Concert in Gießen

Our former foreign exchange student and his mother went to the concert in Gießen. She had some praise for the boys:

We were very impressed. The choir is so fantastic. I`ve heard the `Wiener Sängerknaben`, they are not better, I think. It was such a wonderful concert!

Wiener Sängerknaben = The Vienna Boys' Choir. That's some pretty high praise!

Viking Today... 6/30

The boys have a bit of a drive today. Over 4 hours according to google maps.
Großlittgen to Nürnberg

Scenery along the way.

Nürnberg is quite large. Population of 500,000, it's a pretty big city. It's got quite a history. All the way from the middle ages to WWII. It was heavily bombed during the war . The famous Nuremberg trials were conducted there. A much less ugly topic is the beautiful scenery in the city.

Here's a map with pictures overlaid... way more pictures than I could ever link to.

The address in the itinerary is for "Bereitschaftspolizeiabteilung" translated, that means "Riot police department" (Translated official site) I'm not sure what to make of that one! Here's a picture of the address from space. We'll all have to check the journals when they come back to find out about this place. Stacy claims to have found some info but, I'm not coming across it right now and it's time to hit Chicago again. If anyone comes up with more info, use the "comments" link below and share your links!

Viking Today... 6/29

The itinerary doesn't have much to say for today. They have a concert this afternoon in Großlittgen and a free evening.

I find pictures like these picture that are labeled as Großlittgen that I can't help but stare at and wonder what the boys are seeing today. They're going from ancient towns to huge metropolis to little hamlets almost daily. I hope all those journals are packed with info when they get home!

(We're in Chicago today... so it's only a small update before head out to see the sights!)

Viking Today... 6/28

This update comes at you from Madison Wisconsin. We're on the road for a few days but we brought the laptop and I'll keep updating as I'm able.

Today the boys leave Giessen and head to Grosslittgen. Looks like a few hours in the bus for them:
Giessen to Grosslittgen

Grosslittgen looks to be pretty small. A population just over 1,000 people. I don't even need to mention any more, it's old. First mention in history is in the year 912. The itinerary says they're meeting at the "school by the lake" There's a few little lakes in town. Not sure if any of them have a school by them.

The official site for the city has some good, if small, pictures.

Just outside the city there's an impressive abbey. Abbey Wiki.

Here's the contact address that we've got for the itinerary.

Viking Today... 6/27

Today the boychoir will be spent in Gießen.

The itinerary says they'll be going to "Mathematicum, Gießen" That sounded interesting. Turns out, it's sort of like the science museum, but it's more of a mixture of math and art. Looks very interesting, I wish I were going!
Front of the building
Huge Pi!

I can imagine it's hard to understand something like this in another language but the itinerary says they'll be getting an English speaking tour.

There's an exhibit where you make a huge bubble around your body... I'm hoping we can expect to see some pictures of our boys trying it for themselves.

Here's a bunch of other pictures right from their website.

There's a concert tonight at "Protestant Petrus Church" (in Gießen, I assume)

In the update from yesterday, Roger said they went to Leipzig. That's a little out of the way from the Schlitz to Gießen route (more than 3 hours is what the internet is telling me)... but it looks to be worth the trip. Bach lived there and is buried in a church there. This is a great view of the church and the surroundings. Since there's so many great pictures of Leipzig, I'll just link you to the map overlay with enough pictures to keep a person busy all day!

Viking Today... 6/26

The boys leave Schlitz today and head out for Gießen (Giessen). It looks like a short drive of about 50 miles.
Schlitz to Gießen

Gießen is about 75,000 people. It's pretty dense, with a population 10,000 larger than St. Cloud, they're living in an area a little smaller (28 square miles as opposed to St. Cloud's 30 square miles)

From some of the pictures I've been looking at, it looks much closer to what I expect a city here to look like. Modern looking buildings and whatnot. It seems Gießen was a rail and road network hub and was heavily bombed near the end of WWII.

That's not to say there's not some great scenery there as well.

Until recently (2007), there was a U.S. Army Garrison in Giessen. In WWI there was a POW camp there, here's a BBC feature with a memoir from a former prisoner.

The itinerary says the boys will arrive at the "Sammler und Hobbywelt" this afternoon. Google says that translates to "Collectors and Hobby World". It looks to be a place with all sorts of things. Everything from gas lamps to model trains to racecars to airplanes. I'm imagining it something like "The House on the Rock" in Wisconsin maybe? Surely there's something for everyone to enjoy at a place that diverse.

