Yo, Yo, Yo. :)
San Francisco says hello, today we basically spent most of the day travelling. We left Monterey early in the morning, for some fun times driving, some of our singers have been developing some wonderful accapella singing, and were refining their harmonies in 'Oh When the Saints', Óld MacDonald', 'Battle Hymn of the Republic', 'The Band Played On' and some more, lead by the fearless Oli. They are starting to make some really nice sounds. We stopped at Carmel by the sea, a beautiful little town, just for a stop and some sight seeing.
From here we entered the '17 Mile Drive', an amazing 17 miles full of huge homes, by the sea, we also saw a house that Clint Eastwood once lived in. We then stopped in at a massive shopping complex, and we all bought a few things, some of the group got some ''interesting'' joke books, others some clothes, and I got some flip flops for 7.00 from Quicksilver. WIN!!!
From here we continued on to San Francisco, and then down to the fishermans warf, and pier 39 for food, entertainment and shopping. I got this awesome mega large pencil. Again, another WIN!
All is going well, the teams are rocking out!
Case
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
LA to Monterey - Protest Day.
Today; we were awoken by a protest. The staff at the hotel were protesting about their contracts and about health care, fair enough, a few of us spoke to them to see what they were protesting about, due to Union laws, our bus driver was not allowed to cross the picket line, so we had to trudge all our gear up the hill to the bus, also because of the protest we had a late breakfast and didnt realise our bus was there. Anyhow, we got onto the bus and headed off to La Cumbre Plaza in Santa Monica, we had a long but beautiful drive. Many of us were glad to leave LA, and get some really clean air, we pulled into Santa Monica, and most of us decided that this was a town that we could live. It was clean and just beautiful, and had some beautiful history to it.
Our performance at La Cumbre Plaza, was fantastic, we only had a small audience, but we had some beautiful moments. Some of our audience members, came up to us after our songs. In particular, we had just sung "Shenandoah", a song about the Missouri river, and the lady came up to us and said "Thank you for making me wanting to cross the Missouri River with you" and another lady that said to us "My brother in law, Works for Disney Performing Centre, and they would love to have you perform at the Disney Concert Hall". Amazing compliments for us that made every moment of our small performances worth it. They we're such touching moments for the entire group.
From here we went to Solvang, a charming little Danish Village, which was just like walking into another world, we were able to buy beautiful little Danishes and really cool gifts, I personally bought an awesome Danish hat. It looks like a night cap, but it is so awesome. From here we continued onto Monterey, we checked into our hotel and then continued onto Cannery Row, made infamous by author John Steinbeck (Is that how you spell it??). This was a great time, and we had the chances to eat at different locations and enjoyed some time for shopping, this was a great night to relax and enjoy a night on the beach front.
Now a quick update of the blog, and some time at the hotel.
Our performance at La Cumbre Plaza, was fantastic, we only had a small audience, but we had some beautiful moments. Some of our audience members, came up to us after our songs. In particular, we had just sung "Shenandoah", a song about the Missouri river, and the lady came up to us and said "Thank you for making me wanting to cross the Missouri River with you" and another lady that said to us "My brother in law, Works for Disney Performing Centre, and they would love to have you perform at the Disney Concert Hall". Amazing compliments for us that made every moment of our small performances worth it. They we're such touching moments for the entire group.
From here we went to Solvang, a charming little Danish Village, which was just like walking into another world, we were able to buy beautiful little Danishes and really cool gifts, I personally bought an awesome Danish hat. It looks like a night cap, but it is so awesome. From here we continued onto Monterey, we checked into our hotel and then continued onto Cannery Row, made infamous by author John Steinbeck (Is that how you spell it??). This was a great time, and we had the chances to eat at different locations and enjoyed some time for shopping, this was a great night to relax and enjoy a night on the beach front.
Now a quick update of the blog, and some time at the hotel.
Our Last day in LA
Oh, what a crazy day. We had two performances firstly at Universal Studios, on the Blues Brothers Stage, from the Moment we arrived we were treated like movie stars, we walked up the red carpet in our uniforms with all our equipment and had the giant gates opened for us to walk through, something they only ever do for the stars at the studio. Our first performance went really well and we were given some amazing feedback from the entertainment manager at Universal; "Amazingly Musical and tight performance". I got given this awesome clapboard plaque from our performance, the only down side was that it was so, so, so hot!!
