Day 3

Today Sasha and I woke up to an amazing breakfast spread! Bread with Nutella and butter, boiled eggs, yogurt, cereal, and especially coffee.

We got to the bus and it was time to head to Köln. When we arrived we immediately drove by the cathedral. The cathedral is massive!! We couldn’t believe we’d be singing in this amazing acoustic.

When we got off the bus, we split into two groups to go on a walking tour. Köln is the fourth largest city in Germany. Next to the cathedral is a Romano/ Germanic Museum. Below is a picture of the Romans original flooring of a villa with Dionysus mosaic. Above was where we walked on top of a concert hall. It is right behind the cathedral. This is a statue of a Prussian king, King Friedrich Wilhelm III, in front of the Hohenzollernbrücke (bridge). This bridge crosses over the Rhine river. We then went to the Wallraf Das museum. We were able to see where they are planning on building a Jewish Museum. It will go on top of an underground museum for Köln. A couple years ago, Dr. Davenport and his wife made a second part to their three part opera. I played Berthe Morisot, an impressionist painter who was not taken seriously in the Louvre because she was a woman. Lucky for us, there were two paintings of hers there 🙂It was finally time for us to sing in Köln Cathedral. We sang four pieces and in our coats! It was very cold, but the acoustic sound was completely worth it. After we sang, the father took us personally to see the bones of the Magi. This is why the Köln Cathedral is one of the most important places in Christianity. It is said that the bones of the three King’s, that visited Jesus at his birth, are in this shrine. We were able to take pictures in front of it. I don’t have the picture just yet, but when I do, I will add it to this blog so make sure to check back!After performing and getting a tour of the cathedral, we had some free time for lunch. Sasha, Zack, Connor, Ben, Corey, and I went to Brauhaus Früh am Dom. Ben and Corey’s host family recommended this place and wow it was great! We ate different German foods and had a pils to drink. The waiter we had wanted to marry Sasha, and also told me to order something totally different than what I ordered. He was so fun to be around though and it was a joy eating lunch!Before heading back to the bus we walked through the Christmas market that was right by the cathedral. It was so cute! I can’t wait for us to get to travel to some other Christmas markets in the upcoming days.

We then got stuck in traffic on our way back to Schwelm. We had a mini rehearsal on the bus before arriving to the church for dinner. We ate for about 20 minutes and then it was time to get ready for our concert. We had a wonderful first full concert in another great acoustic. When we got home Eva had more food waiting for us 🙂 She made a chicken bratwurst, Geflügel- bratwurst. It was great and we ate it with mustard.Then we had a number of desserts too. Marco likes to take pictures and he put the different desserts on a platter. We had Vanille Kipferl, Spritzgebäck which Eva’s mother made, Schneeflöchen which is like a tea cake, and Nussecken which had nuts in it. I tried three of the four, I bet you can imagine which one I didn’t try…. 😉

Then they brought us PRESENTS! Sasha has found a new love for soccer and Marco works with the fussball tournament in Germany. He got us jerseys, keychains, and landyards.

When I came into their home, I noticed they had these stars that I saw in Bonn. They are known for being decorations during the Christmas season, but Eva and Marco keep them up year round. Since I admired them so much they are giving me one of theirs!!!!Needless to say, Sasha and I truly lucked out with such an amazing German home stay.

Tomorrow we head to Leipzig on a 6 hour bus ride.

Again, Sasha and I truly have had an amazing couple of nights here with Eva and Marco. Can’t wait until we see them again when they visit Ohio next October.

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