Here's the satellite imagery of the address that's provided for the choir contact.

If you've got time, click the "comments" link below and leave a comment with any news from the letters you've gotten. Stacy and I really got a kick out of reading some of the other letters that have been shared with us. It really helps to give a better picture of what's going on with the boys. So, share if you can, we'd love to hear even the most mundane of details!

Luxembourg Concert Review

Susan and Aaron Ziegler recently heard from a German exchange student that went to a concert. Here's what she had to say about the concert:

Yesterday night was the concert in Luxembourg. [My family] and I started our trip at about two o'clock. Within three hours we got to Luxembourg and there it became quite difficult because nobody we asked (and we asked in German, in English and in French) could tell us where to go. It seemed like the prostestant cathedral had never been built. But we finally got there just on time!!!

The concert was wonderful!! Really great! The whole choir did an awesome performance! Jack and Gray stood almost in the middle and sometimes it was hard to see Jack because he was hidden by another, taller boy standing in front of him. When they sang the old German [folk song], my grandpa started crying. We all loved it! And while singing their last song, Gray stood direct in front of me. It was great to hear him.

During the concert, I was really busy taking pictures of Jack and Grayson. I think both of them realized that! But I thought you, and perhaps they, might like them. My brother will attach them to an email tomorrow so that you can see them. I definitely put copies into my next letter, too, which hopefully arrives soon.

After the concert, we unfortunately could just talk to Jack and Gray just for a couple of minutes before Fransis wanted them to go. I gave gifts to them for their birthdays, which they accepted at once. My grandma gave some money to them because it is a European habit to give children spending money instead of gifts, if you do not know them well, but you still want to show that you like them. Both of them did not want to take the money, but Fransis said that it would be okay in this case.

Jack and Gray looked a bit tired but very happy. I asked Gray if he liked European food. His answer was "kind of" ;)

Viking Today... 6/25

The itinerary for today is pretty vague. It only says, "Schlitz" But, in the update yesterday, Roger gave some more info that leads to some more links.

The "Landesakadamie" from the itinerary and the concert last night is actually the "Landesmusikakademie".

Here's a translated version of a page about the city with a great photo.
Landesmusikakademie from space

Roger said they're going to be heading out to Fulda today for some sightseeing.
Schlitz to Fulda

It looks like there's plenty to see in Fulda. It's a pretty big city with a population of about 64,000. In size and population, not far off from St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Our own Minnesota city of Fulda was actually named for the one in Germany. Fulda Minnesota has an area of 1 square mile... Fulda Germany has an area of 42 square miles.

A page of pictures of Fulda
Cathedral of Fulda
Fulda and the countryside
Fulda has great satellite imagery

There's a lot of good pictures on the German wiki. If you don't care to try and decipher the German, at least check out this nice panoramic shot!

The boys are slated to watch a soccer match between Germany and Turkey today with the Fulda fire department!
Another preview of the match
(Update: 6/26 8:24 - Looks like Germany won the match.)

Also... Mary Jo got a package with letters in it yesterday. She's forwarded them all on... if you haven't already gotten a letter, watch your mailbox!

Viking Today... 6/24

Today is a tough update. There's only a single line in the itinerary:

8.00 p.m CONCERT in the Landesakadamie

From what I've been able to find, a Landesakadamie is a high school.

Roger says they'll be getting a greeting by the Mayor of Schlitz. Wikipedia says that'd be Hans-Jürgen Schäfer. I think it's sort of funny that the German word for "mayor" is "Bürgermeister"

If you've looked around on your own, you'll know it's really hard to find good info about the town of Schlitz amid all the hits to Schlitz beer!

Schlitz Street
Captioned as Schlitz Town Hall

Let the Java load up and there's some neat 360 panoramas of Schlitz here:
Summer
Winter
Autumn in the country
Christmas

Has anyone gotten any mail yet?

Pictures, Thanks to Corinne Olinger's searching!

Corinne Olinger found some more info and pics of the boys! Sheesh, with a network of parents scouring the web for updates, we're sure not to miss a thing!

Scroll down through this thread and find some pics of the boys in Strehla.

Make sure you click on the link on the bottom to go to the next page. There's more pics there!

Either learn German quickly... or piece together the gist of it from this machine translated version.

Viking Today... 6/23

Today, the choir moves from Sarreguemines, France to Schlitz, Germany.
Sarreguemines to Schlitz

From the itinerary and the map, it looks like it's going to take them a while to get there.

