Gunn HS Choir 2011 Italy Tour

Photo library online

2011-05-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've placed a lot of photos, from various chaperones here. There are about 1500 pictures, from every day of the trip. If you see something you like you should copy it, as I'll need to take the library down in a few weeks to make more space.

Beauty shot of the choir at St. Peter's

2011-04-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate to have a few moments after the Sunday mass for a photo opportunity at St. Peter's in Rome - and doubly fortunate to have a parent on hand with the camera & time to take 3 pictures and stitch them together. Above is a small version of Hiro's picture.

A very large (7.7 MB, 6000 × 2200, suitable for large print) version can be found here:

Many thanks to Hiro Teranishi for the terrific picture, and possibly for some upcoming video (stay tuned)...

Another video from Rome

2011-04-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

Bill has posted another video, this one a complete recording (on a Flip video camera, so a little shaky) of the concert at Santa Agnese in Agone church in Rome (at Piazza Navona). Here it is:

We've been back a week now and I'm about over my jet lag and back into the work routine - the trip is fading into memory already. Fortunately we've got lots of photos & videos to help remember!

New video from San Gimignano posted!

2011-04-19T07:49:00.001-07:00

One of the choir parents has posted this video from the concert in San Gimignano. The choir is performing 'It Takes a Village', a favorite selection of our tour guides Edi & Cristina:

Farewell to Italy

2011-04-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

We're assembling in the lobby of the Gabrielle D'Annunzio right now, preparing to board our bus to the airport and embark on our lengthy trip home. About half the choir has already left, having gotten up at the ungodly hour of 5AM and traveled to the airport around dawn's early light. We remaining have a somewhat more relaxed schedule, but of course it means we get home later than the other crew. I know that I'm looking forward to my own bed and I think lots of the others feel the same.

It's been an awesome trip, with lots of highlights. The weather was almost perfect, the schedules went without a hitch, and apart from intermittent internet connectivity issues not much else has gone wrong. The kids were terrific the whole time (mostly) and the music was wonderful.

I don't have time to post much else right now, but once I get home I'll try to round up any stray photos or videos from other chaperones (feel free to contact me once you get over your jet lag). So check again occasionally, you may find some new stuff soon!

- Glen

Friday night wrap-up

2011-04-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our final concert of the trip, a performance at Santo Stefano concert hall in Florence - just a few steps from Ponte Vecchio (the famous old bridge). It was a very easy day otherwise, we got up late (8:30 wake up) and spent most of the day in town shopping and sight-seeing. Rehearsal began at 7:00PM and wound up at 8:30, with a concert starting time of 9:00PM - pretty late, but we had a fair sized crowd of locals & tourists who came in to see the source of the beautiful music they heard on the street.

After the concert we walked to dinner & enjoyed our final meal in Italy: salad, lasagna, fish (hey, it's lent AND it's Italy) and gelato. Just one final bit...then we go back on our normal eating schedules when we get home.

After dinner (but before dessert) the kids sang 'It takes a village' for our tour guides (it wasn't in the program at Sto Stefano due to acoustical issues). It was popular with the restaurant staff as well. Here's photos from today, and I am off to bed!

Thursday night dinner

2011-04-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

I tried to get pictures during the dessert course tonight, but the kids were up & moving around a little too much to guarantee all the faces. Here goes...

Thursday in Tuscany wrap-up

2011-04-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

Our spell of perfect weather has finally broken - it's cold and rainy, with a forecast for more of the same tomorrow. But that hasn't dampened the kids' spirits or enthusiasm.

We started with an early wakeup today (6AM) and a 2 hour coach ride to Siena for a guided tour. We had originally been scheduled to sing for mass at the Siena Duomo, but logistical difficulties resulted in a change - we still had our guided tour of Siena, but instead of the mass we scheduled an afternoon concert in San Gimignano, about a half hour north of Siena (and about an hour southwest of Florence). This also resulted in a change to the dinner schedule, from Siena to San Gimignano.

Siena is an old city, home of the first bank in the world (or so they say, local guides always claim that their city is the first/best/biggest at something). It's charming and picturesque, like all the others, and is home to an impressive cathedral (again, like many other cities). We had time for a guided tour and lunch before boarding the coach.

