looking for me? czech prague.

When we drove into Prague, I was unimpressed. There was graffiti everywhere. It was nothing special, for what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Then I saw it from a mountaintop overlook.

Then I saw it at nighttime. Wow.

Although most of us were running on just a few hours of sleep, we gave a short impromptu performance at the overlook to people dining at a nearby restaurant and tourists at the overlook. 

(One of the reasons impromptu performances are the best: They're almost like flash mobs, but not really) 

Then this sweet friend and I went on an adventure to find the only Catholic church with a vigil mass Saturday evening. We found the sketchy metro station, unintentionally broke the law by accidentally riding the metro without using our tickets, and navigated through the Czech street names as if we were locals (not really--we had a huge map, and I had to use the compass on my iPhone).

Sometimes we live dangerously. #rebels

The mass was in Czech, but it was amazing. We "sang" a czech hymn (more like sang "dah dah" on the melody line) and pretended to understand Czech.

Later, we explored Prague, toured an opera house, and found ourselves a castle.

I could be an opera singer #That'sfunny #NO

As we would find out tomorrow, the castle-like building in "The Prague Castle" is actually a cathedral. 

Light filled the chamber,

Many-coloured light;

She heard her voice

Echo,

“Holy! Holy! Holy!”

Softly the angels sang,

“Lord God of Hosts, Heaven and earth are full

Of your glory!

Now *that*, my friends, is a *church*.

After visiting the castle and touring the State Opera House, we were all exhausted, and not all of us were looking forward to our concert. It turned out to be one of the best we've ever had.
What was so special about it? I'm not sure. But backstage after the concert, murmurs of "Wow", "That was amazing", and "I almost cried" filled the room.

Perhaps it was the gorgeous church we were singing in that reverberated our sound through its beautiful stone.
Perhaps it was all the people who wandered in after hearing us outside in the streets of central Prague.
Perhaps it was the little old ladies who sang along to the Czech folk song our boys performed.
Perhaps it was the beauty, wonder, and awe that filled all of us as we sang the Ave Maria--even though we've sung it many times before.
Perhaps it was the last cadence of that piece, which echoed through the church for 10 seconds after we released the chord.

Listen to this short clip posted by a fellow USinger...

one of my favorite concerts yet, surrounded by beauty #EUSingers

A video posted by Eric Petruzzo (@rrericlikesyou) on May 24, 2015 at 9:38am PDT 

#somuchbeauty