On the way, this is what it might look like out the windows of the bus:
Blick, a city near the route
Rittersheim, a city near the route
Steinfurth, a city near the route
Annerod, a city on the way to Schlitz

The city of Schlitz itself is known for its 'Burgenring', or a ring of 5 castles that sort of surround the city. The population now is about 10,000.
Nice Schlitz View

The official Schlitz site has some good pictures on it... and a picture of the boys!
Schlitz Homepage

It looks like there's quite a few "old style" buildings in Schlitz
Buildings
Buildings 2

One of the towers in Schlitz resembles a candle and is decorated and lit like one over Christmas.
Normal Tower
Candle Tower
That's a big candle!

Tonight they have a BBQ planned with host families. I'm sure they're not actually staying in an open field, but here's a satellite image of the contact address from the itinerary.
Contact Address Map
Bridge Picture near contact address

Viking Today... 6/22

Looking at the itinerary, it looks like the boys will be spending their day in Sarreguemines. Maybe a good thing because from the official updates from Roger, it sounds like the boys are getting pretty worn out. Since I've already posted a bunch of links about Sarreguemines, I'll put a few other things up.

There's no pictures of the boys, but here's a listing of pictures that have been posted from Fête de la Musique all over France from yesterday.
Fête de la Musique

From the 19th, the American Women's Club of Luxembourg was advertising for the choir:
American Women's Club of Luxembourg

Also, here's the edited video from the TV performance they did. If anyone would like a copy of the video, I can email it to you, it's about 1.5mb and should fit in email just fine. Just drop a note in the comments and I'll make sure to get you a copy. Make sure to leave your email address in the comment so I know where to send it.


Tomorrow they change locations so, there should be more new links and info.

As an interesting aside... This blog has seen hits from 13 states and even hits from Australia (Hi Frank & Lindsay!)

Strehla Concert Review!

Christie Gordon passed this link on. Great pictures of the boys and an amazingly in depth review of the concert in Strehla! You have to see it!

Thanks Christie!

Viking Today... 6/21

Today is National Music Day (Fête de la Musique) in France. It began in France in 1982 and has since spread to all sorts of other European countries. New York celebrated it for the first time in 2007. It emphasizes free music to be created and performed wherever possible. Here's an English description on the official homepage:
About Fête de la Musique

The boys will be visiting the town hall in Sarreguemines and then participating in the music festival by singing a small concert at a podium downtown.
Sarreguemines satellite photo with Pictures

The itinerary says they'll be visiting "pays de Bitche" Roughly translated that means, "countries Bitche" So, taking a little bit of a leap from there, I found a scenic town/area nearby Bitche, France. I'll assume it's something like saying "Lake Country" in Minnesota.

It's a short drive from Sarreguemines
Sarreguemines to Bitche

Here's the site of the official tourist office. It's in English with the oddly translated title, "Let you allure!"
Bitche Regional Tourist Office

Bitche view

One of the most stunning things in the Bitche region that I found from quick searching was The citadel of Bitche.
Aerial view of the citadel
This one really shows how it towers above the town
Elevated citadel

More of the citadel

Aside from the citadel, the hilly country and offers plenty of scenery itself.
Lonely bridge

The itinerary also says they'll be swimming in Bitche. There's a lake to the southeast of town. Maybe they'll be swimming there?
Bitche Satellite View

If anyone has anything to add, go ahead and post it in the comments area below.

Viking Today... Video!

Remember how the boys were scheduled to perform for a TV station on the 18th? The video is now up on the internet! See some video of the boys from tour!

You have to watch till after the weather guy... then a commercial, then you'll hear and see the boys! I'm not sure if that clip is it or if there's more... If anyone can watch the entire show, post a comment and let us know if there's any more video of them.

Enjoy!

Video!

Viking Today... 6/20

This morning it sounds like the boys are heading from Sarreguemines to Hambach, France. It looks like a pretty short trip:
Sarreguemines to Hambach, France

Why are the boys going to Hambach?? To visit the Smart Car factory!!
Smart Car Factory

I have to admit, I've been a big fan of these since I first saw them over in the U.K. a few years back. In the Viking update from June 20th Roger calls them "rolling death traps" If you haven't seen them, here's a good picture that shows why a person would get that impression:
Tiny Smart Car

Actually, as they're just being introduced into the US, there's been a flurry of news stories talking about how surprisingly safe they are:
Safe and Small

The American version is actually a little bit bigger than the international version. Before you write it off completely, take note that their full-hybrid is getting nearly 100mpg! (and not available in the US!)

