Italy Tour Roma

We have had a fantastic time here in Roma the last few days.  It's been very hot and we have done a LOT of walking to get in as many sights as possible in our short visit.   My apologies for not getting something written on the blog, but we did get pictures online for those 2 days with more pictures from last night to come soon.  Briefly, we have visited so many incredible places including St. Peter's, the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Colesseum, the Pantheon, and the Gladiator school.  The boys singing for Mass at St. Peter's was beautiful and such an amazing and moving experience for all.  Last night's final concert at Saint' Agnese in Agone at Piazza Novona was with the Coro I Pini di Roma girl's choir.  We wrapped up our tour with a farewell pizza dinner to celebrate a most memorable tour here in Italy and to say thanks to our fabulous and hardworking chaperones, our KI representatives for coordinating our logistics, our 3 fun and helpful bus guides, and our 3 bus drivers.   Flight group 1 left earlier this morning, while flight groups 2 and 3 are nearly ready to depart for the airport.  We will see you all soon with many stories, lots of fun souvenirs and 100's of photos! 

Italy Tour Day 8 – Assisi

Today was mostly a travel day as we left Montecatini this morning on our journey to Rome. We stopped en route to visit thetown of Assisi, known as the birthplace of St. Francis. Assisi s built up on the hillside with steep narrow cobblestone streets. Here we had lunch followed by a short amount of free-time in town to visit shops or the Basilica of Saint Francis where St. Francis remains are buried. We ended our day at our hotel just outside of Rome where we had dinner and a relatively early evening to rest for our day tomorrow, including the performance at the Vatican.

Italy Tour Day 7 – Pisa and Lucca

Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa was our first stop this morning to visit the Tower of Pisa, one of 4 buildings that make up the cathedral complex. We had time to explore the entire area, to read about the history of the bell tower, take many pictures, and of course, browse the many street vendors of souvenirs. I am sure you will see many pictures of boys trying to look like they are holding up the leaning tower of Pisa when we get home. After Pisa, we continued on to the city of Lucca for lunch and a guided tour of the city. Lucca is the place where the composer Puccini was born. We passed his birth home on our walking tour. Puccini is known for many famous operas like La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly to name a few. While boys rehearsed that afternoon, companions had free time for gelati and exploring the town. Minnesota Boychoir performance posters lined the streets of the entire town. Santa Maria dei Servi was a beautiful place to sing to over 300 in the audience. Tonight’s performance was fantastic! The boys are doing an amazing job with each performance, and are really stepping up and singing so well together. It was wonderful to greet so many people after the concert including our companion travelers, local people and many others from around the world. Another multi-course meal followed at a local Lucca restaurant. Later that evening back in Montecatini, the Allegro boys were treated to Allegro Night Out, a long-standing tour tradition. They rode on the funicular (1898 cable car) up to Montecatini Alto (a historic part of town that overlooks downtown) for some gelati and great views of downtown. They also sang 3 songs to those still sitting out on restaurant patios before heading back down for the night.

Italy Tour Day 6 – Florence

We left Monastier di Treviso this morning and drove to Florence, Italy. We walked from the bus through town to a quaint Italian restaurant off a VERY narrow street adjacent to Piazza della Signoria. The lasagna was delicious! All enjoyed the impromptu performance to thank the Osteria ai Baroncelli restaurant staff. Free-time followed for an hour to walk through the area and get some of our shopping done. Our city guide met us in Piazza della Signoria starting at the Town Hall, where the replica of the famous David sculpture stands among several other large marble sculptures. After learning about those sculptures and the history of Florence, we walked to the Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge), then to the Piazza della Repubblica where the Romans founded Florence, then past the Saint Maria del Fiore – the 4th largest church world-wide. Our tour ended with the Accademia Museum. While waiting outside in line for the museum entrance, Allegro and Cantabile each serenaded the public in song, with people stopping traffic and looking down from windows from upper level apartments. In the museum we saw and learned about several Michelangelo sculptures, including the original David Sculpture. It was back to the bus after a lot of walking on a very hot day to arrive for dinner at our hotel in Montecatini. We’re looking forward to our morning in Pisa and afternoon in Lucca where we have our next performance.

