Homeward bound

We are at the airport hotel, just returned from pizza, kids up in their rooms for final packing and a quick 5 hours before the 4:15AM wake-up call.
The July 4 final concert in Florence was unbelieveable - very well attended, kids played like angels and the audience again would not let us leave. A fitting musical ending to a great trip.
We all made it through the Cinque Terre hike with flying colors, A great lunch at the castle restaurant overlooking the picturesque town and bay of Vernazza and a restful 3 hour ride back to Milan.
I'll make my final room check, grab a few winks and get ready for a long day of hurry up and wait in line.
See you in PDX at 11:30 tomorrow morning! Flight LH 468
Ciao

Concert in Reggello a Triumph!

Since we left Florence the kids have enjoyed a ride up to the old city of Montecatini via funicular.

Again gelato, great views and much walking. The following morning was for rest, swimming, laundry and expoloring Montecatini. At noon, we left for Arezzo - home of our guide Sara. She gave us the cook's tour and even helped me arrange for a cake for Elton's 18th birthday. You can understand our love for Sara when you hear that she had her mother pick-up and deliver to our bus. When we arrived in the village of Reggello, we enjoyed a picnic dinner that Yvonne, Kristin and Sara made. Rounds of pecorino cheese, fresh pomodores, Tuscan bread, veggies, local olives, fresh mozzerella, pesto. Molto bene! After dinner, we surprised Elton with the cake and even though the numbers were backward (Happy 81st B-day Elton!), Elton was touched.

The priest of the church - who spoke no English - beckoned me to follow him to the church museum, which despite it's location had the security of Fort Knox. Inside were rooms of wonderful original paintings from the 14th century as well as many icons from the church history. It was overwhelming and I asked "Possible per la studenti attendare" and he seemed to understand and said "Si, Si" and I brought them all inside. It turns out that this is a pilgrimage stop for art lovers and that several of the works here are sought by both the Uffizi and the Louvre. Wow! I later found out that parts of the church were built in 600AD!

Our concert was stunning - the best yet. There were about 150 people there, none who spoke any English, but all who appreciated the music and the kids. The would not stop clapping and again we had to leave while they cheered.

We arrived back at our hotel very late and again cancelled the wake up call. During the night another orchestra arrived - this one from King's College in Cambridge. While they were rehearsing this moring, I overheard their young conductor use bribery to get the rehearsing right - saying "hurry up and you may get a chance to see the American babes in the pool"

The hotel is making pizza for lunch and then we board the bus for the second trip to Florence and our final concert. Our trip is nearly completed and I must say it has exceeded all of our expectations by miles. Other than a few coughs, minor colds and tired feet, there have been absolutely no problems. The kids have been the best ambassadors for our city and families! I am so very proud of them.

After tonight, we get very little sleep, have our challenging hike tomorrow and the final night in our hotel. Jake and Tyler leave after the concert with their families who have already arrived. Steve and Kathy leave after this afternoon's rehearsal in the church. The bus ride back to Montecatini tonight after the final concert has been reffered to as the journey of sobbing as the kids all realize our adventure is winding down.

I may not be able to post again. I look forward to delivering these fabulous kids back to your care, but have treasured every moment with them. They are the best.

Ciao!

CC

Third Concert was a Blast!

Last night, Tuesday, July 1 was our third concert. The setting was at the top of the hill in beautiful San Gimignano. We were on the Piaza Duomo. We shared the concert with the Dutch Orchestra. We had a full day before the concert with a rehearsal, a wonderful 3 hours in Sienna and a great sit down dinner in a Tuscan restaurant. Again, the concert started just as the sun was setting - around 9:20PM. The towers and the Duomo surrounded us and we had an audience of around 600 sitting in chairs and on the steps of the Duomo. The kids played their hearts out again and even though the darkness and the slight wind was a challenge, the audience gave us our third standing "O". They were very, very appreciative. The Camerata kids really wanted to hang out with the Dutch kids - who had graciously given each of us a logo shirt for their orchestra. I was all for arranging more time to socialize until the conductor of the Dutch orchestra suggested that we all mix up on the bus ride home. At first, that sounded like a splendid idea, but then he invited me to ride on the Dutch bus as they had lots of good Dutch beer on board. As good as that might have sounded to me personally at that point, I declined the invite for all of us. Our long bus ride back to Montecatini got us home around 1AM, so I decreed immediate bedtime and gave them this morning off for swimming, sleeping, laundry, etc. We left at noon for Florence with sack lunch in hand. We just had a guided tour of Florence and now I have given them 1 hour free time to explore and shop. We meet next for sit-down dinner at Restaurant Toto in the heart of Florence. When we come back on Friday 24 of the 33 have elected to visit the Uffizi museum. The cost is high ($1,000 US) so thank you very much to our final concert donors. Tonight we will return home to our hotel and possibly take the funicular up to the alta citta. Tomorrow we visit Arezzo (the home of Sara -our terrific guide) and then to the Tuscan hillside tiny town of Reggello for our 4th concert. One neat thing that happened last night in San Gimignano was that several people who heard our first concert in Lucca followed us to San Gimignano for last night's performance. It seems we have groupies. Ciao!

O