The itinerary says the boys will actually be singing in the cafeteria at the factory and then having lunch there. I'm jealous! Maybe Riley will pack one in his suitcase and bring it home for me!

After the Smart factory, they'll be taking another short hour-or-so jaunt back into Germany to Saarbruecken.
Smart Car Factory to Saarbruecken, Germany

Interesting art on the town hall

Saarbruecken Official Site

Just to show that it's not always so different over there!

Saarbruecken looks to be a pretty big place. 180,000 people. One of the main historical attractions there seems to be the Ludwigskirche.
Outside Ludwigskirche
Inside Ludwigskirche
Ludwigskirche wiki

The itinerary says they'll be having a workshop with Pablo Assante and the
Children’s Choir of the Saarbruecken Opera House but I'm having a heck of a time finding any links or references to the choir or the opera house. It doesn't help that I don't speak German... I could be looking at pictures of it that are clearly captioned... in German!

---

UPDATE - 9:42
Barb Foster comes to my rescue and adds this info about Pablo Assante the Children's Choir.

Barb writes -

I did do a little research on the Saarbruecken Opera House and the Children's Choir. I found that the Opera House is called the Staatstheater and here is a link that talks about Pablo Assante and the Children's Choir.

Saarländisches Staatstheater

Saarländisches Staatstheater #2

Pablo Assante and the Children's Choir

And here is the rough translation of the caption with the picture.

For all children and adults who love to sing, there is a possibility that the "Theaterspatzen" (for children from seven to nine years) or in the children's choir of the Saarland State Theatre (from ten years) to cooperate.

To the young singers in the children's choir of the Saarland State Theatre to better prepare their demanding tasks, there is the "Theaterspatzen" as Vorchor for younger musically gifted children. He will since October 2007 by Alwin Michael Schronen.

Interested inside for the children's choir, choir director at Pablo Assante reported since the summer of 2007 over the line.

Viking Today... 6/19

The boys start out today with a trip from Sarreguemines to Luxembourg. Around a two hour trip
Sarreguemines to Luxembourg

Luxembourg is actually country unto itself, officially known as "Grand Duchy of Luxembourg" The entire country is only as big as one and a half Hennepin counties and has a population of about half of Hennepin county.

Luxembourg at Night
Ruins of fortifications
Bonus Picture I found after I sent the email!

The itinerary says they'll be seeing the town with Dominique Vitali, Head of Protocole with US-Embassy and then having tea with Ambassador Ann Wagner.
Ann Wagner at the US Embassy

They'll be visiting the American Military Cemetery where most of the more than 5,000 interred there died at the Battle of the Bulge which was fought nearby.
Satellite View
American Military Cemetery
American Military Cemetery 2
General Pattons Grave Marker

Next they have a performance at the Luxembourg Protestant Church. There's an announcement on their homepage about the boys.
English Homepage

A note that I'm sure will be interesting to the boys is that in 1939 when the church was being renovated, it was discovered that there was a crypt hidden beneath the church behind a plaque reading "Sanguis Eius Super Nos" which, from what I can figure out, roughly translates to, "Let his blood be on us" and is known as "The Blood Curse"
Blood Curse

Viking Today... 6/18

The boys head to Heidelberg for a tour, just a short jog this time
Hoffenheim to Heidelberg

A far bigger city than the ones they've been at, it has a population of about 144,000 people, about two and a half times that of St. Cloud but it's only 10 square miles bigger!

Yesterday I mentioned that Hoffenheim pre-dates Princeton, Mn by quite a bit... well, near Heidelberg, archaeologists found Homo heidelbergensis which is also known as "Heidelberg Man" and is estimated to have lived in the area up to 600,000 years ago!

Maybe more interesting to the boys, there's a stunning castle in Heidelberg that they'll be visiting.
Castle
Castle
Castle Ruins

If you like wine, you might think Heidelberg Castle is a special place to visit. It's home to a giant wine cask than can hold 58,100 gallons of wine!
Wine Cask
That's a big cask!

Mark Twain even commented on the cask (which has mostly been empty since it was created):
"I do not see any wisdom in building a monster cask to hoard up emptiness in, when you can get a better quality, outside, any day, free of expense."

