If you would like to see other performance, you can visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ourwildfamily.

Enjoy!

I’ve had the pleasure of watching my daughter’s perform in many choirs. I am often brought to tears as I watch them share their passion with the audience.

In July of 2011, my daughter Sommer and I had an opportunity to travel through 7 European countries in 16 days as part of the Northern Ambassadors of Music Tour.

The choir is a combination of students from North Dakota and Montana and was directed by Larry Swingen.

This song, “Oh Lord, Please Hear My Prayer” by Moses Hogan was always the highlight song for me. I was moved to tears each and every time I heard it. This recording was from the St. Oswald’s Church in Seefeld, Austria.

I am grateful that I could be there to witness this.

If you would like to see other performances from this concert, you can visit our YouTube.com channel at www.youtube.com/ourwildfamily.

Then we hit a NINE MILE tunnel on our way to Innsbruck, Austria! Here it is in all its glory, only instead of the 12+ minutes it actually took us to navigate it, we are going to let you experience it in only one minutes.

What’s the longest tunnel you have ever experienced? Leave your comments below!

We boarded the coach and marveled as Super Alfred took on the Paris drivers!

We are in Paris on Bastille Day so we waited until after the parades to head out. By the way, the fireworks display last night was epic! Most of the shops will be closed today, so shopping will be limited.

We headed to the world famous area Montmartre. This is where some of the world’s most famous artists (Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc) made a name for themselves and were inspired to create the works that inspired the rest of the world.

Our tour guide gave us the scoop on Paris pick-pockets and gypsy world. It scared a lot of the kids, but that’s part of the growing process. We were told about the “string people” that would offer to braid a piece of string onto your finger (while the rifled through your pockets), the shell-game artists who were some of the best slight-of-hand artists in the world, and the gypsy group that would approach you as a deaf mute and try and get you to sign a petition (while they helped lighten your load). We encountered each and every one of them as we climbed the hundreds of steps to Montmatre! The kids did amazing and their confidence grew. In fact, we compared it to an episode of Dora the Explorer. “Where are we going? Past the string people, past the shell-game artists and the Gypsy people…SWIPER NO SWIPING!!”

Once at the top of the hill we immediately went inside of the Basilica and looked around. They were having a service and beautiful voices filled the air in song. We lit a candle for Sydney, Shonda and our families. It was a “moment” burned in the brain forever.

We then headed over to artist square where we grabbed a quick lunch as a French sidewalk cafe. We had Croc Monsieur (grilled ham and cheese) and a warm crepe with Nutella and banana. I will say it over and over. If you ever get to Paris and don’t try a crepe from the street venders, you didn’t really visit Paris.

We then watch some of the sidewalk artists do their thing. Some were just ok and other were absolutely out of this world!

We then took a driving tour around Paris, down the famous Champs Ellyssee. We made a very quick stop at the Eiffel Tower to take our first pictures. It was really cool. Once again, the pick-pocket training came in very handy for the kids.

before dinner we boarded a river boat and took a quick trip up and down the River Seine. We saw a lot of really cool sites, including the Eiffel Tower again, but the hightlight for me was seeing the Cathedral at Notre Dame for the first time. The river view was spectacular!! I can’t wait to go see it tomorrow.

We headed to the restaurant for another great meal (Sommer enjoyed the Red Wine and her first Buzz…) We headed back to our Hotel and had a few drinks with the adult travelers in the lounge.

Tomorrow we head to the Eiffel Tower for an up close look, visit Notre Dame and then perform our concerts.

We drove down to the White Cliffs of Dover. It was great to see them again. We boarded the P&O ferry for the two hour trip across the English Channel. The white caps were out today and the ride was a sea-sickness nightmare for many adults and kids. I typically don’t get sick from boats, but it was rocky enough to make me stay close to a bathroom at all times.

We arrived in Calais, France and moved out clocks ahead one hour. We are now 7 hours ahead of home.

The drive through the first hour of France was no different than driving through parts of Minnesota or North Dakota. Lots of farms and rolling hills. The one difference was that now road signs were basically useless to use because we couldn’t read them. We are officially the minority now.

Once we arrived in Paris, the first thing I noticed was the architecture. There were no sky scrapers that we could see. Everything was pretty packed in close and no more than a couple of stories high.

The big story here was traffic! These drivers are INSANE! They weave in and out of each other at break-neck speeds. Now add motorcycles to the mix, zipping in between lanes on the white lines and you have an amusement park ride!

