The following are notes and pictures from Robert Bullwinkel, the choir director at Sunnyside High School in Fresno, CA. The Sunnyside High School Chorus recently returned from a European concert tour with MCI.

As the jet lag slowly fades, the images and memories of the Sunnyside High School chamber choir’s Sister City Tour become clear. Suffice it to say that the tour was everything we hoped it would be and more. Since it is impossible to recount everything,let me give you a few snapshots of the many memorable moments.

Paris
–a sunset cruise down the Seine as the stars came out and the lights of the Eiffel tower came on, then stopping on the Pont Neuf to see the Tower glowing against the deep azure sky with the moon shining above and the whole scene reflected in the water.
–the Sunday morning farmer’s market on the Rue Moufftard, sipping cafe au lait and watching the Parisians do their shopping.
–singing through our tears on the altar at Notre Dame as we realized that we had really made it there.
–our “live” broadcast back home to Fresno’s Finest

Muenster
–our first rehearsal with the choir from the Gymnasium Paulinem school (founded in the year 797), seeing the walls between the students break down, and then, after lunch together in the German students’ homes, seeing all of the new “best friends for life”.
–bringing down the house that night at the Festaal of the Rathaus in an awesome performance with the Paulinem choir. In the words of the Mayor’s office, “We have many fine choirs in Muenster, but we have never seen anything like this! The Festaal has never rocked like this before!!”
–seeing our bright and shining faces all over the morning papers the next day:)
–our performance in St. Paul’s cathedral and hearing the shimmering chords echo throughout the space
–our final performance in Muenster at St. Petronilla church. Word about the choir’s previous performances had gotten around and the church was packed to the rafters. We have never heard such applause nor seen multiple standing ovations that lasted for so long. I think that if we had more songs to sing we would be there singing still!

Switzerland
–a beautiful, sunny drive through the Alps and the view of the lakes at Interlaken surrounded by the snowcapped peaks
–two words: Swiss Chocolate

Riva del Garda
–being selected to sing in the opening concert of the International Choir Festival and giving the crowd some real American gospel music and having the audience of 48 choirs from 26 different countries clap along with us.
–gelato, gelato, gelato
–taking paddle boats out onto Lake Garda and seeing the foothills of the Alps wrapped around the beautiful Italian harbor.
–realizing that we were singing in a competition for huge college choirs and then giving our best performance anyway and holding our own with the older, bigger choirs.
(For the record, this was the first time in the eighteen year history of the event that an American high school choir entered into the competition. We were placed in category G3 for choirs aged 16-25. All of the other choirs, except one, were from colleges around the world. Coincidentally, there was one other American school entered in the category–Piedmont High School from the Bay Area with the highest public school API score in California for their enrollment. Sunnyside beat them handily. The G3 category was won by a private college choir from Singapore who went on to win the entire festival.)

Verona
–singing in the Baptistery of the 12th century Cathedral at a special service written just for our choir called “The rebirth of hope”. The program was sponsored by the city of Verona and the church with a pre-service dinner provided by the ladies of the church.
–performing “Only in America” on the steps of the City Hall which stands next to a Roman Arena built in the first century BC. Drawing a big crowd of enthusiastic listeners including a group of French teenagers who became part of the show and our biggest fans of the tour!
–strolling the streets in the beautiful spring weather and feeling very Italian.

The usual tour stuff…..
–lost luggage! Our sound gear finally joined us in Muenster, three days after we arrived.
–the neverending card games
–playing pool at the youth hostel
–getting sick and passing it around
–more walking than we thought humanly possible
–lost glasses recovered from a truck stop as we passed back through a week later
–everyone applauding as our Italian driver parallel parks the 50′ bus in a spot seemingly too small for a VW
–getting homesick and needing to talk to mom:)
–late nights and early mornings
–flirting with other teens and finding that puppy love has no language barrier
–Mr. de Jong grossing everyone out by eating horsemeat and mulemeat in Verona.
–fun and games with food (Becky, Romanita, Sandy and Marya!)
–shopping, shopping, shopping
–steppng around a corner and seeing yet another postcard view of an ancient city
–surly Sicilian waiters
–being kissed on both cheeks!
–hours spent on the bus
–getting in trouble for being late
–hauling our bags a mile straight uphill to the youth hostel in Verona
–travelling for nearly 24 hours straight to get home
–sending the police out to search for one of our missing chaperones
–cheering when we got back to the USA and realized how much we love our home.

You can check out more pictures and student blogs here.