Rothenburg, Germany ---> Innsbruck, Austria (with a stop at a castle)

Greetings from Austria! Today took us from Rothenburg, through Bavaria, and on to Innsbruck. But let me rewind a little bit.

The band and choir had a wonderful concert in the 'marktplatz' of Rothenburg. But prior to that, the choir sang in St. Jacob's Church. What an amazing experience! I'm not sure the kids were ready for the acoustics of the cathedral, and the way their voices carried on several seconds after each note. It was truly beautiful.

(OK, I will interrupt my own blog for a moment. WiFi has been pretty spotty to this point, and when it has been available, the bandwidth has...been an issue. I would like to share a video of the choir right here singing an amazing version of "Ave Maria," but when I visited YouTube to do so, it estimated a download time of 1,825 minutes. And I think it was still recalculating. So...photos only for now--they take pretty long on their own.)

Some photos from the night of the Rothenburg concert, in order: (1) Jacob and the choir warming up outside the church; (2) a photo of the inside of the church, with the choir set on either side and Dr. Klein (choir director) in the center; (3) a view of the marktplatz during the concert; and (4) Jacob (from the back) meeting with concertgoers.

This morning, we said goodbye to Rothenburg and set out for Austria. The drive through the Bavaria section of Germany is very scenic, with heavily wooded mountains and rivers interspersed with small villages with red tile roofs, historic churches, and the occasional castle. Just before crossing into Austria, we made a scheduled stop at one of the more famous castles: Neuschwanstein. This is the castle Disney World used as a model for its own, and was ordered built by Bavarian King Ludwig in the late 19th century. It contains many tributes to Ludwig's favorite composer, Richard Wagner, who wrote several operas as commissioned by Ludwig. The castle was still being finished at the time of King Ludwig's suspicious death (shortly after being declared insane and unfit to rule by a psychiatrist...hmm) and was quickly turned into an open exhibit for the people of Bavaria and beyond. It is about a 30 minute walk up a steep, paved drive to the gate of the castle from the village below, but well worth the effort.

Just a few pictures for now: (1) Neuschwanstein Castle from the path down to the village; (2) Jacob and pals waiting outside the castle entrance for the tour; and (3) a view of the Alpine lake and village below from one end of the castle.

After visiting Neuschwanstein, we loaded up the buses again and quickly crossed into Austria. A breathtaking drive through the heart of the Alps took us to Innsbruck, and there is more to tell, but...I will have to say goodnight for now. Stay tuned for an update on Innsbruck, including our visit to a theater for "A Tirolean Evening." Auf wiedersehen!