The Chattanooga Girls Choir

Day 9
Tues., July 6, 1999

We had a very busy and long day today. This morning we traveled about 15 miles out of Paris to go to the Palace of Versailles. We turned a corner to see what resembled a huge ornate apartment building! The "queues" to get in were tremendously long, but our guides were able to take us to another entrance which could get us in much faster. The groups stayed close to their chaperones as they weaved their way through the crowds inside the palace. There were various tour groups in every room, and as we walked past, we heard palace guides addressing their groups in French, German, Chinese, Spanish, English, Japanese -- it was quite a language experience! In the palace, the walls were marble in many rooms and brightly-colored flocked wallpaper in others. There were huge framed paintings that covered entire walls, and there was the dazzling Hall of Mirrors. However, because of the crowds, it was something of a relief to finally leave the palace and go into the palace gardens, a huge expanse of manicured hedges, flowers, and statues. On a more amusing note, some of the girls were overheard talking about how exciting it was to perhaps be walking on the same paths that may have been walked on by Leonardo Dicaprio (!), who filmed a movie here recently. I guess everyone gets something different out of these experiences!

When we returned to Paris, we had about an hour to walk and shop on the Champs Elysee and visit the Arc de Triomphe. Then we took the buses to the Seine River for our boat cruise, only to find that our boat was gone. We had reserved the boat and had arrived right at the scheduled departure time, but they had already been able to fill the boat, so they had left without us. The next boat would depart too late for us to make our 5:00 concert time, so the boat ride was cancelled. To compensate us for the cost, the tour guides arranged for a refund for each person, or they could get a Hard Rock T-shirt at half price. (Many girls chose the latter option.)

Because of the cancelled boat ride, we arrived early at St. Augustin Church (another large, beautiful cathedral). The church was very nice to us and provided a room downstairs for the girls to warm up and wait for their 5:00 performance time. By the time the choir began to sing their performance, quite a few people had arrived to listen to them.

But I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of today's journal. Rest assured that the concert was great, and that we did get to go up the Eiffel Tower tonight. However, it's almost 2 a.m. here, and we have to pack and leave early in the morning, so this "journalist" has got to get some sleep. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update...Unless, of course, we have connection problems again in London.

Connections worked! So here's the rest of the story:

The performance at St. Augustin went very smoothly, but partway through, some girls (of all ages) were becoming noticeably emotional -- it had hit them that this was their final concert together. The audience gave them a standing ovation when they finished, and they did three encores. When they were finally through, the girls hugged and some cried; this choir has really bonded, and with 5 seniors graduating, it was especially difficult. Then the seniors and the other Grace Moore Singers sang Edelweiss together one last time. It's hard to describe the emotions in that were present in that cathedral at that moment.

The girls pulled themselves together and boarded the buses to head back to the hotel. The mood on the buses became festive as the girls realized their last performance was behind them, and with 'I Like to Party' blaring on the bus speakers, the girls danced in the aisles. (By the way, ask your daughter about our Happy Day song -- it was played usually twice a day, with everyone singing along: 'Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah!')

At the hotel, the five seniors did a quick change into evening attire, and went out on the town (for dinner and the Eiffel Tower) with Ed and Sharon Huey. The rest of the choir ate dinner at the hotel, then headed for the Eiffel Tower. It took nearly 50 minutes to get through the crowds to get to the top, but the view was unbelievable. We spent about 10 minutes looking all around and using up all our film, then had to head back down. When we got to the lower (second) level, we learned that some chaperones had stayed on that level with girls who had a fear of heights; also, some of the girls who had been stuck in the elevator yesterday had a difficult time with getting on another elevator, so they only went on the big elevator to the second level (which also had a great view), not the small elevator to the top, and they held tightly to their tour guide Brendon the whole time. I guess it's fair to say that it was an unforgetable experience for everyone.

We arrived back at the hotel after midnight, and the girls hurriedly packed for our return trip to London before finally falling into bed for an all-too-brief night's sleep.

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Ashley, Jessica T., Carol, Jessica S., and Elizabeth R. with their chaperones in the Hall of Mirrors at Versalles.

Mandy, Sara, Emilee, Alyson, Emily T., and Virginia become a new statue in the garden of Versailles!

Strolling down the Champs Elysee, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Performing on the final concert of the tour at St. Augustin, with percussion by Beth, Faith, and Krystal on the song 'Sikuyo'.

The Grace Moore singers sing 'Edelweiss' together one last time.

The Grace Moore girls entertained the bus by dancing to the "Happy Music."

The 1999 graduating seniors -- Bethany, Beth, Faith, Betsy, and JoLeigh -- ready for their evening out with Mr. and Mrs. Huey.

On the second level, twins April and Amanda wait (a little nervously!) with their helpers Krista and Alicia (also sisters!) and with grandparents Pat & Jerry Jones for the elevator to take them to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. (The Arc de Triomphe is on the left.)

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