Day 1, Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Checking in at JFK Airport proved a general contest of "Who has the Most Disproportionate and Heaviest Suitcase." Derrick Davis won the heaviest award at 110 lbs. Just before six p.m. we loaded onto British Airways flight 112 to London Heathrow. Before take off had commenced, we took the opportunity to shuffle seats everywhere. A not very full flight ensured some extra sleeping room when we all finally wound down.

Day 2, Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Groggy and disgruntled, we piled off in Heathrow, whole-heartedly and sleepily wishing Stephanie Hart "Happy Birthday." After an extremely over priced breakfast and a couple of hours of recuperation and shopping in the waiting area of Heathrow, we boarded British Airways 554 to Rome.

Upon arrival the group hustled to find luggage and tour guide- Patrizia. Everyone's baggage had thankfully made it through, but the gamba played in Merriweather Consort by Bryan Petorak and its 80-lb. solid oak case had been damaged.

We rolled en masse through customs out to our bus where me met our Herculean bus driver: Maximillianus. We drove then to our home for three nights: the Hotel Hermitage, a four star hotel far enough out of center Rome that the taxi drivers were consulting maps to get us safely back.

After hauling luggage up and down stairs and being very confused about who was rooming where, everyone took a few minutes to change and wash up before rendezvousing again in the lobby for a brief rehearsal. We descended afterwards to three levels below ground level for a rather Americanized supper.

After dinner we broke off into small groups and discovered in various wanderings no bank machines we could access but a convenient snack bar and park-like area.

Day 3, Thursday, May 18, 2000
Happy Birthday to Pope John Paul II- could we find a better time to visit bella Roma? After an early wake-up call and breakfast, our jet-lagged group plowed towards the Vatican. On our way there we met our Rome guide: Fabrizio. We wandered through hallways of relics, statues, and historical monuments- finally reaching the Sistine Chapel. There- in awe- we paused for almost a half-hour to slowly wander the room, stare at the paintings, and take in the phenomenon before us. We retired to a snack bar then for a much needed water break.

Walking towards Trevi Fountain, we passed St. Peter's Basilica, outside of which there was a massive birthday celebration occurring for Pope John Paul II in the open square in front. We took pictures but did not enter the area. At Trevi Fountain, we took the opportunity to throw money in, make wishes, and attack the money exchange places. We got an excellent rate the entire trip, usually over 2,000 lira to the American dollar. Cash in hand we converged on gelati- the Italian version of ice cream. As we left to walk further to the Spanish steps, we realized that we'd lost our first set. Jeremy Riddle, Mark Wurtzel, and Jaymes "Coach" Welsh had disappeared. True to promise however, Professor Dashnaw insisted we not waste time waiting for them. At the Spanish steps we broke for lunch and light shopping. We managed to regroup later despite the persistent efforts of the junk vendors to separate us. Now also missing Carissa Castaldo and Lauren Haber- we headed for the Borghese Gardens. After touring the first level of the museum- and meeting up with Carissa and Lauren, we attempted to enjoy the fabulous acoustics with a Seven-Part Amen. However the on-duty guard felt that we might damage the ceiling decoration with our pure, clear tones and stopped us midnotes. Some of us continued upstairs to see more artwork while others collapsed on the lawn. We walked a nature path through the gardens and returned to the bus to be dropped at the hotel. It was learned that the other three missing members had returned safely- though tired from a day of walking about Rome- and as dinner was open the group split off. Many went to Hard Rock Café to purchase the collectible and overpriced t-shirts and others went to small Italian restaurants.

Day 4, Friday, May 19, 2000
We drove first along the Appian Way to the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. Huddled closely with a bit of awe and the heebie-jeebies we wandered the third level of the tombs- nearly sixty feet below ground level where the temperature is a constant 55 F and the humidity is at a damp 95%. We saw the Chamber of the Popes, the tomb of St. Cecilia: the sixteen-year-old patron saint of music, and wound through what the tour guides call "The Labyrinth." After admiring family tombs and noting for ourselves that there were unopened tombs with inscriptions on the covering marble, we ascended back into the sunlight and enjoyed the warm air briefly before transferring by bus to the subway. Patrizia noted at the end of the tour that it was the first time she had ventured with a group onto the subway- surprisingly it went very well. We found to our good and cramped fortune that all forty-five of us could fit into one car along with some rather startled looking Italians. We disembarked to hike to the Colosseum. We were given free time then- with a deadline of when we must be ready to leave for the performance or be prepared for a Merriweather rehearsal. Many took time to enter the Colosseum and to view the structure from the ancient Roman times from varying levels before searching for lunch and taxis.

