ICH BIN IN MÜNCHEN!!!

Ok, so internet connections here are not at all great. I've had the worst time trying to find somewhere to hook up wirelessly. Finally, today I broke down, found an Apple retailer and bought a USB Ethernet adapter. In the end, Apple did get it's money from me...

The stay in Berlin wasn't that great. Berlin is a very commercialized, big city, and it just didn't appeal to me. The history there is great, but it's a bit gloomy because of all the WWII memorials, etc. I did go to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, saw the Brandenburg Gate, and a few other historically significant spots. The Kaiser Willhelm Memorial Kirche was just fascinating, and hearing the trombone choir perform in the great acoustics of the new church gave me chills. The pastor of the church gave us an after-hours tour of the old church (the memorial) because it was already closed by the time we got there. It was nice not to have to battle all the other tourists though. He gave us all the time we needed, and I have some great pictures.

The hotels, I was surprised to find out, do not have wash cloths... Of course, I complained at the desk, but that didn't get me far. Apparently, most hotels in Germany have stopped offering them.

Our trip to Leipzig was great!!! I saw Bach's grave inside the church in which he was the cantor. It was a kind of surreal experience because this is basically where things began for us in regard to tonality, etc. You may call me a dork, but hearing the choir perform in the church was really a very emotional experience for me. I kept thinking to myself that "THIS" was the place where Bach composed some of his great works. Later that day, a group and myself went to hear an organ concert at another church. I was really blown away. The concert was outstanding!!! I really have no other words to describe it. When the organist pulled all the stops on the organ, you could really feel the power of the 32 ft. pedal pipes all through your body. WOW! Needless to say, the church was immaculately decorated in a late Baroque/early classical style. Just beautiful!

Now headed to Nürnberg; my hometown! I was really excited to visit Nürnberg again and to tell my friends all about it. When we got close to the city we could really tell that we were entering the beautiful Bavaria region. I was telling my friends where to go and what to look for. Unfortunately, we had almost no time in the city because we were just passing through to München. Our tour guide did lead us up to the medieval fortress which gave us a great panoramic view of Nürnberg Proper. I took a panorama photo which will be posted later. We visited the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and viewed the "Historical Instruments" exhibit. It was great, and I got some great photos.

We left Nürnberg at around 4 to head to München. I will write more about it later on tonight. Right now, we have to head to a trombone choir concert and then a BBQ which is hosted for us by the Germans. More stories and pictures to come!