Day 2 (26Jun) - Berlin

Breakfast this morning was the traditional OCCYC travel breakfast - cold cuts, hot ham, scrambled eggs, oranges, orange juice, any cereal imaginable, apple juice, all kinds of breads, lots of cheese, pickled carrots, sauerkraut - anything anyone would want, they could provide! All our travelers ate lots and lots of breakfast, then we boarded the coach and did a city tour of Berlin guided by a lovely woman who was born and raised in East Berlin. We took lots of pictures at Checkpoint Charlie, stopped at the East Side Gallery, a portion of the original wall now devoted to art, visited many of the embassies, including our own, saw the concert hall built for Berlin by the U.S. (they call the "pregnant oyster" or "Jimmy Carter's smile" ) . . Piques your curiosity, doesn't it?

At noon Sandy and Ray and Sandy H. visited the church where we will hold our concert tomorrow evening while the rest of the group had lunch. We met back up at the Brandenburg Gate at 1:30, lined up and sang "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" and "O Desayo" - without accompaniment, of course. No one wanted to stop singing, because we were suddenly surrounded by tourists and Berliners who seemed thrilled with what they were hearing! It's one thing to have your parents take pictures of you, but it's kind of fun to have onlookers you don't know taking pictures and videos while you sing! There are going to be a lot of photos of OCC floating around the world after this tour!

We divided up into interest groups and spent the afternoon doing what we wanted to. Lots of us visited the Holocaust Museum which was pretty sobering and clearly told the story of what happened here in Berlin and Germany 60 or so years ago. Some of us saw a wonderful chocolate factory - are you aware that German chocolate is considered the finest chocolate in the world, by the German people, anyway? Several of us rode the elevator to the top of the Reichstag (one of the government buildings) which gave us an incredibly comprehensive view of the city. Others visited a museum of ancient musical instruments, bought jewelry at a discount!- because the owner asked to hear them sing. There were only four in that group, but the owner (whose wife is a singer) was so impressed he offered a discount on the jewelry purchased!

We were back at our hotel by 7:00 p.m. and walking to a restaurant for dinner by 7:15. Dinner was excellent! Our "starter" was tomato soup, followed by a large cut of "schnitzel" (breaded pork) and wonderful potato salad. Dessert was a German "crepe" with a fruit compote. Some of us liked it and some of us didn't!, but we all had plenty to eat!

Wakeup tomorrow is at 6:30 a.m. We'll have breakfast and sing a service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Church at 10:00. After the service, we'll present a 30 minute concert. Then back to the hotel and out to lunch, followed by "back to the hotel" and 3:00 departure for our evening concert. We're a little worried . . . Germany plays England in the World Cup tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. If Germany wins, we're thinking everyone will be out in the streets celebrating, not coming to our concert. If Germany loses, who knows what will happen . . . in any case, we'll sing a 6:00 concert and we're hoping we have an audience. (So is the pastor of the church!)

Every singer is doing well, in good spirits, smiling a lot and very thrilled with the opportunities they've been given. What an incredible group of travelers. More to come . . . .

Sandy Miller