Part 2: Arriving in Europe. Our First Day.

I know many of you are anxious for me to get to the meat of the trip and photos - but please bear with me - as I am putting this together as a journal of sorts for the 'trip of a lifetime.' So many special memories and events that we experienced.

It was a quick ride from ESU to JFK, but thrilling for me to see the New York City Skyline. Can you see the Empire State Building in the photo below? I have only been there once before - and even though I do not like cities, I get little shivers when I see the famous landmarks of the New York City skyline.

We flew on Austrian Air, and left the US at 5:40pm. Take off and landing were spectacular. Minimal turbulence here and there. I was in the center section and on the aisle -so I didn't get a chance to see out of the window. Jake and I lucked out to be in the same row and that was a comfort for me. I slept on and off - for a total of about 3 hours. When we landed it was 2:15 in the morning New York time - but we were in Vienna - and it was 8:15 in the morning ... and we had an entire day of activities ahead of us.

First off was to de-board the plane - and to my surprise - there was no tunnel! We got off right on the runway. One of our fellow travelers kept a blog on Tumbler about our trip. I snitched the photo below from his site. My husband followed the blog (I had very little access to the internet and was only able to connect with him thru email) and so he was thrilled to see Jake and I coming down the stairs - under our own power.

The next is a photo I took of the plane we came over on and the tram that took us to the airport terminal. This was the first time I had flown in over 16 years. It was the first time I had ever flown overseas, the first time I had flown since flight 3407 crashed a few houses away from mine in 2009. It was also the first airplane ride ever for my son Jacob. He didn't tell me until we got home on Monday - that he was terrified to fly too.

We all wore the same T-shirts so that we could easily find others from our Tour group as we went thru the customs and baggage areas. What a task - keeping 100 people together thru a very busy airport! We had 2 colors to wear. Below is the back of the shirt in white. As you will see a little later, on our trip over we all wore navy blue ones. (No we did not have to wear them every day!)

We had 2 Coaches that carried us all over Europe. (They are coaches in Europe, buses here in the US - so I was told). I was on Coach One with Jake and 48 other people. We each were assigned a number and we counted off every time we gathered at a meeting place, or when we boarded the bus. I was number 7. Jake was 42. I actually miss the count off's, LOL!

Coach 2 had a trailer attached to it. It carried the percussion equipment, including 3 timpani, as well as the larger instruments.

Once all our luggage was stored in the bowels of our buses and the trailer was loaded - we were off on our first adventure of Vienna. Below is the leader of our tour and head director of the band, Mr. Ron Sutherland. A retired music teacher and amazing conductor. What an honor and a priviledge it was to get to know him and his wife Cathy. They rode on Coach 1. The conductor of the Choir and his accompanist wife (Dave and Peg Dunbar) rode on Coach 2.

The area around the Vienna (Wien in the German language) airport was very flat.

There were a few open spaces but a lot of industry too. I captured the photo of the Concorde and Volvo buildings.

Jake caught the McDonalds. (sidenote: there were an abundance of American Fast Food restaurants throughout the areas we traveled).

We were gently encouraged to immerse ourselves in the culture of Europe and the food and not slip into our old American eating habits. We can eat at McDonalds anytime, but once we left Europe we would not be able to share in their specialties again.

We did see the following sign that looked a bit familiar to us in the Buffalo area. In Austria it is known as Hofer, in Germany Aldi. Here in the Buffalo area it is also Aldi. A small grocery store with excellent prices on - NOT named brands, but always very long lines - and you bag your own groceries.

Our first stop was the Central Cemetery of Vienna where many famous musicians are buried.

Translation: The Austrian Central Cemetery

It was a challenge to get photos of all the exciting things we wanted to capture - with so many people in our group. But it was also great seeing things thru so many different peoples eyes and points of view.

There is, of course, a section for just the musicians. Vienna was the center of music for such a long period of time. Composers were either born there, lived there or died there. The 'Musician' portion of the cemetery was quite large.

Brahms

Mozart (not actually buried here - just a monument to him)

Beethoven

Strauss

Schubert

And of course there is a church building on the grounds.

Europe loves their church buildings. Or perhaps this was the Chapel on the grounds?

The size of the people in the photo should give you a sense as to just how large this 'chapel' was.

And here is the view from the top of the steps looking back where we had just walked.

Inside was just a hint of things to come - as we had several Cathedrals to visit and perform in during the rest of our trip.

The view from the back looking towards the front:

Our 5 students from Clarence - all just finished 9th grade. The majority of the students on the trip were in 11th and 12th grades with several college students and adults as well.

Jake is on the right.

And of course there was a pipe organ!

Europeans also love their sculptures. I have lots more of these to come.

Our tour of the cemetery complete, we still had a full day ahead of us. We were now off on a bus tour of Vienna, and then dropped off in the shopping/tourist district for lunch and some free exploration time - picked up and taken to our hotel for check in and then an evening at the famed Prater Park Amusement Park and Dinner.

So much to come - and already exhausted.

But the adrenaline was pumping.

We were in Europe!!