Straight after that performance we had to rush over to the farmers market for another performance, we knew that we had a man who flew from Seattle to see this performance, so woot for us! This performance went well as did the above and we were given a free tote bag. WIN!!
We then had some lunch, got changed and then headed back to UNiversal for some fun. We all took the back lot tour, this was AMAZING!!! We all boarded trams, and we got to see the sets for 'Desperate Housewives', 'Jaws', the cars from Back to the Future, some of the set pieces for Jurassic Park and then we got the experience of a lifetime where we entered into a 360degree 3D experience of King Kong, where our tram was surrounded by a 3D attack from King Kong, and a giant spider which came up against the tram and Margaret made the loudest scream on the planet. there was nothing quite like it, we also saw all the sound stages and different other set pieces from all sorts of different movies. If you can get to do this, it is worth every cent!! The afternoon was free to do whatever you wanted.
Some of us took the Jurassic Park ride and the Mummy Ride and others went through the House of Horrors. We got wet, freaked out, screamed and pretty much freaked out, but it was an amazing experience.
The majority of the group went to see the 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables, a version of the show that has not yet made it to Australian Shores. It was an amazing production, and a few people spent the entire 2nd act crying, Margaret in particular lost it, she felt the emotion.
Midnight and bed. We were so exhausted.
Straight after that performance we had to rush over to the farmers market for another performance, we knew that we had a man who flew from Seattle to see this performance, so woot for us! This performance went well as did the above and we were given a free tote bag. WIN!!
We then had some lunch, got changed and then headed back to UNiversal for some fun. We all took the back lot tour, this was AMAZING!!! We all boarded trams, and we got to see the sets for 'Desperate Housewives', 'Jaws', the cars from Back to the Future, some of the set pieces for Jurassic Park and then we got the experience of a lifetime where we entered into a 360degree 3D experience of King Kong, where our tram was surrounded by a 3D attack from King Kong, and a giant spider which came up against the tram and Margaret made the loudest scream on the planet. there was nothing quite like it, we also saw all the sound stages and different other set pieces from all sorts of different movies. If you can get to do this, it is worth every cent!! The afternoon was free to do whatever you wanted.
Some of us took the Jurassic Park ride and the Mummy Ride and others went through the House of Horrors. We got wet, freaked out, screamed and pretty much freaked out, but it was an amazing experience.
The majority of the group went to see the 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables, a version of the show that has not yet made it to Australian Shores. It was an amazing production, and a few people spent the entire 2nd act crying, Margaret in particular lost it, she felt the emotion.
Midnight and bed. We were so exhausted.
Monday, 27 June 2011
We're Finally in LA
Hello out there.
Greetings from LA. After a long, long, long, long 12.5 hour flight from Sydney to LA, we have finally arrived. Most people didn't get great amounts of sleep on the plane, so we are all a little weary. Much to most of our suprises United Airlines flight UA840 wasn't to bad, and the food wasn't too bad either. Our flight over was spent watching movies, chatting, sleeping (for the lucky ones) and attempting sleeping. THEN.... We finally arrived.
So upon arrival, Alex had forgotten about a pear she had in her bag, hahah! We all got through customs, and set out to find out tour operator Jane, from here we boarded the bus to head off to the LA farmers market for some nice lunch, Milli had a hankering for Mexican, I had crepes as did Grant, Vicki, Jaan and Marg. The others we are not sure, bit of a wander at the farmers market, some did some shopping. Next, lets do some touring.
From here we continued onto Hollywood, and saw the sign, Manns Chinese Theatre (well not really because they had closed half the street because they were having an opening of some description. we saw the Kodak theatre (where they hold the Academy Awards), Sunset Boulevard, the list goes on.... Rodeo Drive, one mega cool thing was seeing the Worlds most expensive card a Borghetti that retails at 1 Million Dollars, it's crazy. We saw Charlie Chaplin, a man wearing a Bra, Darth Vader, we got some cool shots of the Stars in the ground and I (casey) jumped in a fountain thingy and got a tad wet. Cool, yet now I need to dry my socks.