The group met up as a whole at 4:45 p.m. to be bussed to our first concert at Saint Maria del Popolo. In blue day-wear and Madrigal costumes, we first took part in the mass before giving a short program afterwards. The audience, though small, was very receptive and enthusiastic about the concert. Dean Croton pointed out that we were in the presence of two of Caravaggio's greatest paintings, located in a side chapel in the church. We returned then to the hotel to excellent Chef Boyardee before escaping to varying evening entertainment.

Day 5, Saturday, May 20, 2000
While part of the group slept in a few much-needed hours, others took an extra side trip. We stopped first at a Greek church and after singing for the priest and looking around we were treated to a private walk back into the gardens of the adjoining monastery. We took pictures to encompass the fabulous view and, near the herb garden, we took the opportunity to touch a sturdy wall, reputed to be the foundation of a villa belonging to Cicero that has been in existence since the first century BC. Though we failed to decipher what the Greek letters spelled out in the shrubbery in the entryway- the atmosphere was peaceful and enjoyable and most of us would have gladly stayed for a mid morning snack picked fresh off the citrus trees they had. However we moved on instead towards the summer residence of the Popes — Castel Gandalfo. At one point, we made the bus driver stop at a lake, formed in an inactive volcano crater near the Castel, so that we could take pictures. Once at the summer residence, we paused for shopping and gelati.

The bus took us back towards Rome, pausing on a hill that when the bus was put into neutral, pulled us upwards instead of down. With a free afternoon, several students took the opportunity to go back into the heart of Rome for shopping and a trip to St. Peter's while the rest headed back for the hotel.

We regrouped then for our second concert. This one required a ten-minute walk from the bus to the church- though consort members had their instruments taxied. Chamber Singers sat behind the altar during the mass, sang during the service and then continued after the service with a concert. Again, the audience was very enthusiastic. Following this we headed uphill to where we'd left the bus. Only the bus wasn't there. Even more peculiar was that Patrizia couldn't reach our bus driver by phone. So we waited and waited and eventually- as we were about ready to take taxis back to the hotel and worry about it later, the bus arrived — it had been parked in another section of the garage the entire time we were waiting and cell phones do not work in underground garages in Italy either. We then went back to the hotel for dinner- scary looking fish that I didn't eat, though I hear rumor others did. Happy Birthday to Jaymes Welsh!

Day 6, Sunday, May 21, 2000
Checking out of the hotel the following morning came earlier than anyone really wanted to rise. However we loaded onto the bus dutifully. The big event of the morning was the theft of Professor Dashnaw's shoulder bag during the night from his room. He was awakened by a noise about 3am and went to the window in time to see a man running across a roof and scale a wall with his bag. Fortunately, the bag with his passport and driver's license was found before we departed, but the digital camera, his money and Traveler's checks were missing.

The first two hours of our drive to Lucca was "quiet time" with the majority of the bus sleeping soundly. After two hours, we paused at a tourist selling point where many people bought small souvenirs and snacks. Following this, we were much more awake and refreshed and chattered cheerfully the rest of the way to Lucca.

After lunch we toured Lucca, a small town that is beautiful with a still existing medieval wall. We stood on top of the wall, looking down approximately 40 ft. and wandered through very old, narrow streets. The city is one of a few to still have medieval towers and we saw that one family, in an effort to have the tallest tower even after the city government had limited construction height, had planted trees and created a garden. In another local church we saw a five hundred-year-old saint whose exhumed body, still with discernable features, was on display in a glass case in a chapel.

That evening we went to a decommissioned church for our third concert. Our hosts were a local group specializing in folk music of different countries - "Il Baluardo Choir" who started the evening performance with several rousing numbers. We all were highly appreciative of their skill and the enthusiasm of their director. Following our performance, which included Vocal Jazz's first full performance, they fed us supper. It was a relaxing evening of camaraderie between the two groups as we continued to sing throughout eating and talking as best as possible. Several of the guys took part in a pseudo-soccer game and they presented us several gifts before we took our leave of them. At the end of the evening, while they were walking us to the bus, Johann Montero left his skateboard with the children.