By the time we reached San Gimignano it was gray and starting to drizzle - it had been overcast, but the rain was finally arriving. The temperature dropped too, into the 50's. If you remembered to send your kid with warm & water repellent clothing then good for you, it sure came in handy today.

Our stay in San Gimignano was pretty brief; we arrived about 3:15 and the kids rehearsed for an hour before performing at 4:30. As we had only set up the concert a few days before, there wasn't a very large crowd (not much publicity) but we did get some locals and passing tourists - including a few from the bay area, surprised to see a Palo Alto choir singing in San Gimignano. The church (chiesa di Santo Agostino) is a medieval building with old frescoes and smooth acoustics, and the concert was a wonderful combination of acoustics and performance.

It was about 6PM when we left the church for dinner, and the rain was gently falling on our heads as we walked across town in mild drizzle to Mandoragola (Mandrake) Restaurant, where we had a great meal - salad, rice, pork & apricot pie for dessert (vegetarians had roasted potatoes with cheese & vegetables).

We were still an hour or more out of Florence, so we boarded the coach & headed back. It is very cool now - probably about 50 or so - and we expect more of the same tomorrow. Everybody is headed for bed, tired but satisfied from a long day of beautiful Italian countryside and music.

UPDATE:

The wireless at hotel Gabrielle D'Annunzio has gone out (I'm thinking possibly due to a barrage of devices suddenly connecting when our buses arrived) and I was unable to post last night. So, this morning I've once again borrowed the internet desk from the hotel staff to post. Sorry for the delay...

Videos from Bill

2011-04-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

Bill has posted the following videos, so you can get an idea what the choir's been up to when they're not shopping, sight-seeing or snacking:

Wednesday night dinner

2011-04-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures taken (mostly, Holly) during the main course at Porcospino 'the porcupine'. And as a reminder, you can click on any picture to see the larger view -

Wednesday in Florence

2011-04-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today was our first full day in Florence (or as the locals refer to it, Firenze) and we enjoyed every minute. First, we are still up to our ears in beautiful weather - while it was a tiny bit windy & cool (~65) today, it was still sunny & clear. A good thing considering our outdoor plans.

We started the day at 7AM with breakfast at our new hotel - the basement space is a little bit small, but we're able to all fit in & eat together (barely!). Then a quick bus ride brought us to Firenze city centre about 9AM, for an appointment with a local tour guide to view Michelangelo's David in the Accademia Museum, followed by a walking tour. We saw the Piazza della Signoria, Piazza della Repubblica, Ponte Vecchio, and wandered around the Duomo and Uffizi Gallery. Our tour wound up in the Piazza della Repubblica, and we got the luxury of several free hours to do...what else? Shop, snack & sight-see. The weather truly is unbelievable, so sight-seeing was a popular option (some went inside the Uffizi gallery to view the beautiful renaissance & historical art & sculpture, which had a long waiting line for entry).

We met up again at the Piazza to walk over to Il Porcospino (the porcupine) trattoria where we had an excellent dinner together -- salad already waiting when we arrived, followed by Tuscan fare of ribolita (re-boiled soup) and Tuscan stew, and a dessert of Creme caramel. Yum!

Finally back at the hotel by 10 and to bed, because tomorrow is an early start. We've had a small change of plans from our original schedule, and rather than sing a mass at the Siena Duomo, we'll tour Siena and then travel to San Gimignano (a picturesque Tuscan village) for a full-on concert performance at the Collegiata. This is an amazing medieval church with amazing frescos & wonderful acoustics, and we're lucky we got to add it to our tour.

Here's some pictures from today's fun:

Tuesday night dinner in Florence

2011-04-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took pictures during the pasta course, tomorrow I'll do it during the main course. Holly, did you think I wasn't reading the comments? :^)

As always you can click on any picture to enlarge it...

Tuesday travel from Rome to Florence

2011-04-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a relaxed day - no concerts, no tours, no rehearsals. Only lots of time spent sitting on the bus (sleeping, mostly) and visits to a couple of beautiful Tuscan towns.

The weather is still holding - beautiful & clear. We really are lucky! We left Rome at about 8AM, and arrived in Montepulciano around 11. It's a hilltop village south of Florence, and for some reason there were almost no other tourists. Not sure why, as it was a perfectly beautiful day. We explored Montepulciano for couple hours, including a lunch break, and then headed to Pienza - another beautiful Tuscan hilltop village (but much smaller than Montepulciano). Lunch having been eaten earlier, this became a search for the perfect gelato and/or espresso (I prefer combining them into the affogato, the pinnacle of coffee/ice cream technology). And shopping, always shopping. This region is known for its leather especially, and lots of items were on display.