Now would be a good time to introduce you to our coach driver, Alfred. He’s the owner of his own coach (400,000 euro to buy). He’s the best driver I have ever seen. He weaves that coach in and out of the crazy traffic like it was standing still. He takes this monster vehicle down narrow streets with literally a few feet to spare on each side. He’s from Austria and has been driving trucks for many years. A quite (but burly) man, he’s polite and professional. We have all grown to love Alfred for always getting us there on time.

We arrived at the Restaurant Saulnier where we will be dinning as group each night. We were treated to an authentic French meal and this was the first night that the kids (with permission slips) were allowed to have a glass of wine or beer with their meal. Sommer ordered a rose wine and was not impressed. I told her to try a red wine the next night. It’s an exciting moment for them.

We then headed over to the Saphir Hotel on the outskirts of Paris. Our home for the next three days.

Internet connectivity still continues to be an issue. The hotel had limited WiFI connections and I was not able to connect until after midnight most nights. Ugh. I’m still grateful to be on this trip however.

Tomorrow starts another whirlwind tour day.

I found the cache about a block away on WhiteCross Street. It took me a bit, but my new GPS unit got me there! I found the little black box stuck to the back of a power box and had to use some stealth (because of all the “muggles” walking around) to make the swap. I picked up a couple trackables to bring back to the USA. I also left a tracking coin that I found in Bismarck and the four cachekins (frogs) that we are going to “race” back to the geological center of North America (Rugby, ND). The four trackable frogs were named as follows: Hoppy Potter (Sydney), Mick Frogger (Sommer), James Pond 007 (mine), and Toady Blair (Brian’s family). We are calling it the Wild Global Hop 1.

We boarded the coaches and headed over to Wesley Chapel. This was named after John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church. When I said that our choir sounded amazing on the farewell concert last Friday, I had no idea that these churches would amplify that quality by a thousand! Even though It was just a practice session, it was still magical. I am so proud of these kids and the talent and professionalism they are exhibiting.

The band headed over to Victoria Embankment for their concert. It was a tight squeeze getting all of the instruments and band members on the stage but once they started playing the locals flocked in to check them out. They really enjoy the concert!

While the kids were changing in the restroom one of the boys had his passport stolen! What sucks for him is that we leave for Paris tomorrow and you have to have it at customs. He will have wait with a chaperone to get his replacement and then take the Chunnel (at a cost of over $1,000!).

After the concert it was off to Picadilli Circus for dinner. We had some shopping time so we bought some CDs at HMS record store and checked out M&M world. Tracy, one of the guys on the trip knew of and English Pub so we headed over for a traditional meal of fish n chips and bangers and mash (Cumberland sausage. It was one of my favorite moments on the trip so far. Sommer is such a great traveller and has been bitten by the European bug.

We finished the evening with a Ghosts of London walking tour. Learned more about london’d original city and saw the spot where William Wallace ( Braveheart) was hanged, drawn and quartered.

Another whirlwind day in the books. We leave early for Paris tomorrow.

It was great returning to my favorite city in the world. I’ll miss you old friend.

Cheers

We piled on the coach and meet our London tour guide, Rodney. He was one of the best tour guides I have ever experienced. He gave us great insight into the two cities (London and Westminster) and the 32 Burroughs.

We had a chance to see some of the famous landmarks such as Westminster Abby, Big Ben,
Parliament, 10 Downing street, and Trafalgar Square. Some sites added to the tour that I was not anticipating included the financial district and then Royal Albert Hall! We actually to go get out of the coach and walk around the hall. One of my favorite live albums, “24 Nights” by Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan’s “Live 1966″ Bootleg were recorded there!

We then headed over to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was an absolute zoo. Thousands of people lining the street. We watched as the old and new guard walked past, each behind their own marching band. The pageantry was incredible. The last time I watched this was from the gate in front of the palace.

We then walked over to St. James park continued out walking portion of the tour. Then it was off to the Tower of London, where we enjoyed our “chef in a box” lunches (which were really good!) before heading into the tower to tour around. We visited the Crown Jewels and saw the world’s largest diamond (The 1st Star of Africa) inside the scepter.

We walked around there for a couple of hours. It was then time to make our way over to Picadilly Circus and grab something to eat. We found this great little fast-food place called EAT (clever, huh?). They had really god sandwiches and pot pies. oh yeah, and kick-butt desserts called Bannoffee (like a custard cup with crust).

We quickly burned off our calories with a 45 minute walk over the West End theatre district and watched WICKED. It was absolutely amazing! I teared up watching Sommer tear up during “Defying Gravity” before the 1st intermission. Tons of special moments like that so far in this trip. I am grateful to be here witnessing it.