After boarding the bus, we continued that night to Florence where, after hauling luggage to our hotel and seeing how many people we could fit (with luggage) into the entry way, we collapsed into bed.

Day 7, Monday, May 22, 2000
Those that pried out of bed after the piercing tones of a wake up call dutifully walked Florence. We visited the burial chapel of the Medici, which had floor to ceiling marble, incredible frescoes, and elegant statues by Michaelangelo. Inside there was some construction going on with scaffolding preventing us from seeing everything clearly, but the general heavy and overpowering serenity was still apparent. The Seven-Part Amen echoed very clearly in that building.

We continued to Santa Maria del Fiore, Saint Mary of the Flower, an iris shaped church — locally called Il' Duomo. The flower of Florence is the lily, but the shape they use is actually that of an iris so they combined the flower with the church to Saint Mary for their main cathedral. The church is fantastically marbled outside in green, white and a mauve shade. Inside the church is less ornamented, but still fantastic in size. The dome of the church is especially interesting, in an octagonal shape with an enormous fresco. We thought about climbing up to the top, but opted not too because of the time it would require.

Then we walked to Santa Croce, another important church in Florence. Within this church are tombs of Michelangelo, Rossini, Cherubini, Machiavelli and an honorary tomb to Dante, who was exiled from his hometown of Florence before his death.

Several students took advantage of a free afternoon to visit Pisa, seeing the famous leaning tower and learning about the attempts being made to keep it from falling. Others continued to wander Florence and gawk at the set pieces and onsite buildings for the sequel/remake, one of the two, for Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins.

Day 8, Tuesday, May 23, 2000
Rising the next morning, we partook quickly of breakfast before bussing to Sienna. There we spent an extremely warm couple of hours walking the town. We saw one building where outside they had decorated at the top with sculpted heads of famous Italians. The heads were looking down towards the pavement and on first glance were extremely startling. At the end of the tour, we were left in a large round brick circle of buildings, which formed a kind of valley - the Palazzo Publico. Twice yearly, the famous horse race called the Palio is run in this city square. We took a few minutes to tour through the city hall and see Italian paintings before searching for someplace semi-shady to have lunch. We rendezvoused on the hot bricks and sunbathed momentarily before walking to the bus.

Our next stop was in a small town called San Gimignano. We walked through the town, literally, pausing in the main square only a moment to run to the bathroom and buy water. The walled town was reminiscent of medieval times with tall stone towers (50 of which survive) and close streets. There's a great scene in the movie "Tea With Musolini" with the women saving the towers from destruction by the soldiers in the second world war. We enjoyed the tall buildings though because they offered some coolness in what were still extremely warm temperatures. At the other side of town we waited for the bus and warmed up. The bus drove us to an Augustinian monastery, cloister and church, where we gave our evening concert.

The priest, born and raised in Philadelphia, politely translated his sermon from his fluent Italian to English for us while we sat through the mass. The sound in this church was absolutely spectacular and the audience was very warm and appreciative Following the concert, they served us light snacks in the cloister area and a young man from New York told us about a program he was participating in where youths are given a year to work with one of the monasteries throughout the world. Exhausted from touring for the day and then having given a concert, we were glad to get back on the bus and head for our Florence home. We had supper at the hotel and then several students went out afterwards to see what the Florence discotheques were like. Professor Becker joined us for a while and exhausted we all eventually headed back for bed.

Day 9, Wednesday, May 24, 2000
Before most of us were conscious, Angela Fascilla and Elizabeth Talbot left for Milan, a preplanned early departure. Our guide for our continued touring of Florence was the unforgettable grandmother - Mirela. After advising us to remember her name as sight-reading syllables and singing a lively tune for us, she herded us off to see Michelangelo's David. We sang our usual Lutkin "Amen" to a startled and delighted group of tourists from behind the statue while in the Academia and took a few minutes to walk about the museum before plowing onwards through the masses of tourists on the streets.