Pienza had even more dramatic views of Tuscany than did Montepulciano, if possible. Our visit was brief, and then we walked back down the hill to our buses and headed off for Florence, which we reached around 5PM and checked into the Gabriel D'Annunzio hotel. It's very nice, not luxurious but homey & clean. Most importantly (to me, of course) the WiFi is not only working, but free. Yay! so now it's 1:30 in the morning and I can finish this blog from my room - no more sneaking out to poach a connection from the other side of a garden wall, or having to barge into a hotel office and use the desktop PC.

Of course, the first thing every kid in our group (and some adults) did upon arrival was to turn on their laptop/iPhone/iPod wireless devices and we promptly crashed the DHCP server from the request overload. Oh well. It was working fine when we got back from dinner, at least.

Speaking of dinner, I think we had the best we've ever had on a choir trip - salad, then a pasta course ("pici", a local variety of noodle that is thick and served in a noodle sauce); a delicious roast chicken, and an orange marmalade dessert. It was delicious, and we got back to the hotel around 11PM and headed for bed.

Tomorrow we tour Florence and have some free time in the afternoon; once again, no singing or rehearsal a bit of a break for the kids.

I have been collecting photos from the other chaperones so that the blog doesn't show all the same kids all the time (mine & Linda's, that is) and hope to get more faces in. Tonight we were pretty tired and got a start, but tomorrow I really hope to get lots of kids' pictures out there.

Farewell to the Princess Hotel

On the road to Florence...

... and time for a nap

Rest Stop

Hanging out in Montepulciano

This is our crew heading down the Corso in Montepulciano...

... and this ...

... and this. We make a pretty long line.

As Karen said...'Somebody done poisoned the well"

Tuscany, from Pienza

Gabriel D'Annunzio Hotel in Florence, with our kids popping in & out of the windows

The view of Florence from our dinner location tonight

Dinner at 'Le Lance'

Ciao

Monday night dinner in Rome

2011-04-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures from dinner at Pastarito's Monday night...

Last day in Rome

2011-04-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight we bid arrivederci to Rome, after three days of sight-seeing & music. We board our buses early tomorrow morning for Florence, with stops along the way in Montepulciano & Piensa.

Today, though, we had a full day of sights & sounds. After our 7:30 breakfast we boarded buses towards the Vatican for a guided tour, only to be stopped cold by Monday morning Rome traffic. Our tour guides were undaunted, however, and we stopped the buses short of Vatican City to walk the remaining distance much faster than we could have driven, arriving in time to meet our tour guides at the Vatican Museum and be escorted through. It's a huge place, full of not only Catholic but also other historical art & artifacts (lots of mummies, for some reason. Who knew?). Of course the highlight is the Sistine chapel, and we were pulled through the museum by tour guides eager to get us to the final destination. The Vatican Museum was so popular today, in fact, that I think all of Rome (and perhaps much of Spain) was in the Sistine Chapel at once. Despite the crowds it's still a beautiful sight to see. We finished our Vatican sight-seeing by once more visiting St. Peter's Basilica, and then headed for Piazza Navona to prepare for tonight's concert.

As this was the final Rome performance, the choir rehearsed at the beautiful church of Sant'Agnese en Agone (Saint Agnes in agony; wikipedia is your friend here) at the piazza from three to five, and the remaining time (until dinner at 6:30) was spent shopping, sightseeing or snacking around the piazza. For me, mostly snacking and some sight-seeing. From the bags coming back with the kids it seemed that shopping was more popular among them. Piazza Navona is very beautiful (if you've read Dan Brown's 'Angels & Demons' you'll remember it as the place where the cardinal is dumped into a fountain near the beginning of the story) and our weather charm has continued to hold. Even though the forecast had called for rain, it was cloudless and warm all day long (I packed for rain, but apparently sunscreen would have been a smarter bet).

After rehearsal we strolled over to Pastarito, and had a four-course (!) meal - salad, pasta, roast beef & tiramisu (there were vegetarian options of course, but not for me). If I had known it was going to be four courses I would have gone lighter on the rigatoni. There are lots of pictures of the kids at the restaurant (see next post).

