Seeing Meiningen - Day 3

"Wait, Bob, where is the bathroom?" "Right there Abby, the room that says WC,

for water closet." "Oh my god that's so cool!!"

The kids arrived at the Musikschule by 10:00 ready to rehearse for the morning, wide eyed and well fed. Still not 100% sure of our plans for the day, we waited around a bit, finally deciding that today would be a good day to stay in town, see the sights around Meiningen and go shopping, not really anticipating the rain storm to be as strong as it was! "Semper gumby," as Chris reminded us. Always flexible! We set up lunch in the hallway to the WC to avoid soggy Costco Kirkland peanut butter sandwiches and veggies. Before shopping, we toured the theater museum in town, right next to the Musikschule, and saw a demonstration on how they used lighting to change the effects of the mood that was trying to be portrayed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_Meiningen Very interesting!

Following the tour, we zipped by Matthias' favorite house in town and then the kids had about 2 hours to enjoy the town, buying gelato in the rain, and looking to buy souvenirs to bring home from Meiningen. The top, most sought after item to be purchased today was Labello chapstick, ONLY found in Europe! Many of the girls were successful at finding this and are bringing lots home for friends and family. Rachel Frost also found some pretty snazzy leggings for her friend and Sarah Beasley found a wood shop where they were carving little trinkets and bought a little horse. They returned to their home stays by 4:00 and checked back in with us, two hours later, for their Nächstes Konzert performance tonight, part of the Meininger Orgelsommer Concert Series at the Stadtkirche, the church in the center of town. We performed three 15 minute sets, sharing the concert with István Ella, an organist from Budapest, Hungary. The kids were phenomenal and we rocked out with three encores! The audience loved us! Michael summed it up perfectly, "We got three encores but still no ice cream!" Following the late concert, the kids went home and crashed and the chaperones were invited to Matthias' house for a late, but delicious dinner prepared by his lovely wife, Barbara. Bob, Sue, and Suzie all shared stories, commemorating past visits, and creating new memories. It is very special to have friends from all around the world with one common thing that brings everyone together, music. What a memorable night!

Gute nacht...