The Chattanooga Girls Choir

Day 3
Sunday, June 8, 2003

Today was another beautiful but very warm day in Vienna. After our standard buffet breakfast of bread, ham, cheese, boiled eggs, and granola, the girls packed their water bottles, music, and concert uniform and loaded the bus, where we met Lisa, our new tour guide for the day. Our first stop was at the Belvedere Palace, a very impressive building built in 1722. It was once the home of princes but now is an art gallery and tourist attraction.

Our bus then took us out to Schloss Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace), the former summer home of the Hapsburgs, the dynasty that ruled Austria and other surrounding countries for nearly 300 years. What an incredible place it would have been in which to live -- beautiful paintings on some ceilings, elaborate gold-plated carvings on all the walls, intricate inlaid tabletops, huge gardens and fountains outside... it was fascinating to most of the tour group, but not surprisingly, some girls don't have much interest in history or architecture.

By mid-afternoon, it was time to meet with the Amadeus Boys Choir, and the girls were walking with a lighter step. To everyone's surprise, the meeting place turned out to be at a fair, not at a church, and there was to be no rehearsal after all. Instead, a few boys were matched up with a group of girls (and chaperones, of course!) to spend an hour or so at the fair. It was great fun watching both choirs ride the rides and crash bumper cars into each other! When it was at last time to go to the church to prepare for mass, the boys joined the girls on the bus for the short trip. It turned out that the girls did not need their formal dress for the mass after all. The boys choir sang the first and last musical pieces from the choir loft and the girls sang everything else from the front steps in front of the altar. It was a shame that the two choirs never had a chance to actually sing the same song together, but the priest and people were VERY appreciative that we had come and had much praise for the girls.

We finally returned to downtown Vienna for dinner, after which we went back to our hotel and collapsed into our beds very quickly. Jet lag or just a busy day?

The choir posed for photos on the grounds of the Belvedere Palace.

This group of girls entertained Amadeus Choir members Christian and Johann.

The tour choir sang for evening mass at Königin des Friedens (Queen of Peace) church.

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