Onwards to Erfurt (May 29th)

The choir left Darmstadt after breakfast and we made our way towards Erfurt. Suprisingly, our buses got lost somehow near Eisenach and Wittenberg Castle (the place where Martin Luther would translate the Bible into German. In short, we arrived later than expected at Predigerkirche in Erfurt. In fact, it was close to 2 hours late. We were supposed to have arrived, had some time to walk around and get dinner before we had rehearsal. That however did not happen. The upside to this is that I sat with my good friends Gabrielle, Brocker, and Courtney. I did not know Courtney or Brocker that well, but the extended bus ride allowed me to do just that and I am happy I got to have that chance to get to know people better. We arrived in time to have a short rehearsal before going with our host parents to get dinner and changed for the concert.

Rehearsal was interesting because we had not had a rehearsal for two weeks. The choir did not rehearse during finals week, although we could have, and so our first concert could be really bad or it could go swimmingly. Fortunately it went swimmingly with a few things that required some attention. The place where we were singing, the Predigerkirche, is a beautiful Protestant Church with soaring ceilings and gothic features. The sound inside was incredible. Singing some of our songs was just plain awesome because of the several second ring that continued after we stopped singing. This church was where Pachelbel was an organist. Google his name if you are unfamiliar with what he has done. Anyway, it was really cool to be singing there.

View from the inside

The outside of the church

Jeff and I went with our host dad and he brought us back to their house. It was a nice home. It was new and built in a newer neighborhood. Jeff and I were placed into the elder daughters room (she was about 11 I think if I recall correctly). It was small and cozy. Jeff and I changed into our concert blacks and we drove into town with our host dad, Cosium and Miriam (younger sister). We arrived and ate at an italian place before we were dropped off again at the church for the concert. But prior to that our host dad brought us through the Dome Platz with the big cathedral which is pictured below. It was huge. We walked up the stairs and went inside. 

What we found inside was spectacular. Gothic architecture to the max. It was awesome. The pictures below show what the inside looked like and what types of things we found inside.

This is the first major alter piece that I have seen on this tour. I do not think, even for a second, that this is going to be the last nor the most ornate alter piece I shall see. It was still stunning nonetheless.  When I go into places like this, I find it hard to worship God in the space. The space is meant to be a place of worship, but what I tend to do is look at all of the ornate things on the walls, the windows, and the alter. I would find worshiping in a place such as this as distracting. But that is just my personal opinion.

Before the concert I grabbed some pictures with some of my favorite people

From Left to Right: Grace, Myself, and Madeleine

My favorite and best "Robe Princess" and friend Gabrielle

Left to Right: Grace, Myself, Madeleine, Ben

My good friend and "brother" Ben

Maddie and Me

Madeleine and Me

After the concert we all went with our host families. Our host dad thought that we should see some of Erfurt before we leave in the morning. So he showed us around town for a little bit. Below are the pictures from that short tour.

Bethel Choir

This is the Predigerkirche from the outside at night

This was a coin operated "Snow White" mechanical puppet show. It cost only 1 euro and the scene came to life. The witch in the back pulls back the cape to reveal the scene. It was pretty cool. 

This is the Merchants Bridge. This is where all of the shops used to be back in the day. Now its filled with some touristy things and smaller shops. Nonetheless it was still cool to see. People live on the bridge as well in small apartments.

This is the Merchant Bridge in the daylight

One thing that strikes me about Europe is how compact it is. There is no wasted space. Living space may seem small to us being as it may that we come from a country where we have too much space. I find it interesting that in every available space is used for function. I like that about Europe. I think America could learn something from this idea.

One of our last stops was the church where Martin Luther trained as a priest. We could not go inside because it was late. This picture was taken in my visit to Erfurt with my family after the choir tour. This picture turned out much nicer than the one taken at night. 

When we got back to our host family's abode, we met our host mom and they offered us chocolate, cookies, and beer of which we gratefully accepted. We talked with them to the best of our ability because they knew some english and we knew no german. So communication was slow but it did happen.