Today was spent in Milan (the shopping capital of the world) and Voghera, Italy! As told the night before upon our arrival in Como, this was a long, yet amazing 15 hour day that consisted of long bus rides, tours, shopping, more long bus rides and of course, a concert performance. This morning was also very eventful as we spent it throwing balloons at a very good friend, Natasha because it was her birthday :D Soon after, we began our tour in the Castello Sforzesco castle in Milan. We were fortunate enough to have great tour guides who ensured to thoroughly inform us about this castle; we even got to see some funny-dressed guys who were part of a marching band.
Next, we walked down to La Scala, the internationally famous opera house in Milan where they say "If you're successful in performing in La Scala, you can make it anywhere in the world". Although it was gorgeous, I felt myself slowly falling asleep with every stop we made!
The walking tour was followed by a visit to Basilica of St. Ambrose,the gorgeous church made entirely out of marble! Then, we had the great opportunity of going inside La Galleria where we saw the first ever Gucci store and a really fancy Mcdonalds. It was now time for what we came here for-- SHOPPING! I was fortunate enough to be with girls who were adamant in shopping as well so it was all the more enjoyable. I bought khaki pants and a polka-dot dress from a very Italian store called Berksha, an 'I heart Milano' shirt and a Milan bracelet from a street vendor, and shorts from Tally Weijl! The sun, the smell of roasted chestnuts and coconut, the scary moving statues, and the accompinament of great friends made our time in Milan truly short lived. We had some business to take care of now; a concert!
We had another long bus ride that took us to Voghera, Italy. At this church, we had the amazing opportunity of changing in a cold, dark back room and peeing in a broken toilet- wonderful. Nonetheless, our concert was great as usual even with the upsetting conditions of the church AND the improvised performance of two new songs, Gabriel's Oboe and the Italian National Anthem. After the concert was amazing as well because I got to talk to very cute, Italian boys. Overall, our day was fantastic, fabulous, and just simply draining. But then again, that's what we signed up for. I love the tour life.
After my 7 year wait of going on this Europe Band Trip, (yes, I wanted to go on this trip since gr. 5) I was bouncing off the walls knowing that the day was finally here. We all arrived to the sacred place between the Q and R terminal, screaming at one another in excitement. We were then assigned to the instruments we were resposible for, said our sad goodbyes to our families, and spent our time waiting for our flight learning German! The plane ride form Toronto to Munich was a gruelling, yet worth-while trip. I have to say that it was quite enjoyable supporting the people who never flew on a plane before by raising our hands in excitement! Being able to watch movies and eat (for the first time ever) plane food was the icing on the cake! 127 hours, Megamind, Chicken and Rice, Salad, bread, and chocolate cake- simply marvelous! 
We're all pooped. The bus ride from the Munich airport to Nordlingen, Germany is where everyone caught up on their sleep-- I got the greatest picture of an entire bus full of passed out people. Our hotel was amazing as we had two floors! I never heard of something like that in Canada. It was even more spectacular when we got to watch Spongebob in German! Despite all of the escitement, we all had to get spiffied up to go on our walking tour and a reception with THE MAYOR. I certanly felt special. The walking tour was amazing as the houses were so gorgeous and historical. Soon after, we had the great opportunity of having drinks with the mayor who informed us that the founders of Nordlingen aided in the founding of Markham and Toronto, Ontario as well-- pretty interesting huh? We then ate dinner at a little restaurant in town which had horrible service yet delicious food. I guess they just weren't used to such a large group. We also had the great opportunity of celebrating my good friend, Perrin's birthday here! We ate salad, chicken and gravy, potatoes, and zucchini! Then, during free time, we explored the town at night which was quiet and scary, but beautiful. Walking on the wall at night was an amazing experience. I love my band family so much and I'm glad this was just the first day.
After our amazing time in Nordlingen, it was a bitter-sweet goodbye as we departed for Stuttgard. On our journey, there was lots of traffic, we were hit by a truck, and we were even pulled over by the border police; could it get any worse? NO IT COULD NOT! We arrived to the Stuttgard Music School which was located in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. After rehearsing a few times with a conductor at the school, we got to explore the streets of Stuttgart where we saw these eccentric trees, cute shops, beautiful buildings, heard the most amazing street music, and ate spinach pie and peach yogurt gelato, YUM! We got back to the music school for our second concert where we heard the incredible Brass ensemble (conducted by the famous Mr. Gassi!) and played incredibly, even with a conductor we weren't very familiar with. We all made some very nice Stuttgard friends as well. The bus ride home to our hotel was probably the best moment of my life! The band decided to sing our entire concert while gazing out the window at the beautiful scenery-- simply priceless. My band family is amazing!
This morning I woke up to eat the best breakfast ever! I ate an amazing smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich (of course stashing a handful of nutella packets in my pocket in the process)-- I love breakfast buffets! All dressed in our black concert clothes, we travelled to the all-girl's school on the other side of Stuttgart. I'm sure after seeing us girls scream and giggle when we had our experience with the Nordlingen boys band, an all-girl's school would be a nice change of pace for our boys. We had an amazing concert (as usual) which was followed by a few boys being mobbed by some very beautiful German girls! They were all very nice and wanted to take so many pictures of us Canadians!
I woke up again today to have my usual delicious breakfast of a croissant, egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich! I knew I had to get all of the energy I could because we were going on a beautiful walking tour of Lucerne, while it was still sunny. On our city tour, we were fortunate enough to see the beautiful buildings, the surrounding Alps, and the exquisite bridge over the water. Unfortunately, it was raining but you know a place is gorgeous when it could be pouring cats and dogs and it could still be beautiful. The tour was even more exciting when we figured out we could drink straight from the pretty fountains! After the tour, we separated at lunch where a few of us were very adamant in getting tattoos-- something I could only do in Europe! Unfortunately, there was a 3-4 month waiting time so we decided to buy the SWATCH instead :) We spent the rest of our time shopping, and of course, eating gelato! Soon after, we went back to our hotel where we had to change for our next concert in Zurich, Switzerland.
The next stop was to the Munich Olympic park where there was something very similar to us all. Doesn't the building look like the CN tower? Here, we had the best time eating giant hot dogs and crepes, while sitting near a beautiful pond playing with ducks. Although we spent a very short time here, we can all agree the simplicity of it all made it very memorable.
Soon after, we had our solemn visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp. We watched a documentary about what life was like for a prisoner, and then we walked around the camp. We visited the massive barracks and ended our visit by seeing the gas chamber and ovens. The entire experience was full of sadness but also hope for humanity.
