Celerina to St Gallen

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It was mostly a travel day today on the 3 hour return journey from Celerina via Thussis, Chur and Sargans to St Gallen. We arrived in St Gallen at 1.30 to be met by our friends Bruno and Gertrud. After a settling in and a cup of tea we bussed back into St Gallen for a Christmas concert given by several hundred school children, aged 6 to 12, from schools around the city. Bruno and Gertrud’s grandchildren were in the choir which made it more personal.

What a wonderful concert! There was an excellent orchestra and conductor and the children sang a range of Christmas songs from various countries like Switzerland (of course), South America, Israel, England and the USA. By all accounts this afternoon was the first time they had actually practiced as one full group with the orchestra. They were fantastic and all the more so by singing with such a skilled orchestra. At the end everyone sang Silent Night together in German. We had the words so it was nice to sing it in their own language.

After the concert we walked past the magnificent cathedral with it’s lit up Christmas tree standing next to it. A wonderful picture. We then wandered down through the old city to their Christmas Market area and had gluh wein and a look around before getting bus home again. Each city or town has their own unique way of doing their decorations. Celerina had virtually none, St Gallen had many lovely huge stars hanging in the street and lit shops whilst bigger cities like Basel and Zurich had really spent a huge amount of money to really impress. Whatever way you look at it, it makes our summer efforts at home look a bit under done.

Our day ended with a traditional meal of raclette and much talking.

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Photos

The Children's choir and orchestra
Performed in the Concert Hall in St Gallen. A wonderful and inspiring evening of Christmas songs sung by hundreds of young children