The first night we went to the Berlin Philharmonic. Oh. My. Gosh. It was absolutely incredible. We all had no words to describe it afterwards. We just stood there and looked at each other beaming. We tried to say something about the performance but nothing we could say came close to describing the amazing music we heard. We had the best seats in the house again too. We were in the same seats as in the Gewandhaus, right behind the orchestra with a perfect view of the conductor, but these ones were even better! We were literally on stage! I was 5 feet from the crash cymbal player in the last movement of the last piece. Powell said I could go correct the player if he messed up his part. But that would never happen! They are all such amazing players and they were so tight and together. I will come back to see the Berlin Phil again sometime. I thought I loved them before, but seeing them live made me appreciate them even more.
After the concert, I met up with a couple of my crazy Norwegian relatives! I spent the night with them and we went to a farmers market the next morning. The we met up with my group at the Brandenburg Gate and we had a walking tour of Berlin. It was so cool to see so much history in one city! We ended our tour at the Nazi museum and the last bit of the wall that's still standing.
That night we went to Swan Lake. It was so beautiful! Before this I had only seen the Nutcracker, so it was so nice to see something else. This group was so good too! The dancers were so in time with the music and their acting was amazing too. Ballet dancers are so athletic! I have so much respect for them.
Today, we went to mass at St. Hedwig's and it was so cool to hear mass in German. The church was beautiful too! It was this huge dome that was so tall and they had a very pretty organ. It sounded great and the choir was great as well. I was amazed at how much I could follow, considering the mass was in German and I don't know German.
After mass, Megan, Claire, Miranda, Torsen and I went to this huge flea market. They had so much cool stuff and there was a local band playing. That was cool to see because they were all outside in the snow! It was fun to hear a local group. After the market, I met up with Elin and Jonas again and we went to have lunch at the top of the tv tower. It was so cool and the food was so good and so fancy! Even though it was foggy, you could see so much of Berlin. It's so cool how flat Berlin is because you can see for so far and the city is huge!
Tonight we went to La Traviata. That was a fantastic opera! The pit orchestra was so good and the opera singers were amazing! It's so cool to hear how much these singers can belt their voice. It's amazing to see how big the hall is and how well you can hear them, even though they're not using microphones. That takes a lot of talent.
I'm looking forward to our last couple days in Berlin. I'm excited to explore the city more and to see Dudamel on Tuesday!
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