Germany 1989

The main event of 1989, at least for the boys, was the concert tour to Germany. During the trip we had a lot of free time as well and we experienced many unforgettable moments.
Our group, consisting of 45 boys, four violin players and seven parents, was on the road from 26th of June to 7th July. The journey began from Veteli with one bus and the first pit stop was in Naantali. There we got on board on a ship and spent the first night sailing to Sweden. Our first concert was the next day near Gothenburg, where we also got a good night sleep. Next stop was in Denmark. There we had a chance to spend some time in a Safari park and to explore the fascinating constructions of Legoland.

From Denmark we continued to the city of Kiel in Germany. The local boys' choir was our host in Kiel. They had arranged us a possibility to sing in the Kiel-Altenholz church and the concert was a success. After the concert we enjoyed the warm hospitality of the boys and their parents, who also offered accommodation for us in their own homes.
After Kiel new experiences waited us in Neumünster. There we unpacked our bags in a youth center, which offered great facilities for playing football and other sports. It was very refreshing to enjoy the warm weather and to feel "at home", since we had already traveled quite a few miles on the bus. So, the next morning our energies was up and everyone was ready for the concert on the market place of Neumünster. Despite the rainy weather a lot of people gathered to hear us as we sung finish folk music songs.

Next stop was in Hohenlockstedt, the city, where a special group of Finnish soldiers got their training during the First World War. So, we honored the memory of the soldiers by laying down a bouquet to the memorial monument. The older members of the choir sung a march called "Jääkärinmarssi" and the atmosphere was completed with the Finlandia hymn. Later that evening we had concert with our finish folk music repertoire in the premises of the local Finland-Germany organization. The audience was overwhelmed by the performance of the violin players and our singing.

From Hohenlockstedt the journey continued to Hamburg. There we sung in a mass, which was held in the Finnish seamen's church. We also spent the night in the church's premises. The church had also a quite peculiar resident, a talking parrot. Our stay was probably a very strenuous experience for it, because it had to repeat all the silly things that the smaller members of our choir kept saying to it. So, the parrot must have been quite happy that already the next morning we hopped on the bus and drove to Ütersen. There we had our sixth and last concert of the tour. Even though most of the boys were quite tired in this point of the trip, we were able to pull ourselves together and give the audience probably one of the best performances of the whole tour.

Now, it was time to head home. First stop on the homeward bound was in Hamburg. There we had a chance to watch the spectacular show, which combined organ music, spouting springs and lights. After that it was time to visit Denmark again. This time we stopped in Copenhagen. We had time to get the kicks out of the famous amusement park and to wander around the city. The rest of the trip through Sweden and Finland was spent mostly by reloading the batteries and going through the wonderful experiences that we had had during the trip.
So, the Central Europe had now been conquered and we were ready for new challenges...