We progressed to the only remaining medieval bridge Florence has, the Ponte Vecchio, the others having been destroyed during WWII. On the bridge many of the girls took the opportunity to sing "O Mio Babino Caro" This aria is sung in the Puccini opera "Gianni Schichi" on this bridge as a suicide gesture by the heroine - Lauren Haber was going to fling herself into the river as the honorary sacrifice, stopped only at the last moment by Professor Dashnaw. We split apart at this point with some continuing to see the Pitti Palace and others going shopping. Eventually we met up outside another gelati shop (the group as a whole consumed a lot of gelati while in Italy) and boarded the bus for Venice.

Settling at our hotel in Venice we went in search of dinner. We found a self-serve place that made pizzas fresh for you as well as serving a variety of other well prepared foods and was very reasonably priced.

Day 10, Thursday, May 25, 2000
Ah, Venice, an island of gondolas and lovers, and way way way too many little glass and Venetian mask shops. We took a boat over to the main island, and choked on the fumes the majority of the ride. A scholarly looking young man, named Secco (dry — and that he certainly was) appeared as our tour guide and we clustered to try and catch his rapid explanations as he showed us about. We went to the Doge's Palace and as we crossed the Bridge of sighs into the I Piombi (prison), Professor Dashnaw advised to get our last look at the world- vowing to leave us all in the cells. The cells we saw looked roomy if they were double accommodations, but our guide advised that the cells without water, plumbing, lights, chairs or beds were built with six people in mind and were often overcrowded. The cells had doors at waist level so that prisoners entering and exiting the cells would be unable to gain an advantage over anyone opening the door. We exited the prison and walked out to St. Mark's square. Because of the long line, most of us did not go into St. Mark's but we as a whole continued to a glass shop. Here we were given an example of how they make the blown glass vases and figurines and advised on the various colors and processes used to make the glassware. We looked around the shop, some purchasing and some trying to figure out how to escape without breaking anything.

After this we split off to get some lunch, catch a gondola ride and shop extensively before meeting up again. We bussed then to Meolo. On the way we were scheduled to stop for dinner and we got terribly lost. Dinner was excellent and then we continued to our performance place, a small church in Meolo, a tiny, affluent Italian town near Venice. This was the mosquito church, where we all came out with mosquito bites the size of quarters following our concert. As part of the concert, the organist of the church played the church's organ which is the second oldest organ in Italy. This concert proved to be the finest one we presented on the entire tour. Performing in a small town has definite advantages, as most everyone in the town came to hear the concert. The only painting in this church was a spectacular Tiepolo on the ceiling over the main altar. Afterwards, we were given a warm reception in an adjacent hall. They served us a local vintage wine and much home cooked food and some of our audience sang a traditional drinking song for us. Vocal Jazz had been unable to perform with us during the concert, so they sang during the reception.

Day 11, Friday, May 26, 2000
The following morning we rose to go to our next concert, which would be at the Meolo middle school gymnasium. The gym quickly filled with masses of middle school students while we warmed up in and around the boys' locker rooms, where they'd let us set our things down.

Everyone was in daywear for that concert and it went well, considering we couldn't hear the piano at all and we were having trouble hearing each other because of the wild acoustics. It was the first time that we performed the all of American Quilt while on tour. The students, who were very well mannered, seemed to enjoy it though and following our performance, we were taken to a small restaurant for sandwiches and drinks.

The afternoon was left free when we got back to our hotel just outside of Venice. Some people returned to the island to take the gondolas and to finish their shopping. The WHAM team and a few others found a basketball court and finally satisfied their desperate need to play. Others shopped in the local area or rested and repacked. Most of us ate dinner at the self-serve place discovered the first night and late in the evening we swarmed en masse at a small bar near the hotel to enjoy each other's company before Stephanie Hart would depart from us the following morning.

Day 12, Saturday, May 27, 2000
Happy Birthday Andrew Troup…and we were off to Verona for the day. Our tour guide was really funny, a petite young woman with cat's eye glasses. We saw a square which had architectural examples from four different time periods where the buildings were all connected by bridges. On top of one of the bridges was a statue holding a ball. Legend has it that if a wise man walked under the bridge the statue would drop its ball on his/her head. It has been up there for four hundred years however and since none of us ventured under the bridge, it remains there still. In that same square was also excavation showing originalRoman roads. The roads were in relatively good condition, though none of us would readily be able to rollerblade on them.

