Gniezno Take II (June 8th)

Allow to preface this post with an explanation of how the last few days of our tour changed. Originally the choir was planned to arrive in Prague today. We were supposed to have a full day in Prague, a concert, and a cruise. However, due to excessive rain Prague was flooded and the choir was advised not to go into Prague. Instead of going to Prague, the choir was going to spend a day in Berlin. This was better for one main reason...Bethel Choir was always late to things. If the choir went to Prague, then the day of our flight we would have to drive 4-hours to Berlin, in rush hour I might add, take a plane to Frankfurt and fly home. If we would have attempted this drive, we probably would have missed our flights. So spending the day in Berlin was a smart choice. As a result the choir would return to Gniezno for a free day then drive to Berlin the following day.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Gniezno. We had a free day to do whatever...explore, shop, and just relax. When we arrived, we ate lunch at the other Pietrak hotel that was down the street from our previous hotel. The choir was split between the two hotels. In the courtyard behind the hotel there was a peacock. It was an interesting find at a hotel in Poland.

A lot of people were looking forward to shopping. However that did not really work out.   We were not aware that shops closed at 2:00. So people that managed to buy anything were lucky.  I had over 200 Zloty to spend, and I could not even spend it. I did buy a dress shirt. Ben and I walked around and we met up with Ellie, Kali, and Lisa in a park behind the cathedral. We walked over to a cafe and went to a cafe. Across from the cafe was a souvenir shop...and it was open. I managed to buy a painting, two bier steins, and some other smaller stuff. I spent most of my Polish money.

We ventured back to the first hotel and had dinner as a choir. Following dinner we walked as a group over to the cathedral steps and we had our final meeting. We thanked our officers, student conductor, and anyone else who had a special role in the choir. DP also thanked the seniors. DP also introduced the rep for next year and next year's tour. It is both exciting and sad that we will not be with Bethel Choir to be able to experience all that they will experience next year.

After dinner the group split up into different things. Some went to a park and played with a frisbee. Me on the other hand just sat outside, watched the sun set, and journaled. It was relaxing. Ellie, Em, and Leah even joined me journaling themselves for a time. Some of the people who were playing frisbee came back and we were talking outside of the cathedral when some Polish boys on bikes stopped and stared at us. They realized that we were not Polish because we spoke English. They spoke to us in broken English and managed to get Alex's fb information. Later I had two friend requests.

Our trip is coming to an end. Tomorrow we drive into Berlin, hangout in Berlin, and then fly home. My parents flew into Germany today. I imagine their flight went well. But since I am writing this after the fact, I can tell you that my parents were re-routed to Koln where they circled the air port there for about an hour. Then they sat on the tarmac waiting for the plane to be re-fueled. They could not be let off the plane because the air port had only two stairs and too many planes. They also only had two refueling trucks. So clearly my parents had a more interesting time getting into Germany than I did.