Green Garden

 

One of the more nerve-wracking (and ultimately rewarding) parts of doing the tour is that, instead of being put up in hotels or hostels across the country, the students and staff members are housed with host families for the duration of each stay.  As such, we are given a much better idea of how German families live with a first hand experience. Plus the food is MUCH better and we get to have a fantastic sampling of the regional specialties.

Having a great host family adds so much to the over all experience, and I must say that I was a bit spoiled during the initial stop in Landau.  I was housed with the tenor soloist, Zach, and we only have glowing things to say about the Kellers… quite frankly, all those other families have a lot to live up to!

Dr. Peter and Sybille Keller in front of their beautiful flowers

 

During our stay they were having solar panels installed on their roof, something that is quite common over here.  Though I missed the opportunity to snap some pictures during the process, you can see the end results.

Just doing a little house tanning

 

The evenings were spent drinking schorle— the German equivalent to a white wine spritzer, suited best for hot, summer days as a refresher instead of merely drinking straight wine—on one of their many outdoor patios, looking out over their gardens and listening to one of the local classical music stations (see also: heaven).  One night as we were talking we saw the international space station pass by (see again: heaven).

The smaller building to the left houses the indoor pool!

 

I also had quite a view from my upstairs room.  For a couple of hours a day their automated lawnmower (think Roomba but with an appetite for grass instead of dust bunnies) would come out and roam the backyard.

Phi-Phi chowing down on some clippings

 

But that’s no all!  If the serene beauty of their backyard and gardens don’t do it for ya, just take a seat by the coy pond and chill out.

  

 

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention another fantastic member of the host family, Martha, who has been with the Kellers for many many years.  She can cook a mean meal, which is evident in the white asparagus crepes and herbed hollandaise sauce we were fortunate enough to have for lunch one day.

 

Martha, Sybille and the boys / I most definitely had seconds

 

On our final evening we took a drive up through the hills and vineyards to a restaurant overlooking the wine country, where we dined on a smorgasbord of regional specialties.  I can’t quite recall the names of the dishes, but I can recall how deliiiicious they were.

 

Meat and wine!!!

 

Needless to say, I was a tad despondent to leave such a fantastic homestay with the Kellers.  They are the epitome of charming and gracious hosts, but such is the life of a touring Blue Laker.

Artist: Laura Mvula / Album: Sing to the Moon

Froggy Went a Courtin’

 

As there was not a venue (or, quit honestly, a town) in our next stop in France large enough to accommodate both the choir and the orchestra for the Brahms’ Requiem, Sabrina and I traveled separately to the village of Villard-Bonnot to perform our Puccini and My Fair Lady numbers with the orchestra while the choir went further south about 150 km to the village of Briancon.   I was lucky enough to be housed with Maestro Tony Porter at the chairman’s house and three fourths of our time was spend outside in their lovely backyard and garden.

 

 

The patio outside was engulfed by kiwi vines… WHAT!!

 

Being located in the French Alps also came with some stunning views. For instance, the one from our backyard:

 

And now it’s time for the “French Stereotypes” portion of this blog post!  All of our meals consisted of about five courses, the second to last being a de-licious cheese platter with many of the different regions represented:

 

 

Every morning when I would open the windows to let in some light and fresh air I was met by a lovely bit of escargot just waiting to be cooked!

 

And if you have cheese and escargot, you know that frogs aren’t far behind!  I’ve only ever eaten frog legs once before when Catherine [side note—HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATHERINE!!!] celebrated the third anniversary of owning the John Cleary Gallery but became quite a fan.  Sabrina was just a couple of houses down from my own and one night we went on a walk to a nearby creek and the frogs were just buzzing!!

Please watch!! It’s just 15 seconds long and has a special guest star!!

 

Maestro Porter, Bruno and Christianne!

 

Artist: Elvis Presley/ Album: Walk a Mile in My Shoes

The Big Dollhouse

 

Five staff members and our director, maestro Dr. Ott Carole, all shared one house for the Eberbach stop—and what a house it was!  Built in 1687, the building is actually comprised of two separate houses that have been joined together.  Originally, our host mom, Ute, only owned one of them but when her neighbors told her they were moving she quickly made an offer: “I wanted the garden,” was her retort.

“I would think it was that house from Hansel and Gretel except it’s not made of candy.  Trust me, I already tried to take a bite.” ~ Sabrina

 

 

Whaaaaaaaaat!?!

 

Having a house this fabulous also comes with certain perks.  Perks like having it appear on post cards for the city and seeing paintings of it for sale throughout the city:

(excuse the poor picture quality, but it is a picture of a post card after all!)

 

 

 

We had all planned on making a video of how massive (and how many stairs) were in the house but kept putting it off until we ended up having no time at all.  I did, however, want to make note of one very special set of stairs.  These led up to the fourth floor where my room was and, though it’s really hard to tell from the picture, was extremely narrow and even more extremely steep.  I said a certain prayer every time I went down them just hoping I wouldn’t slip and go tumbling down.