After dinner was over it was back to Sant'Agnese at Piazza Navona, for change into concert attire & the concert at 9PM. It was very well attended - the church faces the square, and lots of bystanders came in when they heard the music. It was standing room only, and included some families who weren't traveling with the choir but were in Rome for the concert. Among them was the previously mentioned Karen Salveson, whose birthday was today and whose gift from the choir was a wonderful performance of her song 'Surrounded'. Even she couldn't get a seat in the audience, though, it was that packed (should have arrived earlier, Karen!) All the numbers went over well with the audience but 'Surrounded' got the biggest applause, and lots of admiring visits to Karen after the show (we had to hustle out quickly, though, they locked up pretty fast!)

The concert was wonderful; the church acoustics were perfect and the light was dim (wonderful for atmosphere, not so great for photos & videos). I'm still collecting photos from other chaperones but don't have too many to post tonight; hopefully when we're in Florence we'll have a chance to edit down some of the audio & post that too.

From the concert it was straight to be buses, back to the hotel & to bed. We're up early tomorrow (6AM) and off to Florence - it sounds hectic but we're all looking forward to a few relaxing hours on the bus after the non-stop activities of the past few days.

Anyway, some pictures...

Pictures are up now

2011-04-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Princess Hotel has allowed me to use their own PC for accessing the internet, so I have a (somewhat kludgy) method of uploading photos. So I have updated the past few days' posts to include the pictures, and hopefully can stay up to date. Thanks for the patience & thanks to the co-chaperones for pictures!

Also, Bill has uploaded a video of last night's Ss. Bonifacio & Alessio concert first song to YouTube for your enjoyment:
Bill's youtube video

I'm unable to open YouTube (or Facebook for that matter, although that's my problem not yours) on the hotel PC but you should be able to follow the link!

Sunday night update

2011-04-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today was one of the highlights of the trip - the Gunn choir sang for the noon mass at the Vatican. It's quite an honor to be selected to sing during the service at the home of the Pope, especially for such a diverse group of kids (read: not so many Catholics, lots of other faiths represented). After a wakeup, breakfast & bus load we traveled to St. Peter's Square where we passed through security and did some sight-seeing inside the cathedral while waiting to sing. At noon, the choir was in place at the left of the altar and mass began. It has been a while since I attended mass, but somehow I could still figure out when to stand up, sit down, kneel & say 'amen'. Even in Italian. Early imprinting lasts a long time.

After the mass there was a quick change out of choir attire into street clothes, and a bus trip to Campo die Fiori for a quick lunch (spaghetti for me; pasta seemed to be a popular choice) - then back into the guided tour mode under cloudless blue skies. Today we saw 'less ancient' Rome, including Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps & Trevi Fountain. This was a good three hours of traipsing over cobblestones & dodging crowds, so you can be sure we had plenty of exercise! We ended the day with a dinner at Pizzarito and a follow-on blood sugar rush of epic proportions. Post-dinner we burned off some of the energy with a long night walk back to the Colosseum, and onto the buses for a chatty trip back to the hotel.

Tomorrow includes a guided tour of the Vatican (if they lock us into the Sistine Chapel, watch for white smoke from the chimney as a signal to let us out) and a concert at Sant'Agnese, a beautiful basilica on Piazza Navone (next door to a legendary gelato restaurant, at least according to our tour guide Paolo). That will be our last day in Rome, hopefully you'll hear more about it tomorrow night … after some complaining at the front desk (and some muscle from our tour agency), they've agreed to let me use the hotel business network for access. With luck that could mean I'm in bed by 1AM tonight and you all have a fresh update and pictures! Assuming all goes as planned, the pictures are below (thanks to Lisa for some of the photos). I don't have pictures of the mass yet, but I will have some shortly so hold on…

Technical difficulties: Resolved, sort of...

2011-04-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I'm really having trouble getting enough bandwidth to upload pictures...here's today's events:

It was probably the busiest day of our trip -- sight-seeing, rehearsal, concert all in one day. We began with a 7AM wakeup & breakfast at the hotel, followed by a group roundup and bus load at 9, then off to Ancient Rome.

