to Dresden, Germany today marked the last full day of our tour. Despite the gorgeous trip, it was a sad day. The tour has come and gone far too quickly, and it's hard to believe that we've been here for two weeks. Augmenting my sadness was the fact that Lenka, the most beautiful translator in the land, had left us as her services were no longer needed. She was our Czech translator who had been with us for about a week, and no one wanted to see her go (except for perhaps those who were sick of hearing me gush about her). Since we were heading into Germany, Peter Rohloff assumed the role of translator and guide, but even he was not as charming as the beautiful Lenka.

It was the first time since our layover at London's Heathrow Airport that we had been outside the Czech Republic, and it certainly felt different being in another country. The language, architecture, and inflated beer prices all signified our journey across the Czech border and into Germany, but it was nice to have a change -- except for maybe the beer prices. It still didn't stop Byron from ordering a one-litre mug of beer, but then again, I can't think of anything that would.

The first stop during our visit was at the Frauenkirche church. It is a huge Lutheran church that was destroyed in the bombings of World War II, but it has been reconstructed since then. Dotted amongst the structure was a small number of burnt stones taken from the original building, which made the initial devastation of the building quite apparent, since there were so few original stones visible.

Before the trip Diane had decided that we would stealthily enter the church and begin some sort of "guerrilla concert" -- the logic being that if there were enough of us, we couldn't be stopped. We lost the stealth aspect by all wearing coordinated Chor Leoni t-shirts, but as it turns out, the pastor there was pleased to have us sing some impromptu music for the visitors in the church, so there was no problem. It felt great to sing for hundreds of people who all seemed appreciative of our music, especially on the last full day of our tour.

After a few songs we went went over to a second church and presented a similar short program. It's interesting to sing in such different acoustics from what we have in Canada. The spaces in the churches here are astounding here.

The end of our singing in the second church left us with a free afternoon to wander around Dresden, where we took in a palace, some churches, an opera house -- you know, the usual European fare. Following that, most of us walked back to the bus for a ride back to our hotel in the Czech Republic, although Peter and Ted went on their separate ways as the tour is coming to a close, and they have more exciting places to go than back home to Vancouver. Tomorrow we'll have many more "deviants" taking their own routes and enjoying some more travels.

I, however, will be coming straight home to a living room full of boxes, since I just moved into a new place the day before we left. It won't exactly be a perfect way to decompress after the trip, but hopefully it will keep me occupied enough so that I won't be too depressed about being away from the choir... and the beautiful Lenka.

 -Kyle

Posted by Kyle Harland on July 11, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Filed in: Tour Diaries | Permanent Link

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