Tour to Europe
Essay by Michael Vryenhoek (Matric 2006)
At the beginning of December the Hilton College Tour Choir, in conjunction with the Wykeham Collegiate Tour Choir, forming the Musica Corde Choir departed for their first international tour and competition to be held in Europe. Our exciting journey started on Tuesday 5 February at the Durban International Airport. For the next 12 hours we would be travelling until we reached our final destination, Munich, in Germany with a stopover in Doha in the very small kingdom of Qatar. However, Doha was particularly quiet when we arrived, so through true South African spirit we decided to brighten up the place with a bit of noise…well singing to be more precise. It actually drew quite a crowd and was very enjoyable. Unfortunately our flight from Doha to Munich was delayed due to problems with the runaway and thus we South Africans decided to occupy the entire waiting area entertaining ourselves while we waited.
Upon arriving in Munich we met our tour guide Andreas who we soon discovered had a real passion for singing…especially in the bus! I have to admit, it’s not as bad singing in the shower though, and he made us laugh so we enjoyed it. Our first sight seeing tour in Europe was to the very small town of Salzburg which is just in Austria, just across the German-Austrian border. The name of the town refers to salt was a very important commodity in the past and was worth about as much as gold is now! Salzburg is famous as the birth place of Mozart and during our tour, of the town, we visited the house the Mozart lived in and went to see the Royal Palace which is unfortunately not used for this purpose anymore. The most amazing thing about Salzburg is the sheer age of the buildings. Some of the buildings even had inscriptions of the date that they were built and these dates went back to the 13th Century and amazingly, they are all still intact. We even walked past the smallest house in existence which was 1.6m wide and 4m long. After our sight seeing of Salzburg we returned to Munich to fetch Sam and Riaan, two other members of our choir who were lucky enough to have had Master Classes by a Norwegian Professor.
On Thursday we left Munich and began travelling to Prague by bus. The journey was a five hour trip which ended when we stopped at Liben Castle, in Prague, to set up for our first performance. The first performance was for the “Welcome Friends” concert which was an introductory concert to the 7th International Festival of Advent Music choral festival.
Friday consisted of a sight seeing tour of the Old Town of Prague and the Jewish Ghetto. We had rehearsals in the nearby churches for the two concerts that we were going to perform today. During our free time while walking around the city, I spotted a t-shirt with a very funny print on it; on the front were the words “Prague, Czech me out!”. After the evening’s performance, we walked to the port and boarded a boat for our cruise. I think on behalf of everyone, the cruise was very enjoyable. We had supper on the boat and there was also music and a disco. One of the highlights of the cruise was meeting new people who were also going to participate in the competition. The most enthusiastic people were a group of children from Taiwan who even asked us to teach them some of our African music.
Saturday was competition day so everyone woke up very nervous and apprehensive for what they were in store for. But clearly our performance was not that bad because we did walk away with a Silver Prize that afternoon and were very proud of ourselves. After the prize giving we were back into the bus for a trip to one of the many hotels in Prague where an evening of music and dancing was arranged for us and all the other participants of the competition. And once again, in true South African spirit we really spiced up the evening, I think Louis was the culprit who started both trains never mind that we really dominated the dance floor. That evening was lots of fun and I think it’s safe to say that everyone enjoyed it...maybe a little too much for their own good, but nevertheless.
After Prague we were off to Poland, where we were warned that the weather was going to be rather chilly. Well, unfortunately for us, there wasn’t a drop of snow in sight...clearly we had brought South African Summer with us because this was apparently their hottest Winter...and the temperature was in single figures! Our 10 hour bus journey ended with everyone desperate for a toilet that they didn’t have to pay for! But alas, one even has to pay to excrete in Europe...what next? Our hotel in Krakow was very orange to say the least, but it was one of the best that we stayed in and I don’t think we can complain about the accommodation.
Our next 3 days in Krakow were spent sight seeing. These included a guided tour of the largest salt mine in the world. It was amazing, the mine was full of statues carved from salt and even had three (or four, can’t remember) chapels that had been carved into the mine. We decided that it would be quite an experience to sing some of our religious songs in the larger of the chapels...and it was! Another sight seeing experience was the guided tours of both Auschwitz and Birkeneau concentration camps situated just outside Krakow. I think that for everyone, these tours were something that we will never forget and now we understand just a little bit of what happened there. Our last tour in Krakow was a guided tour of the old town and afterwards we were back onto the bus to continue our trip to Zakopane, a very small town in Poland which is very popular for skiing. We saw our first day of snow in Krakow! Everyone was outside straight after breakfast having snow fights and making snow angels. After a concert in Zakopane, where we were congratulated on giving the best performance in that church the whole year (luckily we were at the end of the year...) and where we saw the only poster announcing our concert, we had a very hearty dinner.
Our second day spent in Zakopane was a very free day, which was definitely needed by everyone...it was time for a rest. After breakfast we took a trip up to the top of Mount Gubalowka by funicular railway. The aim of this was supposed to be so that we could participate in various snow activities such as dry tobogganing, but unfortunately, it was a rather hot day...only about 5°C, as if that’s supposed to be hot!
From Zakopane, we were off to Budapest, the capital city of Hungary and the city of the famous Danube river. When we arrived in Budapest it was clear that there were some serious issues in Hungary because instead of a pleasant arrival we were greeted by a group or very large waterpolo-playing, mafia-looking guards. Apparently we had arrived in the midst of political strife and thus the hotel was being guarded by these rather scary looking humans.
Our days in Budapest were spent sight seeing which included a trip to the part of the city where the Danube river makes a 90° turn called the “Danube Bend”. One of our evenings was spent walking around a local shopping mall in Budapest. Our last concert was performed in Budapest where we performed as part of an evening program which included a performance by a state orchestra. The concert was very well received and thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Our final destination was the beautiful city of Vienna, the capital city of Austria. The trip was about 4 hours by bus from Budapest and we arrived in time for some last minute shopping in what can only be called a shopper’s paradise! Our hotel was located in a small street in Vienna and the most amazing thing about it was that all that was visible from the street was the entrance. On either side of the entrance there were shops and yet behind that small door, there was a hotel large enough to fit us all! Dinner was organised at the Wienerwald Restaurant which was a 10 minute walk from the hotel. After the wonderful meal we were treated to a guided city tour by a very kind retired tour guide who ran to our aid as we walked through the streets of Vienna. We were headed to Figaro Hall for a concert by the Vienna Walzer Orchestra of classical musical works which also included ballet. This concluded our last night in Europe and in the morning we were off to the airport for the return journey.
I think there were mixed feelings about leaving Europe. There was the thrill of returning home and the excitement of Christmas ahead, but I had really enjoyed my trip and especially the people I had met on the way. I think its fair to say that the tour was a great success and that it was enjoyed by everyone.
We arrived at the airport ready for the long flights home, which, I have to admit, were fairly uneventful considering the fact that everyone was extremely tired.
A huge thanks is owed to Mr. Dippenaar, Mrs. Boeke and all the other wonderful people who helped make this unforgettable experience possible.