Our guide took us also to Juliet's house and we looked out from the balcony onto the crowds of tourists. There was a statue of Juliet in the courtyard that is supposed to bring good luck if touched. We then walked to the Arena, a structure much smaller but similar in shape and purpose to the Colosseum. They were setting up there for their summer run of operas, held nightly during a late summer/early fall season. We spent a short while then getting lunch and shopping before loading on the bus to head to our final home, the outskirts of Milan.

Everyone took time to clean up and change before we had our tour banquet. Dressed to the nines, we were transferred to a hotel in the heart of the city where in the basement we had an excellent multi-course meal. The group was hyper and enthusiastic during the awards ceremony, to the point where a birthday celebration partitioned off from us in the same room was bothered by our noise. To apologize, we later went over and sang "The Lord Bless You" for them — all was forgiven. There was live music provided by a man with a keyboard and we all soundly drowned him out when he started Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York."

Day 13, Sunday, May 28, 2000
We rose far too early for the preference of the majority and loaded onto the bus. Many people slept on our ride to Lake Maggiore. We took the boat from island to island, having lunch and then touring the fabulous summer mansion and gardens of a once extremely wealthy Italian family — the Boromeos. Inside the house the main floor had rooms in varying colors. We sang in a huge blue room with exceptional acoustics that extended upward two stories — people came running from everywhere to hear the music. In the basement, we found multiple rooms that were done completely with round stones on the walls, ceilings and floors creating a cave-like effect that was cool in temperature and mildly eerie. It poured down rain the majority of the day and umbrellas, those that had remembered them, were opened and shared. We had free time in the afternoon after we'd come back from the islands and while some shopped others found time for a nap on the bus. We were awakened to meet for dinner in a local restaurant before heading to our final concert. The food was good but we questioned what type of meat they served us, deciding that perhaps it was pigeon and leaving it without anymore questions.

Our last concert, in another beautiful church, flowed very smoothly. The capacity audience, who trudged up a hill in a blinding rainstorm, was extremely warm and wanted more encores. We all became emotional when we finished, as it was the last time for the "2000" graduates to perform with us. Arriving back at the hotel, everyone dispersed for frantic last minute packing. Music and costumes were delivered to Meredith, who had purchased an extra suitcase to haul all of the materials home, while Bryan Petorak dutifully checked all of the instruments to ensure their safe packing.

Day 14, Monday, May 29, 2000
Our last morning was a trip into Milan. We left Professors Becker and Johnson and the latter's fiancée at the hotel as they were going to be extending their stays. In Milan we first visited La Scala Opera House. We only briefly went into the actual opera house and we were not allowed to sing in there but instead were warned not to make ANY noise at all. We looked at various costumes that had been designed for the performers and were also taken through a museum area where pictures of various singers and composers as well as original scores and paraphernalia of composers.

After this we walked towards the main church in Milan. We paused in the world's most famous and probably first enclosed mall — la Galleria, where there was a special place to spin for good luck and most of us took the opportunity to look like tourists and turn on it. We briefly walked through the Duomo, some people having to sneak past the guards because of shorts. We then had free time,so a few of us took the opportunity to climb (though Professors Dashnaw and McRoy took the elevator) to the top of the cathedral and looked at the magnificent Gothic architecture that was incredibly detailed even at the top. Before we collected again to leave for the airport, we had our final lunch in Italy and did some last minute gift buying in Milan.

When we met up with the bus, we also took leave of Kristina Leath and Christopher Powell, bringing us down to one Chris from the four we'd started with - now only Chris Loiodice was left. At the airport, checking in went smoothly, but our flight ended up being delayed 45 minutes. This meant that we were mid-air panicking about making our connecting flight in London to the United States. British Airways came through for us, having people on hand to transfer us specifically to the proper terminal, to assist us through metal detectors, and onto our final flight: British Airways Flight 179 to JFK. The only transfer that didn't work was that the gamba, Jim Erickson's guitar and Dean Croton and Mark Wurtzel's luggage had been put on the wrong flight leaving Milan and so would not accompany us directly to the states.

The last flight went smoothly, though for a choice of lamb or salmon at dinner left several of us without much of an appetite. We landed at ten minutes before nine p.m., twenty minutes early, and spent about forty-five minutes getting through customs and finding our baggage. We then went our various ways to go home and on to our individual summer lives with the memories of a wonderful and very special tour.

Happy Italy Tour 2000!  

--- Love always, Abs