Took our first London cab ride back to the hotel and did room checks. Some of us adults headed down to the pub inside the hotel. Here I met Jonathan (London), Richard (Wales) and Owen (Scotland). We drank several pints of Guiness. Just as I was leaving, Owen insisted on buying me a glass of Telimasker. A 10 year old single malt scotch (or whiskey as he called it). All I can say is that when I get home, I’m pouring my bended scotch down the drain and buying the right stuff. WOW!!

We put in nearly 10 miles on foot today. I love it.

It’s a concert day tomorrow!

The following posts are the highlights that stick out in my mind:

The Farewell Concert and Saying Goodbye
After a three day prep-camp, the kids performed a farewell concert for their friends and families on Friday night. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from a high school band and choir that had only been together for 3 day. I was absolutely blown away at what I heard! I was move to tears several times thinking of what was ahead of these kids and how there were going to be representing the United States. I was proud to be a part of something so epic. This emotion moment came when the band played America the Beautiful and the choir came soaring over the top with these angelic voices. WOW!!

During the parent meeting for adult travelers the tour director, Warren Olfert, asked the adult travelers with kids to “let go and trust his team”. He talked of how these kids would grow in the next 16 days more than they have in years. It’s a little scary, yet exciting to be heading into this adventure with this mindset.

The next morning when we were boarding the coach to head to Minneapolis, something happened that I had not really prepared for. It was my goodbye to Sydney, my 10 year old daughter. Now, for the record, I’m very much going to miss Shonda, but we have experience being apart for extended periods due to work travel, however, this would be the longest that Sydney and I would have been apart since she as born. Her eyes welled up with big crocodile tears as she gave us hugs and kisses. This normally confident and talkative girl was silent. When I boarded the bus, I could see Sydney through the window and waved goodbye. She did her best to smile, but I could see the heart breaking in her eyes. For a brief moment, I even questioned whether or not I should be leaving her behind. It was that intense. As they walked around the bus and got into the car, I was ok, because they were out of sight. Then I got a text message from Shonda asking me to look out the window and make Sydney laugh. She was sitting in the car bawling. I could not move from my seat, because I was blocked in. Ughh! Within seconds, Sydney had run around the bus and was standing in front of me. I know my daughter and in no time had her laughing here head off. We both healed in that moment. I was ready to go and she was ready to let go. Whew!

I’m going to miss my girls. Thank you, Sydney, for loving me so much. It gives me strength. Oh, and thanks for the angel coin. It’s in the wallet and will always be with me.

The bus trip went very quick and I got to know Barb Simonson, from Mandan. She is another adult traveller and has a daughter, Codi, on the trip. We had a great visit and I look forward to getting to know her better.

Getting 300+ people into the Minneapolis airport, getting their luggage unloaded, tickets and boarding passes, through security and to the gate will be an experience I will not soon forget.

I sent my last Foursquare check-in from the phone and put it away. I am now at the mercy of European public wi-fi and my iPod/iPad! Wish me luck!

It was exciting as we went “wheels up” in Mpls and started our non-stop flight to Heathrow in London. Sommer was just beside herself with excitement. I can’t wait to watch her experience Europe!

It was good flight. We slept as much as we could on an airplane. I think I got 3 hours of sleep.

The wheels touched down in London at NOON London time (6:30am at home).

Welcome to England, Sommer! You are now an official World traveler!

We all got our luggage, made it through customs and boarded our coach. Instead of heading to the hotel for a nap, we shot over to Windsor Castle for a couple of hours. The Union Jack (British Flag) was flying over the castle so that meant the Queen was home!

We then drove to the Thistle City Barbican hotel to check in and have our first group dinner together. How they sat and fed 300+ people in around 30 minutes still blows my mind.

Time for a nap, right? Wrong!

In order to keep everyone on local time, we all headed out for a SIX MILE walk through the heart of the original City of London! We walked all the way down to the Thames river and over the Millennium bridge (the one featured in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) to the Globe Theatre where Shakespeare used to hold his plays!! The original had burned to the ground so this was a replica. There was a play going on that evening.

What is can’t believe is how you can manage hundreds of high school kids in some of the busiest places on the planet (Airports and downtown LONDON) and not LOSE ANYONE! It’s a slightly chaotic process at times, but they know what they are doing. As I said earlier, I have had my natural instincts kick in and automatically look around to make sure my daughter is with the group, but it’s getting better. I’m looking forward to letting go and letting Sommer grow into an experienced world traveler!

Big day of sightseeing tomorrow!

I welcome you to what will be an experiment in video, audio, photos, text and whatever else my brain can muster up.

Thanks for stopping by. I sincerely hope you enjoy the ride!