Tuesday May 23: 100 Tunnels!

We left Moron this monitor after saying goodbye and "merci beau coup" to our hosts and drove back east to spend our last few hours in Switzerland visiting Zurich. On the way there, our bus drove throughout 100th tunnel of the trip! Once we arrived, we navigated through the train station, and managed to find bathrooms, Ken led us on a walking tour of the city to see the places where the Anabaptists movement began. We visited Grossmünster, the home of Conrad Grebel, and the streets here Felix Manz lived which was where the first adult baptisms took place. Some of us dipped our hands in the old fountain there and wondered if that water might have been used for those baptisms. Our last stop was on the bank of the Limmat River where Felix Manz was drowned. All along the tour we heard presentations from Lauren, Neal, London, Tyler , and Mindy, who all researched topics related to Zurich. At least forme, it was almost a surreal experience to actually see the places I've heard so much about. We left Switzerland after lunch and drove to Altkirch, France, for our second-to-last concert. At one point while driving through a town, the pavement suddenly stopped and it turned into a dirt road, for the first time we heard Jean Paul say "Oh, that's not so good!" Which is pretty impressive considering some of the roads our buss has been on. After backing the bus all the down the the narrow street and making are ally tight turn around some scaffolding, we were on our way again. After we practiced for a little in the church, we were served a delicious meal of chicken and rice, salad, and bread. Many of us were exhausted since tonight was our fifth concert in a row, so the meal gave us the energy we needed to push through. When the concert was over and after being called back in twice for encores, we made our escape into the room behind the stage to hide for a few minutes until the clapping stopped. The audiences at our last few concerts have been especially enthusiastic, so 606 has become our official second encore. Tonight I even noticed a few audience members singing along. Our hosts took us home then for our last home stay of the trip to get some sleep before our long drive to the south of France tomorrow. It's hard to believe that in a week we will be on our way home. - Maria Martin, Harrisonburg, VA