Visit to Schmalkalden - Day 2

We arrived at our meeting place, the music school, by 10:00 am in the morning. All singers got out of their cars rested and full of smiles. One host family commented on how wonderful it was to have children staying with her as her son is 25 years old and not home much. Very touching! We also had a funny jet lag story with two of our boys waking up at 9:30 pm, thinking it was 9:30 am, finally realizing as the sun as going down, that it was not am! The kids rehearsed while the chaperones went on an adventure looking for lunch fixings for those without a "packet" lunch! We ate outside in the inner courtyard of the music school, enjoying the sunshine, and then we were off to Schmalkalden to the Viba chocolate factory.

Our drive to Schmalkalden was beautiful and it was so fun enjoying all the sites along the way. Schmalkalden is a small medieval/gothic town with traditional German architecture, architecture you don't see much of throughout Germany. The history in that little town was quite interesting, as it was where Martin Luther held many of his meetings before the Schmalkalden War. We then visited the church in the town square and sang "Leise, Leise," under Matthias' conducting, before heading to Viba, the chocolate factory. We got a tour of the factory where they specialized in making delicious nougat, and the kids loved the samples as well as the gift shop! They all mentioned they were getting something for their parents back home! Hopefully it lasts the duration of the trip! After the chocolate factory tour, the kids performed in front of an appreciative audience at the factory's restaurant. They were then given a huge bag of more chocolates, which was received with wide eyes and lots of smiles! They debriefed after the concert and loaded back on the bus, heading back to Meiningen to meet their homestays for the second night. We have a few more concerts in Meiningen, then we leave this darling town and head to Munich.

Tschüs!