Italy Tour Day 5 – Venice

“This is the best day ever!” was just one of many comments by boys about our day in Venice. We arrived to our boat in the morning to take us in to Venice Island. We met our city guides at San Marco Square who guided us through a history of Venice and St. Mark’s Basilica, a description of San Marco Square, and a tour through Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs and Piombi Prison. We walked to our restaurant for lunch through many narrow streets and over several bridges through the heart of Venice and ate on a beautiful terrace. Boys had some time to browse and shop all through the streets of Venice with their chaperones before heading to rehearsal. The Cantabile boys especially liked all the masks and hats. Companion travelers also spent the entire afternoon shopping, exploring or riding the gondola. The performance at San Moise Church started with a full audience but quickly drew in a standing room only crowd from the streets, with people packed in to each of the entrances just to hear our boys. It was an incredible and moving performance. People from Italy and all over the world were there; some now plan to attend Mass next Sunday at the Vatican. After shaking a few hands, the boys lined up outside on the church steps to perform one more song for all on the streets nearby. A boat ride took us back to the coach bus and then back to the hotel for dinner.

Italy Tour Day 4 – Cremona

We left Milan early this morning for a travel-day to Monastier di Treviso, near Venice. On the way, we stopped in Cremona for a city tour that included the Cathedral, Piazza Comunale, and the Hall of Violins. At the violin museum, we saw their oldest violin made in 1566 and several original Stradivari violins, violas and a cello. While there, a musician played a short concert for us using the best violin in the world, a 1715 Stradivari. It was amazing! After lunch in Cremona, we left on the 2nd leg of our bus trip to the Venice area for dinner and to check in at the hotel. We are all looking forward to our day tomorrow to visit Venice and have a performance at San Moise Church. Due to our late arrival in to Monastier di Treviso, pictures of the day will come soon…

Italy Tour Day 3 - Milan (6/20)

We all had a great night rest and wonderful breakfast at the hotel. In the morning, we met our tour guides to go to downtown Milan. There we had a walking tour starting at the Teatro alla Scala, a famous opera house/theater and museum, where Madam Butterfly was 1st performed and where we saw the original Requiem by Verdi score. We walked through the Galleria, a street covered mall first built in 1865, and we proceeded to tour the Duamo, the 3rd largest cathedral in the world. After a great lunch at a local restaurant, the boys headed to San Martino in Lambrate church and school for a dress rehearsal. There they also sang for and met the school children. Companions had the afternoon in Milan to tour and shop on their own. A multi-course dinner was followed by an amazing first tour performance with an audience of over 375. One local resident commented “your concert touched my soul”. After a very long full day, we arrived back at the hotel to prepare for a good night sleep and our departure for Cremona and Monastier di Treviso.

Italy Tour Day 1-2 - Milan

Greetings from Italy!   We have finally started our much anticipated tour in Milan and there is much excitement.  A long and extended travel day brought us in late morning for a quick lunch and off to the center of Milan with our KI Representative (some of you may remember Loma from our Australia tour 4 years ago) and Tour Guides.  Allegro boys and chaperones headed off first to visit a Technology and Science Museum – which highlighted Leonardo Da Vinci.  Most of the companions, CA boys and chaperones had a couple hours in town to browse shops and cafes to begin to experience the sights and sounds of Italy.   It was a very warm and beautiful sunny day.  We settled in to our hotel late afternoon for a short rest before our Welcome Dinner at the hotel, and off to bed early to get some much needed and desired sleep.   After our 3 separate trips, we are all looking forward to being together tomorrow for our first full day of activities and performance at San Martino in Lambrate Church.

Italy Tour - Bon Voyage Concert

Join us for our Bon Voyage Concert
as we kick-off our summer tour to Italy and our 50th season.

Tuesday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Bon Voyage Concert

featuring the Tour Choir

Graebner Chapel, Concordia University

275 Syndicate Street North, Saint Paul

A freewill donation will be received.

Minnesota Boychoir Tour Blog

There's just over 91 more days until we depart for our 2011 Italy Tour! Watch here for updates and photos as we journey through Italy. 

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