We met our local tour guides next to the Colosseum and spent the next three hours being treated to an informative tour of Ancient Roman sites -- the Colosseum & the Roman Forum. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it's in the 70's & sunny (the forecast is holding for the week ahead, so we're doubly lucky) and our tours were great. We broke into six groups and walked in the footsteps of ancient Romans as they shopped, legislated, worshipped & were entertained; seeing the resting place of Julius Caesar, monuments to emperors, popes, gods & goddesses, temples & ruins, palaces & shops. When your kids get home give them a pop quiz and see how much they have retained…

At 1PM we scattered for lunch -- pizza was the most popular option, based on a post-lunch vote, followed by pasta. Big surprise there. We loaded the buses for a trip that took about the same amount of time as the loading did, heading for the basilica of Saints Bonifacio & Alessio. The kids dug into rehearsal while the chaperones relaxed, and at 6PM the church's members served a delicious meal in their backyard garden, overlooking the Tiber River (and all of Rome beyond it). Lots of yummy pasta, meat, beans, rice, followed by amazing desserts - all made by members of the church & church choir. They were very excited to have us visit, because we had been there five years ago and they still remembered the terrific performance and the fun of having our kids sing there. So they jumped at the chance to have us again, and this time their choir (Coro dell'Aventino) performed as well.

After the delicious dinner & a beautiful Roman sunset from the garden view, the choirs sang in the 18th century basilica, which was built on the site of a 2nd or 3rd century roman home (Saint Alessio, or Saint Alexis). First the Coro sung several beautiful traditional pieces, and then our choir performed a selection of this year's music (including the perennial favorite 'Surrounded', which was written by Karen Salveson - a Palo Alto mom with four kids that I have chaperoned over the years). Karen was even in the audience, coincidentally being in Italy this week. The concert closed with a joint performance of Bruckner's 'Ave Maria'. There were plenty of local residents at the show, and they seemed to love it - especially Ami's solo in 'City Called Heaven', and our less conventional choral music. The choir sang well especially considering lack of sleep & jet lag. Then it was back to the buses, back to the hotel, and (hey it was 11PM) straight to bed.

Tomorrow the choir sings during noon mass at the Vatican, followed by another guided tour (slightly less ancient Rome -- Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, etc). The weather is still supposed to be amazing and the day should be spectacular!

We've had a great first day. Everybody is healthy & happy, we're having no problems (except internet access!) and the forecast is for more of the same.

Buona notte a tutti! I hope to have wifi soon to upload pictures, but it's not in my hands. I have a lot, promise!

UPDATE:

The hotel has given me access to their own computers; however I must use their system so have to transfer my pictures & files over to an Italian PC. The keys are in funny places so excuse any typos please :)

Here are the pictures from Saturday:

Finally everybody is here!

2011-04-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Finally everybody has arrived at the Princess Hotel, all healthy (but tired) and accounted for. Two groups on four flights, all re-united at 10PM for a quick meal, talk & then bed. No lost luggage, no convertible airplanes!

Tomorrow is our first big day - a walking guided tour of ancient Rome, including the popular Colosseum. The weather is a mild 70 or so and maybe 60% humidity, and the forecast is clear and sunny. Hope you remembered to put some sunblock in your kid's bag! Believe it or not, the weather is warm enough to make gelato a welcome treat (but hopefully not too frequent, at least for myself).

This message must be short. Believe it or not, the hotel has no internet access at all and I have found (with the help of an unnamed student) an open wi-fi point next to a brick wall in an alley. Seriously.

So, here's a few pictures from the day…

Away we go!

2011-04-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

The first group of travelers has assembled at the airport and are waiting to board! It's going to be a long day of travel, from San Francisco to Frankfurt to Rome, arriving early on Friday afternoon. We got through security fine and right now all the kids are eating, playing cards and otherwise hanging out waiting to board our flight. The weather at SFO is beautiful, but we expect sunny & warm weather in Rome and Florence so we won't be missing much...

Welcome to the 2011 Gunn HS Choir trip blog!

2011-01-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a terrific trip! The choir will be traveling in Italy during spring break, with visits and concerts in Rome, Florence & Siena. Right now everybody should be double and triple checking their packing lists, passport validity (should be good for 6 months past the trip dates), phone plans and all the other details that shouldn't be left to the last minute; as well as rehearsing furiously for the upcoming February show. Then, on to Italy - buon viaggio a tutti!