Today and yesterday were mostly spent getting where we're going, and the less said about ten hours in an airplane (even if it was a big ol' 747) and nine hours of jet lag, the better! Nonetheless, I have to give Lufthansa a hand for their Recaro seats; that's a name I associate with expensive, or expensively modified, performance cars, but they even had them in the 737 we flew from Frankfurt to Rome.
Here are our intrepid travelers (or most of us) upon arrival in Rome. At this point most of us were ready to pack it in; even for the hardiest partiers in the bunch, California time was seven in the morning, and few had managed to get more than a couple of hours of sleep overnight. But our first concert is tomorrow, at St. Peter's, so we slipped in a short rehearsal before dinner and bedtime. We'll probably be rehearsing some on the buses tomorrow, too, as we tour Rome!
Of course, we don't like to sing without an audience! Here are several of our "camp followers" relaxing in the terrace gardens as we rehearsed, and a number of other hotel guests stood at windows listening. Besides the familiar faces at the table (or lurking in the bushes with a videocam!), the lady at the other table on the right of the photo is Ans Nieman, our Tour Escort from Ambassador Tours. She has a very interesting list of places to take us before we sing on the steps of St. Peter's tomorrow (and for the rest of the days of our tour)--thanks!
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Wednesday, 30 June 1999
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to choir tour home pagenew 29 June 1999, updated 13 July 1999