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Dear All, Everyone home safe and sound. Cannot begin to tell you what a day yesterday was. There was absolutely no whining. None. So proud of everyone! When you you think about it the day was pretty impressive. Breakfast in London, lunch in either Paris or Frankfurt and then back in Detroit by dinner. Amazing. Our reunion at the rest stop was priceless. Thank you one last time for all of your support, prayers and sharing your children. Enjoy thursday night. Fondly, Gartner
read moreDay 9 part Two
Dear all, Just said good night and GO TO BED for the last time!!!!! We had a wonderful dinner at Sarastro complete with opera singers. Wonderful dinner and dessert. Came back to the hotel and had a little pre-flying meeting. They listened intently! Of course we didn’t give them a chance to anything else but listen!!!!!! Their parting words were priceless. Their most thoughtful gifts were absolutely wonderful. Tears and hugs. We will be home soon! Again, once we get on the bus,we will start making calls. No worries. Be...
read moreDay 9: London and Final Day
SATURDAY In London. The sun is shining right now. A bit nippy however. But the sky is blue! St Paul’s cathedral yesterday upon arrival. You will never believe how wonderful it was. Terry took a stunning photo of us after our musical selections. Stunning! The experience is one I will never forget. Cannot really find the words as I sit here reflecting.we have been told that very few people are allowed to perform in the cathedral. Alex thio’s cousin lives here in London and he shared with us that his wife is a member of the...
read moreDay 8 Part 2
STILL FRIDAY Here we are on the Eurostar! Smooth process! Celia had all of the tickets in advance, we filled out our landing cards on the bus, no one lost their passports and they are now safely secured in our special suitcase. A big relief to me! Everyone is sitting safely watching the scenery pass by very quickly. Train travel is awesome. They love it. We were told that we take up one third of today’s train. The. UK passort man was very impressed that we will be singing at St. Paul’s today. He said only very special...
read moreDay 8 Part 1
FRIDAY Good morning to you moms,dads, and friends, Our room’s wake up call came at 4:55 am today and believe it or not the sun was already up. One of the chaperones said maybe we should travel to the arctic circle! They are such comedians. I want to share with you how absolutely phenomenal our parent chaperones have been. You know how you feel when your children have friends that spend a night or a weekend with you? How you need to make sure all is good? These parents have taken care of so many needs and have done it happily. Our...
read moreDay 7 part II
What a day!!!! Took girls shopping, it rained, took more girls shopping, the sun shined. So glad they had their travel umbrellas. Too bad boys!!!!! Walked to the church for rehearsal, then dinner which was outstanding!!!! The food this trip has been great. So glad I brought elastic clothing!!!!!! Returned to church to change and perform. What a performance. Almost perfect. We will save the perfect one for the welcome home concert. we all walked back to the hotel in our concert attire. What a sight we were. We looked lovely. Had a...
read moreDay 7
Dear all, how can it be????? Day 7 already! This morning we all attended a lace making class. Half of the group went at 8:30 and the other half at 10:30. The 830 class was the covetednone so that they would have more shopping time. However when they received their wake up call I wonder how happy they were???? . Such an absolutely beautiful city. Many were able to go into the big church And see michaelangelo Madonna and child. Beautiful! Taking a brief respite in my room before we head out with comcert attire in hand and walk to...
read moreDay 6 I think
Good evening, all! What a day. Forgive my punctuation, my capitalization and possibly my spelling. We just returned From brussels and it is 10:45 pm I think that they FINALLY get what “Go to bed!” means. It is going to be a quiet night on floor three tonight. We started our day by going to Waterloo. Lots of kids climbed 352 steps up and 352 steps down the lion on the Mount, saw a 13 minute movie, toured a wax museum, and visited a Panorama. Then on in to brussels. A brief rehearsal in a beautiful church, a thanksgiving...
read moreDay 5: Bruges
Bonjour!!!!!! First I must compliment all of you who rose to the challenge of sharing your comments. A+ to you or tres magnifique! Last night was so much fun after we returned to the chateau. Kids were all over the place. A large group of 12 year olds from the uk had arrived and were playing games out on the lawn. then we lined up on the steps of the chateau for our picture. Our kids wanted to sing our first movement of the swing medley for them….no keyboard, just a cappella. I told them not a good idea and I wouldn’t...
read moreDay 3
Bonjour mes Amis! We are on the bus to Normandy and the American cemetery. I must say that this group, adults included, are turning into outstanding travelers. They are happy when they get more than 6 hours of sleep. They are eating well and hydrating. Or course with all of the discussions of hydrating they have turned into the most frequent visitors of WC’s!!!!! We are always on the lookout…. And they have finally learned that when you have two hours of free time that you always incorporate a bathroom break. We had two hours...
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