Germany!

I know everyone is very curious about India, but before I begin, I need to get through the amazingness that was spring break with University Chorus. Deutschland is now one of my new favorite places. We flew into Munich on Saturday morning and a short bus ride put us in the little town of Füssen. The town is quant and is a beautiful foreground for the grandeur of the Alps. The highlights of Bavaria were singing in the Wieskirke and visiting Neuschwantsein. Bavaria is a predominantly Catholic state, and the Wieskirke, “church in the meadow” reflects the Catholic culture. The Wieskirke is home to a crucifix that was seen crying real tears. This miracle brings Christian pilgrims all around the world to the church so that they may present their requests to God. Needless to say, the mass that we sang in was packed full of people. Although the majority of the service was in German, it was still a memorable first Catholic mass!

Later that afternoon, we hiked up a (paved) mountainside to Neuschwantsein castle, which is the castle that Walt Disney used as a model for Cinderella’s Castle. The original is much better. The top of the castle had a singer’s hall, which unfortunately King Ludwig II never got to use (he died mysteriously before the castle was fully completed), but occasional concerts are still held there today. The awesome acoustics accentuate the beauty of the murals on the walls, depicting some of Ludwig’s favorite stories and legends. We gave an impromptu performance of our one a capella piece, “Daniel, Daniel.” Little did we know that this piece soon would be sung at every possible opportunity.

Although the interior of the castle was lovely, the exterior was even more awe-inspiring. After finishing our tour, we hiked further up to the “Queen’s Bridge,” which stretches over a waterfall. With the Alps on one side, and Neuschwantsein on the other, you cannot help but be overcome by the magnificent beauty of this place.

On Monday, we traveled to Oberammergau. The town is infamous for it’s Passion plays that it performs every 10 years to the glory of God in order to thank Him for sparing their village from being wiped out by the plague. With over 2,000 participants, the plays draw such large crowds, you must reserve a ticket several years in advance. Although the next Passion is not for a few more years, Jörg, our tour guide, was able to get us inside the theater, and we sang (naturally) “Daniel, Daniel.” The town has remained small, and of course, is all about Jesus. He is literally just about everywhere: restaurants, shops, local homes, etc. To no surprise, I was loving it.

Later that day, we visited King Ludwig’s summer home, Linderhoff. The castle is modeled after Versailles, and comes complete with a fantastical cave dedicated to the composer, Wagner; Ludwig used the themes from his operas in much of his household décor.

We left Fussen on Tuesday and head for Frankfurt. We took a break in the middle of the day to visit Rothenburg, a medieval city that is still surrounded completely by the old city walls! Walking on the cobblestone streets, we were able to look around, visit all of the unique little shops, and partake in the town’s famous treat, snowballs, or schneeballen. Think of hardened funnel cake in ball-form, covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, marzipan, chocolate, etc. Unfortunately we did not have time to experience the town’s many attractions (including a “Hell Museum”), because we had to hop back on the bus for Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is one of my new favorite places. The city itself is very aesthetic; approximately one third of the city is either parks, trees, or gardens. The majority of the buildings are artistic in architecture, and the city goes to great lengths to preserve the beauty of the old, while reaching forward into more modern architectural styling. Large pieces of art can be found in front of businesses, and the shopping arcades are like walking through a small town within the city. Close to our hotel was an old Jewish cemetary, walled in by a Holocaust memorial, shown below (we found the Frank family, so naturally we had to take a picture). The city is safe and the people inviting, and there are plenty of museums and other attractions that we did not have the time to see.

Right outside of Frankfurt we performed a joint concert with the group, Polyhymnia, at the parish church, Koppern. We decided to dedicate “In Remembrance” to the victims, family, and friends of Virginia Tech. All the way in Germany, we still were informed of the shootings on Monday afternoon, shortly after it happened. The Washington and Lee and Lexington community has very close personal ties to VTech, and of course, many students from Boonsboro now attend the college as well. Needless to say, all of us were grieved with this news, and diligently watched CNN and checked the internet for status reports on our family and friends. Before we sang “In Remembrance,” the church bell tolled in a moment of silence; the news was all over international and German news, and everyone offered us their sincere concern and prayer. Truly, the world was grieving for the victims of Virginia Tech. The concert was truly moving, and afterwards, we had a late dinner with the members of Polyhymnia.

The next morning, we were off to Eastern Germany, the former GDR, and more specifically, Leipzig. Thursday, we took a tour of Wartburg Castle, most famous for sheltering Martin Luther as he translated the New Testament into German (shown to the right). To stand in the spot where the Protestant Reformation began was indescribably awesome. The castle is also the former home of St. Elizabeth, who lived in the castle as a queen, but secretly went down to the village to give food to the poor and help the sick.

Later that day, we visited the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, which is now a small museum. It was a nice background tour before singing in St. Thomas’s Church the next day, where Bach spent the last 20 some years of his life composing music. We had the opportunity to sing just a few feet in front of Bach’s final resting place inside the cathedral (again, “Daniel, Daniel”). Not only was standing in the presence of Bach beyond cool, but I also couldn’t help but smile when we finished singing and our final chord resonated through the church for several seconds, longer than I had ever heard.

Our last day was spent in the birthplace of Handel, Halle (University Chorus pronunciation: Holla!). Unfortunately, Handel is Halle’s only true claim to fame, so after visiting St. Mark’s Church (where Handel learned to play the organ) and the Handel Museum (in which we sang the Hallelujah Chorus for the heck of it), the group used the afternoon to spend our last remaining euros on souvenirs and the traditional German 4:00 pm coffee and cake break. Our final concert was at the Holleben Church, and we performed with a local Jazz choir, “In Tune.” Again, the church held a moment of silence with the tolling of the bell to mourn for the victims at Virginia Tech. The concert itself was very lively. We did four rounds of the end of “He Never Failed Me Yet” and had a church full of Germans on their feet dancing and clapping to American Gospel. They even asked for an encore, and we of course, happily obliged. It was a joyful end to a most memorable trip. The only thing I had to worry about was making sure I got on a plane to India in about 48 hours…