Traveling plans

After all of our ups and downs, yes's and no's, it's official - we're going to Europe! We made the decision a while ago, so I may have mentioned it already. And although we've had a few financial setbacks that have required replanning, the plans are really starting to come together. Now I think it's time to really start getting excited about the trip, and I want to share our plans!

The greatest piece of news that we have received recently: while we are in Prague, we get to sing at St. Vita's Cathedral (or St Vitus) - the big church that you see up on the hill in all of the pictures of the city. I looked into some more information about it, and the pictures have astounded me. We get to not only see it, but we get to SING there? I'm completely flabergasted. Take a look at pictures:

The best of the rest: We leave July 3rd and after a full day of traveling, we are spending three days in Prague. In addition to singing at St. Vitus, we'll also be participating at a shared concert with a local Prague choir. And of course we get to explore and experience the rest of the city as well.

Then we move on to Vienna where we will also be spending three days. My FAVORITE thing about this portion of the trip is that Stephen and I will be spending our 3 year wedding anniversary in VIENNA! YEAH!!!!! We get to visit so many sites in the city, but I am very excited to see the Central Cemetery to see the graves of Beethhoven, Brahms, Strauss, and the Mozart Memorial. We get to perform a concert as part of the American Celebration of Music in Austria.

Our last stop is Salzburg and we'll be spending our remaining 4 days there. This is the place of our primary purpose for heading to this region of Europe: the Cantus Salisburgensis, an international festival of choral and orchestral music. As part of this, we sing on our own a couple of times at the Kollegienkirche, and then all choirs sing together in the Salzburg Dom singing Mozart's Credo Mass.

It's probably all we'll be able to talk about for the next 3 months. But now you see - we have quite a trip to look forward to!