There's too much in Heidelberg to comment on in a single email. I'm sure the boys are getting an eyeful today. Here's some links where you can read up as much as you want about the city and the castle:
Heidelberg wiki
Heidelberg Castle wiki

Next, they switch countries and head to Sarreguemines France. About two hours or so:
Heidelberg to Sarreguemines

A former choirboy I know always raved about Sarreguemines, it was his favorite place of all his tours. I can see why!
Senic Sarreguemines
Sarreguemines Scene

They'll be singing in the Protestant Church, as seen from outer space below:
Church... FROM SPACE!
(this *might* be the church)
Protestant Church?

The itinerary says they'll be recorded by a TV station. It looks like the station has part of their broadcast online, maybe if we're lucky, we'll catch them!
TV Station Site

Phew... big update just finding the links today... I can only imagine how busy the boys are going to be!

Viking Today... 6/17

The boys are in Hoffenheim again today. To continue the mini-comparison to Princeton from yesterday... People first started living in Princeton in 1847 with the first house being built in 1849. At that time, people had already been living in Hoffenheim for over
1,000 years!

The itinerary says the boys are visiting the stadium. Looks like there's two in Hoffenheim... an old one that seats about 6,000 and a new one under construction that seats 30,000
Stadium


It looks like the boys are also going to be taking a trip to Steinsberg. About 120 miles away and appears to be in a nature preserve.
Steinsberg Map


The performance today is in the Evangelische Kirche in Hoffenheim. We got a great view down the street yesterday from Maxfields... Here's a different shot I was able to come up with:
Evangelische Kirche in Hoffenheim

Here's what I found captioned as the town hall:
Town Hall

And a nice street view:
Street View

Viking today... 6/16

Today the boys leave Strehla and go to Hoffenheim. The internet tells
me that it's roughly a 5 hour drive to the south west.
Strehla to Hoffenheim.

Here's a satellite view of the city with a marker placed on the
address in the itinerary:
Hoffenheim map

It's amazingly hard to find any info about Hoffenheim that isn't about
soccer! I see that tomorrow the itinerary says the boys will be
visiting the stadium so I'll put some links in about that tomorrow.

The itinerary says "Willkommenzeremonie im Garten und Grillparty"
Google tells me that "Grillparty" translates to "barbecue". The
wonders of the internet!

I was able to figure out about Hoffenheim, that it was first mentioned
in historical texts in 773. It has a population of about 3,200.

Just for comparison, I found a Minnesota city with a similar
population (Princeton) and took a look at the satellite view with the
same scale. It's amazing how differently our cities are composed. In
the same space that our cities are still popping up housing
developments, they're finishing off one city and starting on a new
one!
Princeton, MN map

Viking Today...6/15

Today the boys go into Dresden (Dresden Wiki). A population of about 500,000, it's quite a change from Strehla! In WWII, Dresden was firebombed by allied forces and over 90% of the city center was destroyed (Dresden Bombed)

From what I could find, the choir they'll be performing with tonight, the Dresden Kapellknaben (Dresden Kapellknaben) at a fabulous Cathedral (Dresden Hofkirche Picture) that was only fully restored from the bombings in the 1980s. I believe it's located about here:
Church Map

Here's some other interesting pictures I was able to find:
Church Organ
Inside Church

This wiki page is in German... but has some additional pictures of the inside and outside:
German church wiki

If you want to get all fancy, here's a 360 video of the Cathedral and the area at night
(360 video)

Viking today... 6/14

Today the boys sing in the same town they stayed in last night. Strehla.
Strehla Map

After a bunch of searching around and translating... I found the
church they'll be singing in today!

You can get a rough translation of the text on the page by going here:
Translated Church Site

Or you can just vist the site directly here:
Church site in German

Either way, make sure you click through the menu on the left and see
the pictures that come up on the right. Some of them are pretty good
shots of the place the boys will be today:
Outside Church Picture
Inside Church Picture

Viking Today... 6/13

The boychoir gets into Amsterdam today at 6:30am
Amsterdam Map

They transfer to another flight and go to Berlin:
Berlin Map

They finally end up in a hostel in Strehla (as far as I can tell,here's the actual place they're staying)
Strehla Map

Interestingly enough, the official website for Strehla has a graphicup advertising "Nixenfest" with an anatomically correct toplessmermaid. (It's a cartoon, not really offensive, just interesting):
Official Website for Strehla

Strehla - First mention in historical texts, 1002 A.D.Here's a taste of what it looks like:
Strehla Picture