We are currently at the Hotel just relaxing, much needed rest time. We have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe tonight. Then Sleep. Thank goodness.
Oh, and I have come to conclude that everything in LA has a strange smell to it. I can't quite pin it down.
We are having a super time. Just lacking sleep.
Greetings from LA. After a long, long, long, long 12.5 hour flight from Sydney to LA, we have finally arrived. Most people didn't get great amounts of sleep on the plane, so we are all a little weary. Much to most of our suprises United Airlines flight UA840 wasn't to bad, and the food wasn't too bad either. Our flight over was spent watching movies, chatting, sleeping (for the lucky ones) and attempting sleeping. THEN.... We finally arrived.
So upon arrival, Alex had forgotten about a pear she had in her bag, hahah! We all got through customs, and set out to find out tour operator Jane, from here we boarded the bus to head off to the LA farmers market for some nice lunch, Milli had a hankering for Mexican, I had crepes as did Grant, Vicki, Jaan and Marg. The others we are not sure, bit of a wander at the farmers market, some did some shopping. Next, lets do some touring.
From here we continued onto Hollywood, and saw the sign, Manns Chinese Theatre (well not really because they had closed half the street because they were having an opening of some description. we saw the Kodak theatre (where they hold the Academy Awards), Sunset Boulevard, the list goes on.... Rodeo Drive, one mega cool thing was seeing the Worlds most expensive card a Borghetti that retails at 1 Million Dollars, it's crazy. We saw Charlie Chaplin, a man wearing a Bra, Darth Vader, we got some cool shots of the Stars in the ground and I (casey) jumped in a fountain thingy and got a tad wet. Cool, yet now I need to dry my socks.
Oh, and I have come to conclude that everything in LA has a strange smell to it. I can't quite pin it down.
We are having a super time. Just lacking sleep.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Today is the Day. :)
So everyone, today is the day that we finally leave for the USA.
Somehow, by some means, everyone will be at the United Airlines Check-in (Yes, I know United) by no later than 11.00. For a flight that leaves a bit later. This time tomorrow, We will be sitting poolside and getting ready for our first performance at Universal Studios and then the Farmers Market.
Keep watching for more postings about our first few hours and our airport experiences.
....Livin' on a prayer....
Casey
Somehow, by some means, everyone will be at the United Airlines Check-in (Yes, I know United) by no later than 11.00. For a flight that leaves a bit later. This time tomorrow, We will be sitting poolside and getting ready for our first performance at Universal Studios and then the Farmers Market.
Keep watching for more postings about our first few hours and our airport experiences.
....Livin' on a prayer....
Casey
Thursday, 23 June 2011
TWO MORE DAYS
Hey Friends,
We've got two more days until we hit the big USA. We did a final check of everything today, Marg, Vicki, Jema and I have got it all down pat.
Dr Phil. sends his best wishes to all.
And now, to the airport! Destination one: Los Angeles!
Casey
We've got two more days until we hit the big USA. We did a final check of everything today, Marg, Vicki, Jema and I have got it all down pat.
Dr Phil. sends his best wishes to all.
And now, to the airport! Destination one: Los Angeles!
Casey
Monday, 20 June 2011
One Apple Pie Left to cook
So, we are one week away from leaving for the United States of America.
In essence, we have just one apple pie left to cook.
Everything is coming together, we have had a few different shuffles around of people coming, hopefully this wont have too much of an effect on things.
Everyone is rehearsed up and we have our final rehearsal on Thursday,
In essence, we have just one apple pie left to cook.
Everything is coming together, we have had a few different shuffles around of people coming, hopefully this wont have too much of an effect on things.
Everyone is rehearsed up and we have our final rehearsal on Thursday,
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Not Long to Go
Everything is coming into place, the trip has all been payed for, our confirmation for Disneyland Arrived and our tickets and final itinerary will be here this week.
All that is left is choir practice tonight. Hmmmm, still a bit of work ahead.
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