Budapest II and our last concert of the tour

Our last full day of the tour began in Budapest when a goodly portion of us left in our two busses to go to the little village of Szentendre, about 30 miles away. It was touted to be a wonderful place for shopping, and since it was a very significant birthday for Elaine, we decided to go and shop for a birthday present. Well, this resourceful lady wasn't off the bus five minutes before she found a very nice looking blue sweater which she wore all day until she had to "suit up" for the upcoming concert. It was a very pretty village with curvy, narrow streets. If you look very carefully at the picture at the left, (C7-36), you might just see Claudia and company.
H7-35. A very pretty street in Szentendre.

H7-34

This place had many churches to photograph.Right, (C7-40) is a Roman Catholic Church which was located on the top of a hill. On the left, (C7-38) is a Serbian Orthodox Church.

Back in Budapest, we got dressed for our last concert in the hotel. Our room in the Budapest Hotel was very nice and pie shaped, although this doesn't show in this picture. (H8-03)

Below, we assemble at the beautiful cathedral (H8-05) and Tom, our bass soloist, takes a swig of his water bottle.(H8-06)
 
Elaine, the Poster Girl. (H8-07)

We were asked to assemble in the back balcony of the cathedral which contained a very exciting looking pipe organ. I couldn't read any of the labels on the thing, but I did manage a few photographs. The five rank console (C8-08) sure looked neat. Left, (H8-09) and above (C8-10).
The Three Alto's? (C8-13)
The Two Wunderlichs. (H8-14)
Above, the choir waits in the balcony for the beckon. (H8-12)

Below, having been beckoned, we have our acoustical rehearsal. (H8-15)
After the rehearsal, we wait some more. We are solidly instructed NOT to come down to line up until the Concert Master tells us to. But it's getting very close to the time of performance. (H8-19)
A quick look out the window shows that the queue waiting to get in, seems to be getting shorter. Why aren't we lining up.(H8-20)
I couldn't help taking one last picture of the Danube taken out that same window I used to see the queue. (H8-18)
The concert went very well; a little sad to be our last one. Afterwards, we had our farewell dinner in the Danube Palace Restaurant. The evening was a bit more dignified than the one in Eger. After all, we were all formally attired.
H8-23
H8-22
Above, (C8-24), Bob gives some parting comments.
And Dianne gives some well deserved hugs (and a gift) to our wonderful couriers Lisa and Clare.(C8-26)
The musicians started playing "Happy Birthday" (H8-27) . . .
. . .and the whole chorus sang to Elaine. (H8-29) What a wonderful birthday!
The Cembello player was a real virtuoso and played a solo that brought down the house. . .(H8-30)

. . . which was just as well since we had a very early call the next morning. In order to get to the airport in time for a rather early departure, we had to have our bags down by 6 A.M., and we had to leave by 6:30 SHARP!
 

140 sleepy people waiting for breakfast to open up.(H8-31) Does it look like we would rather be in bed?

H8-33
We are the only occupants of the breakfast room -- who else would be up at this ungodly hour? (H8-32)
Boarding the bus for the last time. (C8-34)
The airport wait. Above, (H8-35), Below (H8-36)
On British Airline. (H8-37)
 
The view out the window over London was truly breathtaking. Pictures like this (H8-38) never do it justice.

We even had a fairly sizable choir group on the shuttle taking us to our baggage claim in Dulles. (C8-39)

And here, we are collected by Jerry and Claire. NO LUGGAGE LOST this time! (C8-40)

We hope you have enjoyed these pictures. Please notify us if there are any mistakes.
Table of Contents