“Our Lady of La Scala,  please help me to descend these stairs and arrive safely at the bottom.  Give us this day our daily Brahms.  Amen”  (Usually I’m a bit hyperbolic about these things, but I actually did say this about 5 times a day.)

 

And finally, one final shot with our host mother before we headed off to France for the next stop:

 

Our ensemble: Seth, Carole, Kate, Ute, Jessie and Sabrina!

 

Artist: Marc Shaiman and Scott Whittman/ Album: Hairspray

I Always Say Hello to a Flower

 

One of the places I wanted to make sure to get to was the United States Botanic Garden, located at the foot of the Capitol building.  Now, the laaaaaast time I went to a botanic garden was a couple of New Years ago when visiting my friends Nate and Jamison and Kyle in Minneapolis.  They have quite a lovely one there, except I find myself in a bit of horticultural trouble at one point.  One of the rooms is dedicated entirely to ferns of all shapes and sizes, and when I was standing next to one of the larger specimens I heard an awful cracking noise and a giant branch fell basically two inches away from me.  Naturally, everyone there immediately looked to me as the culprit.

I’m innocent I tells ya, INNOCENT!! (also, this was taken about two phones ago, so excuse the quality)

 

Needless to say, I did my best to stay away from any fern I came in contact with.

Look, Joseph, but don’t touch

 

The orchid room

 

Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers! I refer to them as the harbingers of Spring because when I lived in Ann Arbor they were always the first to push through the snow.  Campus was littered with them, as was Plymouth road, and they always made me excited for the change of seasons

 

This is what I look like when NOT toppling over mother nature like a hyperactive lumberjack

 

Artist: Faith Prince/ Album: A Leap of Faith

Sun King

On our free day in Uetersen two other campers staying with another family joined my host mother and i in a walk around the town, as their host parents were both working that day. First we stopped by the church that Elijah was supposed to be held in but was changed at the last minute do to some immediate renovations that had to be undertaken.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Then we walked along the outward streets of the town and got to see what the local German country side had to offer.  After this we took a stroll through the city center and headed back to the house for some lunch and some much needed rest.

Fffffountain

As is only appropriate for a city that celebrates roses, my host family had a beautiful garden where we spent many evenings chatting and cooling off from the unusually warm days.

With my host family

Nothing really new or interesting to report on the Elijah performance other than it was held yet again in the finest gymnasium in the region.  I had hoped to be singing in glorious space after glorious space, but I suppose I shant bite the hand that is feeding me amaing French and German food and giving me the opportunity to sing on of my favorite pieces.

You may be wondering to yourself: "Does carpet lining the floor and 1/3 of the wall help resonate sound better?" Wonder no more... for it ab.so.lutely does not

Locker room Dressing room to the stars!

That night, though, I FORCED myself once again to go out.  Much in the same way that I have FORCED myself to drink the wine in France and beer in Germany these last few weeks.  I'm a trooper, I tell ya.  Emily's host, Christina, took Mason, Ellen, Emily and I out to Hamburg for another respite from the chitlens.  I had opted out of the previous day's trip to Hamburg in order to stay home and rest so it was nice to get a taste of the city.  And by "taste" I mean our first stop was unashamedly Amercian-- BURGER KING!!! 

Poor, sad Amercians getting a free trip to Europe

How do they manage to look so cute in a Burger King! Well, Emily is giving a bit of her Jezebel eyes...

I would have shown a picture from the outside but fear for my life in doing so.  I took one but was immediately (and quite literally) hissed at from a bevy of women standing the the front.

Christina: "Oh, Joseph, don't take pictures of the prostitutes, please."
Me: "Wait, what?!"
Christina: "Yeah, they get really angry."
Me: "Okay, no more, I promise.  I just wanted a silly picture of an American restaurant for my blog but didnt realize... sorry."
Christina: "Don't put that on the internet, it wouldn't be good."
Me: "Ha ha, okay sure, 'cause they'll come after me and all."
Christina: (With the seriousness reserved only for news of death and last call at a bar) "No, really, do NOT put the pictures up at all."

Soooooo not that I really think I'll be shanked in my sleep by a German lady of the abend, but better safe than sorry?  After sucessfully avoiding a cat fight and getting a bit of greasy food in the process we went and got a couple of drinks and walked around.  Apparently the Beatles performed somewhere in the vacinity of some of the bars and they had some cool metallic statues to commemorate the occasion.

Workin' it like the girls in front of Burger King!

GET IT!

As is also the custom after a night out, everyone was super super tired and earned a much needed nap in the back seat.  Though I'm not sure how they were sleeping-- we were shooting down the autobahn at almost 120mph!!! Yaaaaay foreign speed limits!